Chapter 6: Support Group a New Troopy

Well I had made it – I was now officially a qualified soldier with the rank of Troopy ... In US terms that is an E1 or Private ... I was proud of myself and my new unit...

I had reported to the Support Group (Sp Gp) company Clerk after passing out parade and he told me to piss off and he would see me Monday ... Yippee a free weekend, money in my pocket and things to do ... I had brought my car back to the Battalion a few weeks before as Sgt Titch had obtained a car pass for me so without further ado I locked up my room and headed home for some Girlfriend time ... We organized to go out to a top hotel for a nice dinner dance that evening and I had a nice soaking bath ... I went to my old bedroom to dress & found that my little shit of a brother who was at boarding school had taken over my room ... I eventually found where he had put my clothes but – Houston We Have a Problem!!! - I had bulked up a lot in training and now was just under 100kg but, on looking in a mirror for the first time in ages, I had muscles now that were large ... None of my civy shirts fitted at all never mind my suit that I wore to the wedding ... My other smart slacks wouldn't even go over my thighs ... Shit!!! Mad dash for the telephone and a call to Ali to cancel out the smart date to reschedule for Saturday night ... When she asked why and I told her my cloths didn't fit she just pissed herself laughing and was no help at all ... Bloody women ... We had a nice date in the end as we went to the Drive in and if I remember correctly it was The Dirty Dozen followed by The guns of Navarone ... Brilliant stuff...

Saturday was cloths shopping for some smart casual, like hell was I going to buy another suit, a long afternoon Booze session at The Usual Place (pub name) and a short snooze before picking up Ali for dinner ... I feel sorry for today's generation in that with inflation social interaction has ceased to exist ... As a Troopy my take home pay at the end of the month was only $90.oo – This does not sound like much but consider that a night out at a 5 star hotel diner dancing including drinks cost me $5.oo ... I had just purchased a newish car (Datsun1200) that cost $250.oo and it was a honey ... Sunday it was out to the Lake water-skiing, shit that was a scream a minute ... There were only 2 of us guys and around 10 girls ... Bikinis had just come into fashion so the display was awesome ... Now let me tell you teaching a really pretty girl how to water ski is just damn good fun especially if they are wearing a bikini ... They generally pull up to stand the first time stark naked as a flimsy bikini does not stand a hope in hell ... Thank god we didn't have breathalyzer tests in those days as if we had been stopped going home that night they would have tossed away the keys...

Monday morning at Sp Gp office I was not a very clever little boy ... The Clerk told me I might be going to the bush in the next day or two and this pissed me off as I was expecting a little girlfriend time as I waited for the guys to come back from the bush in three weeks time ... How to get kit ready was the biggest question and I was in a bit of a funk ... Luckily Cpl Paul was in the office doing medical rehab after breaking his hand ... Apparently missing a punch at some guys head and hitting a brick wall does nit do bones much good at all ... Paul took me up to his room and showed me what I had to do to get ready for war ... Now Most of our webbing was ex 44 pattern and copies of it – yes second world war shit ... The pouches, water bottles & magazine pouches slid onto a web belt with padded shoulder straps that I had found in training troop to fall apart after a day ... We gathered up all my bits and pieces and Paul took me off to the camp Cobbler. This guy was amazing ... He had been with the battalion since in moved to Salisbury and was a genius at sewing together canvas, leather, foam padding and straps. After measuring me up he told me to come and collect that afternoon ... Back to the barrack room and Paul listed what I needed to pack and what extras I needed to buy to take on patrol ... The day was spent rinsing starch out of clothes to make them comfortable for bush wear and selecting my new weapon ... We had just received a shipment of brand new R1's (wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_FAL) and I went to the armory to sign for my still in packing grease weapon ... Shit was I disappointed: the actions were stiff, the fore sight was a tree trunk and the trigger action was like trying to pull up a truck hand brake ... I went back to my room and Paul took one look at me and asked what was wrong; I showed him my new weapon and he was also totally unimpressed ... We stripped it down to its minor components and with judicious use of a tiny 3 corner file, emery cloth, some valve grinding paste and a lot of petrol we got it cleaned up and in good condition by about 22:00 that night ... The fore sight problem I took care of the next morning at training troop armory where I swapped out with my training rifle ... I still had to zero it but I had what was to be a good rifle that stayed with me for many years...

We got to sleep late that night and at about 02:oo we were woken up by some really drunk guys blundering in to the barrack rooms ... These guys were in a serious party mood and were really drunk as skunks ... I walked out in to the corridor to see what was going on and met up with 8 guys and 4 chicks (women) who were partly dressed and one was stark naked but having a difficult time staying vertical ... Paul and I grabbed her and propped her up next to the toilet bowl and went back to find out what was going on ... The guys were what remained of our tracking troop and had all been posted to the new Selous Scouts unit being set up at that time ... They had been sent home from the bush the day before and had done a serious pub crawl on the way home ... You may ask why the MP's or the police hadn't stopped them ... Well you just had to look at them and I don't think even the bravest of NYPD officers would have come within a mile of them they were that wild looking ... Nick the Greek was the biggest man I had ever met, shit he had to duck and go through a door side ways ... I think they used him in the Hairy Armpit Cartoon of a Selous Scout years later with his knuckles dragging on the floor ... The rest of the guys were all still in bush wear, that is shorts and cut down shirts, with cammo paint still on their bodies ... Paul knew who the chicks were and after cleaning up the poor girl who had tossed her cookies, we loaded them in to Paul's car and he left to drop them off ... Later that morning there were one or two very fragile guys walking around ... Their driver, Vawn, collared me at 08:oo and told me that we were leaving at 03:oo the next morning back to the bush with the Groups rations for the next week. I was excited in a way but nervous as this was to be my introduction to THE Bush!!

Note:- RLI and particularly Support Group was decimated when Selous Scouts first started ... Tracking troop was left with two members and I was the new third member...

I managed to have a good graze that evening and hit the sack early with the alarm set for 02:3o. and was down at the truck with a few minutes to spare to load my kit ... Vawn strolled out and without saying a word started the truck and drove off, not a morning person...

This was my introduction to the old Bedford as a driver – Not being part of any convoy till Bindura the speedo was pegged at the full stop near the 0 ... All the way round the clock – shit that thing could fly... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_RL)

Now I must describe our RL's to you ... Due to land mines the were a little modified when it came to creature comforts ... The driver had no seat at all ... there was a cut piece of conveyer belt and on top of that were laid sand bags that were at least 3 thick where you sat ... There were no doors so it was a windy drive ... on the back there was also a layer of belting with 2 layers of sand bags on top. This made the RL heavy to begin with so with all the rations and cooler boxes loaded it was heavy ... Heavy or not I don't know what Vawn had done to that truck but it could haul ass...