Drowning in Her Eyes (28 page)

With infinite patience, Jack slithered towards the sentry. It took him ten minutes to come up behind him. Jack drew his bayonet, took him by the throat, and whispered,
“No noise
,
mate. If I was fair dinkum, you
'd be dead.
”

The others quickly occupied the hill. There were fou
r more of the
enemy
in their bedrolls. They looked rueful.
“Good work
,
son,
” said the
s
ergeant referee
who was with them.
“Y
ou got the jump on us
,
all right.
” One of Jack
's men produced a pot of camouflage paint and emblazoner a
‘P
' on each of their captive
's foreheads. They left for their base camp. They were designated prisoners now and were out of the game.

Jack took the compass and set it to the bearing
of
their final objective. Then he hesitated.
I think I should check this
, he thought. He checked the bearing with map and his protractor.
Well, bugger me
, he thought.
T
hey
've marked the wrong bearing on this compass, the cunning bastards!

They put out sentries and camped for the night. They stood to at daylight, ate some rations and looked out at the terrain they had to cross. It was not a pretty sight. Away into the distance, they saw serried ranks of sandstone cliffs, traversed by gullies that, in some cases, cut deep into the terrain. It would be an impossible task to march in a straight line to their final destination. Jack and his men looked at the map. Although the map was old, nothing had changed in the landform. The whorls and re-
entrants of the contour lines remained unchanged.
“Those gullies are perfect for the opposition to set ambushes
,
” Jack said.
“
We have to stick to the high ground wherever possible.
”

One of the others said,
“If we do that, it
's going to take forever to get there.
”

“It will certainly take longer. Let
's have a close look at the map to see how we can do it.
”

They gathered around the map, passing it from hand to hand
,
looking at slopes, hills, other features. Finally, they agreed on a route. It would almost double the distance they had to travel
,
but
it
kept them to the higher ground for most of the way. There were two places where they were vulnerable. They could not avoid these two saddles. The one they could see was heavily timbered, and should be ok
ay
, but the other was not in sight; they would have to face that hurdle later.

They moved out, in line ahead, interchanging lead sections at regular intervals. It grew very hot as the sun rose in the sky. Soon they were sweating heavily, but Jack set a cracking pace; the time they had left to gain their objective was dwindling away. They stopped for ten minutes every hour. Jack enforced a change of socks after three hours to keep feet dry. A couple of the men were beginning to show signs of fatigue, but the worst was to come. One of them fell out of the line. Jack called a halt.
“Drink,
” he said,
“but not much.
” He squatted alongside his flagging companion.
“How are you doing, Smithy
?
”

“Shit, Jack, I
'm bu
ggered. I
'm out of water
.
” This man had failed to keep his water discipline, but it would serve no purpose to upbraid him now. Without a word, Jack poured some of his water into the m
an
's water bottle.

“Righto,
” he said,
“Let
's take twenty minutes now, and then move off.
”

They reached the first saddle. It was about a hundred yards wide, thickly timbered.
It
's just the place for an ambush
, thought Jack. He called a halt
and
checked on his ailing comrade; he was managing so far.
“Ok,
” Jack said,
“our little friends might have a nasty surprise for us here. We
'll
split into two groups and pass up each side of the scrub, keeping to the extreme edges, but out of sight. I reckon anybody waiting for us will be in the middle where the cover is thickest.
”

This they did. There was no obstacle to their
passing. They had no sign
there was an ambush waiting for them,
and
once they regained the high ground, there was nothing to stop them. They picked up the pace again and within an hour, they were in sight of their objective.

Jack looked across the last saddle to the huge red flag on the high ground beyond. This was their target. The rules of the game said they had to be there before dark, so there was no way they could wait for the cover of the night to assist them. One of his section leaders was all for charging across the hundred yards of bare ground to the cover of
the scrub beyond.
“I
bet they were thinking
we
'd
think this would be t
he place where they
'
d set their ambush, so they set it up back there to fool us. I reckon the coast is clear now.
”

Jack said,
“I think you may be right, but we can
't take the risk.
I
'
m going to set up a diversion. Frank and I will go down the gully there on the right. When you hear us firing, wait to see if anyone
shows himself. Then, if there
'
s no sign of them, go like the clappers for the flagpole. We
'll see you over there.
”

They waited. Fifteen minutes later, there came the flat barking of blank rounds. There was no sign of any
enemy
. They sprinted for the other side
… fifty yar
ds
…twenty yards
…they were home!

The clatter of rifle fire carried up from the gully for several minutes, then ceased. Minutes later, Jack and Frank emerged from the gully. They were herding four
of the enemy
in front of them.
“Caught
‘em with their pants down!
” called Frank
.

They
'
d triumphed!

* * * *

Major McIntosh called
Jack
in at the end of the course.
“Corporal, you have shown superior leadership and military skills during this course. Normally, you would be promoted to
s
ergeant
now, but I
'm not recommending that. I
'
m sending your file to the
c
olonel and recommending your promotion to
w
arrant
officer
s
econd
c
lass. You will still attend the December recruit course, but you will be CSM of the training
company. Early next year you
'
ll complete your First Appointment Assessment. I expect your commission by May next year. Well done!
”

Jack felt no elation. He had expected nothing less. He had made the army his passion, a replacement for
Susan
's soft arms

He was going to be the best bloody soldier in the army!

Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
—1965

In the winter, he played rugby, fiercely, recklessly, taking out his frustrations on his opponents who soon learned to look out for his ferocious tackling and rucking. He worked hard on his fitness, so necessary now to his military ambition.

His best friends were still Bob and Mike, but they detected a hardness in him now, a refusal to compromise. The men he commanded in the
r
egiment felt the lash of his tongue on more than one occasion. He was fair, but he would suffer no fools. He was a stern disciplinarian. This was his job; as the senior NCO, he bore responsibility for them all. He put them on defaulters and drilled them mercilessly. He was almost paranoid about their fitness, for he knew how important it would be if ever they were required to do some real fighting.

However, he also acted as a big brother and mentor. He looked after their welfare. He would share a drink with them, and on more than one occasion extracted them from bar fights. When in Sydney on duty, they found that regular soldiers treated them with contempt as
‘weekend warriors
', or as
‘little boys playing soldiers
'. Jack had to correct this perception a number of times. He never relied on his rank in these situations. If it became necessary to act, he always removed his shirt or jacket. When his men heard him say,
“I don
't have my crowns on now, try me out.
” They
would rally to his aid. He didn
't fight clean
; he used all the dirty tricks his instructors had instilled in him during unarmed combat training. After a while, the regs learned to give him a wide berth.

He drank with his friends on Saturday nights, sometimes to excess. His friends soon learned to leave him alone when he became morose. Bob, Mike, or their girls made sure he got home safely. Sometimes, Bernadette consoled him. He had confided in her and sworn her to secrecy. She was a refuge for him when things got bad, for she had loved Susan
,
too.

He went home to help when he could. Paddy
's weather forecaster was right. The 1965 drought was the wors
t
in living memory. Thousands of sheep and cattle died. The wheat crop failed. How fortunate they were
to have
sold most of their livestock and had cash in the bank. The men had stuffed the sheds with hay, and they were able to sell it for four times what they paid for it. With the drought, there was little
to do that Ollie and Mike couldn
'
t handle. He spent more and more time on his study and the Regiment.

H
e didn
'
t tell his mother about the
baby. She didn
'
t ask about Susan, for she knew how wounded he was. Sometimes, late at night, she would hear him quietly sobbing in his room. There were times when a particular song would cause him to pause in his work and wipe a tear from his eye. She knew he had had his heart torn apart. His grieving would take a long time.

The year dragged on. In Vietnam, 1RAR had fought its first major engagement and everywhere the war escalated. The Viet Cong and their North Vietnamese allies stepped up their attacks. They took heavy casualties for the US had deployed massive air and ground forces. Even so, before the war would end, there would be more than
fifty thousand
American dead.