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the fact she couldn’t even drive a car, having twice failed her test – but it didn’t make Michelle’s disappointment any less devastating.
    ‘So, what are you going to do now?’
    ‘Stick pins in models of helicopters.’
    ‘Seriously?’
    Michelle sighed. ‘I don’t know. Join some outfit that’ll have me and have another go later. Maybe I’ll take some private flying lessons.’
    Sam didn’t state the obvious – that maybe Michelle ought to have done that before. But that was Michelle all over – wise, after the event. ‘So what appeals?’
    Michelle sighed yet again and slumped back in the armchair in her bedroom. ‘If there’s one thing all these field exercises here have taught me it’s that I am not a fan of being wet, cold and miserable—’
    ‘Who is?’ interrupted Sam with feeling.
    ‘Hence wanting to be a pilot; all cocooned in a nice little Plexiglas bubble with climate control, no yomping across moors, no lugging one’s own body weight in kit… I suppose if I can’t do that I need to look at something office-based. Admin-fodder, I suppose.’
    ‘You’d be great at that. You’re so good at that HR and personnel stuff.’
    ‘You mean I’m crap at everything else?’
    ‘You said it,’ said Sam with a grin.
    Michelle reached behind her for a cushion, which she threw at Sam. ‘At least I won’t be a garage mechanic.’
    ‘Maybe I won’t either.’ After all, her best mate had failed at what she wanted to do, so there was no guarantee that she would be granted her wish.
    Sam needn’t have worried, although for a fortnight, until she heard, she’d felt sick with apprehension every time she’d considered the possibility that the REME mightn’t think her good enough. But when she finally got the news that she could join the corps of her choice it made her feel floppy with relief.
    The day of Sovereign’s Parade was overcast and cool but it was better that way. Who wanted to be standing in blazing sun for the duration? She and Michelle checked each other’s appearance before they were inspected by their colour sergeant, then their platoon commander and finally the company commander. From windows at the front of Old College they could see the stands on the far side of the parade ground filling up with the friends and relatives of those about to receive their commissions. Somewhere in amongst the smart business suits, uniforms, dresses and hats was Sam’s father.
    And then the moment came to march onto the parade ground, the band playing jaunty tunes, and Sam knew that the past forty-eight weeks of near hell had been more than worth it. The sense of achievement was overwhelming and when she and her peers finally marched up the steps and through the double doors, followed by the Academy Adjutant on his white horse, she was thankful she had her back to the crowds as tears of relief and pride streamed down her face, making her mascara run in a trickle of black smears.
    Once through the door and in the gloom of the main hall, she and Michelle hugged and cried. They’d done it.
    And later her father told her he was proud. He mightn’t have told her he loved her, but it was a start.

3
    The consequence of their success was that Sam and Michelle would be separated again. After a fortnight’s leave Sam was going off to the army School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering to complete her platoon commander’s course and Michelle was going to Winchester to, as she put it, ‘learn how to fill in forms’.
    ‘But we can see each other at weekends,’ said Sam.
    ‘Every weekend,’ said Michelle.
    Possibly not, thought Sam. They’d have work to do. Just because they’d made it through Sandhurst it didn’t mean they were home and dry. And in her case, if she didn’t pass her young officers’ course for the REME, her career plans could yet go horribly wrong. This was no time to start slacking and thinking that every weekend for the next few months was going to be free.
    ‘We may