The Cadet Sergeant Major Read Online Free PDF Page B

to physically ache. Peter felt as though he wanted to squirm and wriggle. And he longed to see her. ‘I wish this exercise was over,’ he thought. ‘Then I can hurry back to camp and be with her.’ Silently he cursed the other sections. “Get a move on!” he grumbled.
    They came at last, two from different directions at the same time: Anne Hopewell’s No 1 Section and Erika Goltz’s No 7. Peter gave them their information and stood back to watch.
    â€˜Talk about chalk and cheese,’ he thought. Both were blondes with blue eyes, but Anne had a roundish, cheerful face and was a really happy, jolly girl- a ‘Nice girl’. In contrast Erika Goltz had a hard face and a rough personality. Stories about her and what she had done with boys at school and at parties were legion. He couldn’t understand how the OC, if he knew, could allow her to stay in the unit.
    Once they were gone Peter checked his list. Only one to go: 3 Section. Cpl ‘Big Charlie’ Cox. Peter paced up and down in a fever of impatience. Every few minutes he checked his watch. ‘Still ten minutes to go. Why don’t they hurry up? I hope they aren’t lost. How could they be? The country around here is so open; and you can see or hear the highway traffic the whole time,’ Peter reasoned.
    The section arrived with a minute to spare. As soon as they were on their way Peter informed Capt Conkey by radio and set off along the road on his way back to camp. It only took him seven minutes. He walked so fast he was perspiring inside his jacket by the time he arrived; only to find he need not have bothered- HQ was not back! He dropped his webbing at his hutchie, peeled off the jacket and walked over to the officer’s fire
    The OC and Graham were there, plus Lt Standish, a pleasant, middle-aged lady teacher, as well a few other CUOs and Sgts. Capt Conkey finished calling 11 Section on the radio then gave Peter a smile as he reported in.
    â€œSgt Bronsky. Good! Another lost sheep returned to the fold. One less to spend the night searching for!” He chuckled at his own humour and went on. “When HQ gets back tell them to report here. They can have a brew; and warn the medics they will undoubtedly have a few customers.”
    â€œSir.”
    Peter moved over to chat with the other cadets. CUO Sherry and Stephen arrived.
    â€œAny problems?” Capt Conkey queried.
    â€œPossibly sir,” CUO Sherry replied. “Dimbo Doyle’s section was supposed to come through our checkpoint but it hadn’t arrived by our cut-off time. We waited an extra ten minutes before leaving.”
    There was a unanimous groan. Dimbo Doyle! ‘Bloody typical!’ Peter thought. ‘Now we will waste half the night looking for them.’
    Capt Conkey checked his control sheet. “I was just talking to them on the radio but they weren’t sure where they were. They should have come to you from Checkpoint ‘D’. That was you CUO Grenfell. Did they reach you?”
    CUO Grenfell checked his control sheet in the firelight. “Yes sir. They left us about an hour ago, and they were heading the right way. I’ve got their bearing written here.”
    â€œThen they probably went the opposite way,” Graham said. They all laughed. This was exactly what Dimbo had done the previous year- gone off on the ‘Back Bearing’-for five kilometres!
    â€œThey were heading the right way when they left me,” CUO Grenfell insisted.
    Peter saw people approaching. “Here comes another section,” he called. A group of cadets tramped into the firelight- 10 Section reporting in. Graham ticked them off on his sheet. As CSM he was also keeping tabs on who had returned.
    A vehicle drove in and parked. Lt Maclaren and Lt Sandra McEwen, a pretty lady teacher in her twenties, climbed out and joined them.
    The OC turned to them and asked, “Did Dimbo Doyle’s group come past