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PULLING TOGETHER
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paper and masking tape, nobody helped him either. Additionally, the gamblers, still furious,
waited for him to go to bed and then emptied the bucket of water from the fire piquet on
him that night. Fortunately, nobody noticed the patch-up job in the washroom ceiling and
no appointment holder reported it.
A far more serious occurrence, which showed the extent to which mutual support could
be stretched during the first intake training, also had to do indirectly with ceiling panels.
About two weeks before the end of the whole course, Platoon 3 returned at dawn from
a raid exercise and started cleaning weapons and clearing stores. In Section 12, one cadet
was cleaning the Verey pistol which had acquired a patina of rust from exposure to salt air.
Incredibly, there was a round in the chamber and it was set off. This was the second time that
this had occurred in the same section. The first time, a couple of months earlier, the flare
had whizzed past Tiger Hong as he stepped into the square, but the cadet responsible had
got away with some extra duties, mainly because a part of the flare casing had hit another
cadet and caused a laceration which had to be attended to by the Medical Centre. On this
occasion, however, the flare went into the ceiling and set off a fire. As thick smoke built
up, the fire alarm was raised. Fire piquets were activated and the fire brigade was called.
The whole company evacuated to the square. The fire brigade arrived quickly and put out
the fire. Investigators were told that the fire was started by an electrical short circuit and
there was enough damage to the wiring on the ceiling that it was officially accepted as the
cause of the fire. It was only after the commissioning of the first intake that Major John
Morrice was informed of the actual situation in one Officers’ Mess get-together. But, every
cadet in ‘A’ Company had got to know of it by nightfall on the day itself. The weekly cadet
A group relaxing during lunch break.