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A NEW BEGINNING
308
FIFTEEN
The NCOs, as has ever been their wont, would take it in their stride and rapidly switch
roles from instructors to loyal subordinates of those of their trainees assigned to be their
superiors. Though they would keep their thoughts to themselves, they would have an inside
tract on the strengths and weaknesses of their new bosses. For the immediate future, after
the Commissioning Parade, they would exercise an old tradition of claiming $5 or $10 from
each new Second Lieutenant on receiving his very first salute from a subordinate. Where
this ‘tradition’ came from is anybody’s guess, but it was a brilliant invention as it made the
inversion of status one last forfeit, which both parties accepted with equanimity.
Thus, for the last two weeks, there were no serious threats of punishment for minor
misdemeanors. In any case, what could they be? The cadets would have to clear out of ‘A’
Company, if not SAFTI altogether so, extra duties would be academic. And, extra duties of
what? A Second Lieutenant as armskote man? For their part, the graduants were not about
to tempt Providence. They were mainly concerned with getting their No. 1 Dress properly
fitted and laundered, their leather-soled combat boots shining like liquid ebony, their peak
caps shaped just so and their ceremonial gloves snow white. But, there were rehearsals and
rehearsals, a bearable aggravation now that the end was in sight, especially since it was to be a
triumphal parade. There was much speculation about their immediate future as the postings
were made known towards the end of the last week, each wondering what it presaged, why
they were selected for such and such, how they would cope and some, perhaps, entertaining
visions of grandeur.
On Saturday, 15
th
July, each graduating cadet received sets of metal rank insignias or ‘pips’
as they were called. One pair was of the solid brass that was the official issue of the time,
later changed to anodised alloy material that did not need to be polished and another, was
the silver and red version for the ceremonial No. 1 Dress as well as the mess kit. It was an
ecstatic moment for most cadets: solid material evidence that they had made it. It was in
these high spirits that they proceeded to another benchmark event: cocktails at the Officers’
Mess, that holiest of holies—hosted by the officers—in civilian dress and not in No. 3 dress
to signify their initiation to membership. But, in all the small talk between the officers and
the cadets, the cadets studiously avoided any kind of familiarity and never once forgot to
say “Sir.”
And, just as well. The camaraderie of the Officers’ Mess was rudely shattered by what
followed later in the evening. Perhaps, as a last fling of their rapidly evaporating authority
over the cadets, some junior instructors decided to conduct an unscheduled and informal
haircut inspection the evening before the Commissioning Parade. It was well-intentioned
and may have been initiated by the Company HQ so that the cadets would look smart. But,
it went beyond good intentions when some of the instructors decided to cut the hair of
some of the cadets by themselves. There were tense moments when, in one platoon, the
affected cadets proposed to shave themselves completely bald. The intervention of a more