Follow-up

READING about the Army recruit threatened with having his brains rearranged via one nostril by his sergeant major (Peterborough) reminded me of the June day in 1955 when our squad was on the barrack square at Taunton. one of the lads seemed incapable of keeping a limb still, so Sergeant Pinkney yelled: ‘If you flap that arm again, Smith, I’ll rip it out at the roots and beat you to death with it.’ Unfortunately, he caught my eye as he said it and I couldn’t suppress a snigger. I had visions of being placed where it was said that the birds would be unable to drop anything on me. But to my surprise he grinned back at me and moved on. I suspect that drill sergeants had a stock of these phrases and produced them when required. Happy days!