Right, you ’orrible little squirts, fall in!

SeRGeaNt Denis Pinkney shouting ‘if you flap that arm again, smith, i’ll rip it out at the roots and beat you to death with it’ (Peterborough) reminded me fondly of when i was at barracks in taunton. i was there from 1954 to 1956, so i remember Denis well. On one occasion, he was drilling his recruits and they all seemed to have two left feet and two left arms. He positioned his platoon at the side of the barracks square. then he summoned over a group of a dozen young boys, who lived with their parents in the married quarters and were watching the new recruits with some amusement. He proceeded to drill them like a squad of soldiers. the boys knew the drill far better than any of the recruits, and

put on a display to shame the Brigade of Guards. the boys were ‘dismissed’ and Denis turned to his men, saying: ‘aren’t you ashamed of yourselves?’ Needless to say, their drills improved immediately. We can now laugh at these anecdotes, but behind them was a grim reality. British troops were deployed in numerous troublespots around the world. Most of the instructors had already experienced a couple of years fighting in the Malayan jungle. they were under no illusion as to what awaited the recruits. People like Denis took reluctant, rebellious teenagers and in a few weeks turned them into men who had pride in themselves, their country and the regiment in which they served. He also prepared them, as best he could, for the ordeals that would lie ahead. as i was also a sergeant instructor at the barracks while reader ian stockdale was there, perhaps he crossed my path a few times and i, too, rearranged the wax in his ears!

Jim Durant, Taunton, Somerset.