More about me

I'd been a cadet two years when we won the wong band competition. We'd recently got a new bandmaster who drilled us hard to get things right. And with the new numbers he bought and the ones we made up with his help, the other bands were simply no match for us.

I was still waiting for my stripes but at this moment I didn't care, winning was that good.

Not only did we win, but we were doing band parades and 'gigs' every weekend. Sometimes as many as 3 or 4 per weekend. And we enjoyed it. When we weren't playing we were practicing and when not practicing we were hanging out. BBQs by the river, parties, you name it. Those were the days.

Winning the band competition at wing level meant going to the regional competition at Wittering and out performing the other winners in out region. Unfortunately, we came second by one single point. We out-played and out-shone the opposition in every aspect except one. Our slightly mismatched number 1 uniforms.

That one point would prove to be out downfall the next year when we'd be robbed of out title due to 'overcockyness'. But that's another story.

Something else happened at that very competition that finally earned me my stripes (although they still took another few months to get to me)

It happened to one of the other corporals and a new cadet. Sitting on the bus after playing and awaiting results we were all just having a laugh and eating. The corporal in question was sat next to this new female cadet with his number 1 jacket over his lap. None of us really thought anything of it.

And then the Warrent Officer walked onto the bus and demanded to see all the NCOs for a brief. The cadet jumped up and whipped her hand out from under the jacket and it dropped to the floor, revealing the corporals flies low and causing the two of them to turn very red.

To say the shit hit the fan is a massive understatement. We were all ordered to leave the bus whilst the WO torn strips out of them. Not that there was much point us leaving, everyword was heard as clear as day outside. And in fact cadets in other buses could probably hear.

But as funny as it was for us, it lost the guy his stripes. And then, a couple of months later, I was finally given mine.