|
ANECDOTES & MEMOIRES Foreword Contributed by Gerry Greg PECK (53B) I have
sat and read the contributions from the late Alan LOVELACE (51A) and Ian REA
(July 1938), what a contrast in attitudes and in situation. It is an
interesting look at how the old place changed over the years really, as there
is but scant sign of the hierarchical pecking order that became an
indelible part of the system that I knew and coped with, in Ian's account. We
all suffer from a tendency to ignore the fact that the Arborfield we knew was
not constant in format or even in output, as to what it trained its people
for and to whom it sent them afterwards. It was constantly evolving to meet
the perceived needs of the Army as regards trained mechanics, technicians and
so forth. The
result, as is evident from the contributions by Alan and Ian, shows an
extraordinarily diverse and rich tapestry of life in a very
specialised training establishment that dealt exclusively with teenaged
youths. The demands made upon instructors and pupils were remorseless and
sometimes made life very difficult for the less adaptable amongst us. People
cope with stress in all sorts of ways and as we see from Alan's account, he
chose to defy those parts of the Arborfield regimen that made little or no
sense to him. Inevitably, as would be the case with all who adopted that
response, it led to his eventual dismissal as an Apprentice. The fact that he
then went on, after yet one more false start, to make a good soldier,
indicates to me that despite his best (or worst) efforts to the contrary,
some of what Arborfield was all about actually stuck. The same is manifestly
true of others that I know of who accepted the silver bullet, in later life
they are mostly good men and true. Does
this mean that Arborfield only turned out good men and true then? Of course
not, like any establishment that draws upon the whole populace for its
entrants, it had its true no-hoper's who would never make a soldier at any
price. The odd inveterate thief, the odd truly sadistic bully and would you
believe - one of the last men in the Is
this anything to be ashamed of? Of course not, the fact that so many of the thousands
who went to Arborfield became reliable soldiers and viable craftsmen is all the testimonial anyone could reasonably ask for. What
is needed, if the memories of the old place are to be true and valid, is for
veracity and actuality to be the byword of whatever we place in the archives
such as the 49'ers provides. In years to come, historians do not want to be
unsure of whether they read of Arborfield or My own
method of coping with the demands of the AAS was biblical, I kept my head
down and rendered unto Cæsar.... Just prior to
joining AAS, I attended a huge gathering of Army cadets at St Martins Plain
camp in The
point is, all of us dealt with what was asked of us
in our own fashions and we all saw our life there from an individual
perspective, we all remember different parts of our routines in various
orders of importance to ourselves. So all of us will have something to
contribute to the tapestry I referred to earlier. I was
one of the first that George MILLIE (49B) persuaded to go into print with my memoires, of both AAS and beyond. It is George, bless
him, who has begun the task of getting us to place our memories where
they might abide and it is my earnest wish to encourage others amongst us to
carry on and do likewise. The
old place deserves no less of us! Addendum: |
|
|
