My story 16.3

Another day, another army exercise. This time we arose early in the morning, and we were to drive "colon", led by the brass in the jeep, sporting a green flag. Followed by say about 15 trucks, and at the end the "Brik", a tow truck with the red flag. The word "Brik" was obviously derived from the word "Break-down". Driving in such a way was never faster then 55KM/hr. Slow and boring! That has of course its consequences, drivers falling asleep at the wheel, and looking for snacks and drinks, and the other consequences of eating and drinking as you can well imagine.

We arrived at our destination, a wooded area with lots of bush. We stopped and wondered why took so long before we could get out. It turned out that a group of Gypsies were camping in our field! The lieutenant and his subordinates were negotiating with the Gypsies for the sharing of the area. They must have succeeded, and we set camp about 100 meters away.

We had a lot of gear with us, that was in a backpack, as well as ammunition bags hanging on your belt and holding on to the old rifle. I honestly could not walk more then half a mile with all that weight. I mumbled "I hope we do not have to fight the Gypsies like this, we could never win". Part of your gear was a rain coat that also could serve as half a tent. So, you guessed it, everybody had to find a partner and set up a tent-for-two. In case of war you bunk well away from your vehicle so that you would be safe in case the truck comes under fire. But I was not too crazy about spending the night inches away from this "partner".

The next thing was to move the truck about a hundred feet away and camouflage it. We did, and I had a plan. When nobody was looking I took my straw mattress out of the tent and put in the truck. When everybody woke up the next morning, surrounded by puddles and mud I was dry and well rested. Oh, one more thing, I got heck from one sergeant, and his yelling woke up another sergeant. Still in his pyjamas, he stuck his head out of the back of another truck where he had spent the night. We all laughed. That is the army for you.
(I took this picture, so I am not in it.)