A New World Begins

Monday: a day of reckoning

“That’s looking pretty neat, Craig,” said Mr Wheeler, “I’m haven’t seen this place looking so tidy for ages.”

“Oh, I’m not done yet,” replied Craig, “There’s still the cartons of screws and bolts to sort out. They’re just on the rack in shit order. They should be in size order. I’ll have time to sort them before I go.”

“No, you won’t. You’ve done enough for tonight. It’s way past the time I pay you for. Finish off and go home, the screws will wait until tomorrow. Besides, I think there’s someone waiting for you in the reception area. I don’t think she’s the kind of girl that likes to be kept waiting.”

* * *

“Hi Mandy, what are you doing here?”

“Charming as ever, brat. I was passing by and thought you might like to walk me home.”

“School finished nearly two hours ago, Mandy. You can’t just have been passing by.”

“I stayed late to discuss things with the Senior Staff and Headmaster. I’m the Sixth Form rep on the school liaison committee now. And I’ve been talking about you.”

“Me? What the fu..”

“Shut it, brat, your dad would kick your arse if he heard you swearing in front of ladies. And no, don’t even think about saying what you’re thinking or I’ll kick your arse too.””

“Mandy!”

“Craig…”

Well, I’m not going to argue with her when she has that face on. She isn’t kidding about kicking my arse, she really would. She knows I can’t hit her back. Plus she probably does Ty-Phoo or one of those other martial art things. If Nat’s sister, Elizabeth, can beat me at archery and clay pigeon shooting maybe It’s wise not to challenge Mandy to a boxing match.

“What were you talking about, Mandy? About me?”

“I’ve volunteered you, Craig. For the Armistice Day assembly. Just like last year, I’ll sing ‘I vow to thee my country’ in the moments leading up to the two-minute silence. Then we usually have a recording of the bugle call ‘Last Post’ to start the silence, and then ‘Reveille’ to end it.”

“Yes, I know. It’s the same every year. But what has that got to do with me, Mandy?”

“This year, we won’t have the recordings of the bugle calls. We have you playing your bugle. In uniform. In front of the whole school at assembly. Neat, huh?”

“Mandy! I’ve only just started learning to play the bugle. I can’t do ‘Last Post’ yet. Or ‘Reveille’. I’m just learning simple stuff, like the divisional calls. It’ll take ages to get to the standard for ‘Last Post’.”

“You’ve got nearly a week, Craig. Bags of time. You just need to knuckle down and get some practice in.”

* * *

In the dorm, Travis was in charge as he, Shane, Will and Noah sat at their desks busy at private study. Both Kyle and Nathan had still not returned after tea: Kyle having held back to attend Jackson’s briefing to the cadet officers and Nathan waiting in the office for the Weekly Orders to be released. The process was taking longer than usual.

Shane looked up from his science worksheet and lifted his Timex off the desk to check it for the third or fourth time. Still no sign of Nathan or Kyle. Across at the other side of the dorm Will was glancing at his phone. There too, the seconds were ticking by painfully slowly.

“What do you think, Travis?” enquired Shane. “Did we get an ‘A’?”

Travis looked up and shot a reassuring glance at Noah. “We must have done. Our drill was faultless. We’re being assessed on drill, nothing else. They can’t criticise our drill. All the way to church we did silent drill, then on the way back it was easy because we had Jackson calling out the commands before we did silent drill at the end again. That’s not on the training programme until our third year.”

“Maybe they just gave us a ‘B’,” said Will. “They have to leave some wiggle room for a higher mark in case another dorm is better than us.”

“No, they can’t do that,” said Shane. “We were first, and best. Other dorms won’t be as good as us. Even if they practice and try to copy us, they won’t be as good. They didn’t get the special coaching and tips from Craig. They don’t have much time left to practice either. We’ve all seen them at practice. Even on just the standard drills they aren’t as good as us. If they try and add in silent drill they’ll just make it too hard for themselves. They have to give us an ‘A’.”

The sound of the fire doors out at the end of the corridor clanging shut interrupted the discussion. If that was Nat or Shane, they would be opening the dorm door in about ten seconds. That was the closest thing the dorm got to an early warning of incoming visitors. By the time the dorm door opened and both Kyle and Shane entered all the guys were studiously bent over their desks, apparently hard at work on the day’s worksheets.

“Coffee each,” smiled Nathan as he placed a tray of cups down on the admin desk. “Some cookies too.”

That was virtually unheard of. Normally Nat would make a comment such as “I wouldn’t mind a coffee,” and look around the dorm to see who would take the hint and go and make him one down in the kitchen along the corridor. It was a perk of being a senior. Seniors didn’t make coffee for the juniors.

Kyle grabbed a coffee and two cookies from the tray, then wandered over to his bedspace. He placed the coffee and cookies on his desk and started to change out of his uniform and into smarts. Nathan moved a cup of coffee to his desk but remained in uniform. He always did that, maintaining formality until he had read the Weekly Orders to the guys and briefed them on the upcoming week’s duties.

“Okay guys, once you have a cup of coffee and a cookie, grab a seat by the admin desk ready for Weekly Orders. Travis, any problems?”

“No, Nat, everything was smooth. We all just did our private study.”

After a spurt of activity all the guys had a coffee and cookie, and were settled down into the comfy chairs by the admin desk. Nathan took a long, slow sip of his coffee and leaned back against the desk as Kyle, still over in his own bed space, looked on and smiled.

“Okay guys,” said Nathan, “Listen in. Weekly Orders.”

Ten minutes later Nathan had covered the standard points to be passed down from the Commandant to the cadets, and then the additional points added in by Jackson. Following that came Nat’s own Duties List, outlining who was responsible for all the dorm tasks that week. Shane and Travis featured highly, in fact disproportionately so, with Noah and Will hardly incurring any duties at all. Shane and Travis exchanged glances and decided not to question their tasks. It could have been far worse. Nat was clearly signalling to them his displeasure at the stunt they had pulled on Quinn with the chocolate, but was keeping the punishments low key and within the dorm.

“So,” finished Nat, “That just about concludes all the official business. Any questions about Weekly Orders or the Dorm Duty Roster?”

There was brief murmur. “No, Nat.”

“Right, I guess you are all waiting for the results of your Drill Assessment. I think Kyle has that. Kyle, would you like to pass on what Jackson said at the Officers’ Briefing?”

Kyle smiled as the guys all turned to face him.

“No, Nat, you’re the dorm senior now. It goes with the territory. Breaking bad news as well as good, Sergeant.”

Four sets of alarmed eyes swivelled back round to Nat.

“Okay guys, I know you were all hoping for a straight ‘A’ for your drill assessment. I’d just like to say that I’m proud of the way you all pulled together and put in loads of extra work to try and set a standard no other dorm could match. In terms of commitment and effort, you thoroughly deserve the highest mark possible. Taking the test early really showed a level of determination that is commendable. Unfortunately, when it came to achievement, it seems that Jackson and the Commandant, plus all the officer cadets from the Color Escort, didn’t feel your final performance on the day deserved an ‘A’.” That’s right, isn’t it Kyle?”

Kyle nodded gravely. “I’m sorry guys. From what Jackson said, it was a hard decision to make. There was lots of heated debate about the final scores amongst the judges. Ultimately though, the cadet officers and the Commandant were in unanimous agreement. You didn’t get a straight ‘A’.”

Travis and Shane looked at each other, then at Will and Noah. There was a palpable disappointment in the air. Noah looked crestfallen.

“I’m sorry, guys,” said Noah quietly, “I didn’t mean to screw things up for you.”

“You didn’t,” said Shane quickly, “That dropped cap wasn’t your fault. It shouldn’t have counted against us. That’s not fair…”

Travis stood up to speak but was waved down by Nathan.

“It didn’t count against you, guys. The business with the cap is over and done with. It had no bearing on your drill scores. The fact is, you simply didn’t get a straight ‘A’. The Commandant and the other judges decided you didn’t merit an ‘A’.”

“So, what did we get?” asked Shane. “A ‘B’? Maybe ‘B+’?”

“An ‘A-‘?” asked Will hopefully.

Kyle and Nathan exchanged glances. It was time to put the guys out of their misery.

“No,” said Nat, “Not even a ‘B+’.” He raised the ‘Weekly Orders’ paper again and studied it carefully. “I think I may have missed a bit under the ‘Congratulatories’ section. ‘The Commandant is pleased to Congratulate Bensinger Squad on their Drill Assessment and notes with pride that they are the first freshman squad ever to be awarded a ‘Distinction’ for drill and only the second squad of any level to exceed an ‘A Merit’ rating in the last twenty years.’ “

There was a stunned silence for a moment, eventually broken by Travis. “We got an ‘A’ with a Distinction’? Like the next one up from a ‘Merit’? An ‘A’ with Distinction?”

Kyle and Nathan both smiled.

“Yes, guys,” said Kyle. “An ‘A’ with Distinction. It doesn’t get better than that. You can’t believe how proud me and Nat are with you. And the important thing is, you earned it. People are going to have to start thinking about Bensinger Squad, our squad, in a whole new light from now on.”

* * *

*Ping*

Press ‘Start’ to accept video call. Your microphone is currently muted.

Craig: Hi Nat, how are things over the pond?

Nathan: Hi Boots, I’m good. Is this timing okay for you? I figure it’s about ten-thirty over there. I know that’s getting a little bit late but I had something I wanted to tell you and I spotted you were online.

Craig: Yes, you’re good Nat. I was putting in some extra study for my music. Learning a bugle call.

Nathan: Learning music? I didn’t know you did music. You never said…

Craig: Long story, Nat. I’ll bring you up to speed another time. What is it you wanted to tell me?

Nathan: Can I put you on the big screen, Boots? All the guys are here, we want to tell you something.

Craig: Yes, that’s fine Nat, It’s nice to see them. Let me switch on my webcam too.

Nathan: Okay Boots, we’ve got you. Guys, gather round, Craig’s coming up on the screen.

Craig:Hi guys, so what’s so important that you had to keep me from bed? And shouldn’t you all be busy doing private study? Do you need help with your Spanish, Shane?

Shane: Hola, Boots. No, I’m good on the Spanish.

Craig: That’s good Shane. Just let me know when you’re ready to learn proper English English though. I might be able to help out there. Hey, and Noah, watch out with those elbows, that’s twice I’ve seen you shove Travis out of your way. Careful with him, he’s delicate.

Nathan: Now we’ve got the comedy out of the way, the guys have some thing to tell you, Boots. Travis, do you want to break the news?

Travis:“We did it, Boots. We got the top mark possible for drill.

Craig: A straight ‘A’? That’s awesome. I knew you could do it. Set a real challenge for the other dorms.

Kyle: No, Boots. Not just a straight ‘A’. They did better than that. Guys?...

Shane: We got an ‘A’ with a Distinction, Boots. A Distinction….

Will:That’s one up from a Merit, Boots.

Travis:First time in over twenty years, the Commandant said…

Shane:Published in Weekly Orders as a Congratulatory.

Nathan: Not all at once, guys, give Craig a chance to hear what’s being said.

Craig:That’s pretty clear enough, Nat, Kyle. You must be proud of them. Key thing is though, not to rest on your laurels. There are all the other MilSkills assessments coming up. Patrolling skills. Harbour skills. Map reading. Signals and communications. The assault course. Do you do river crossings? You must do river crossings…

Nathan: Whoa, steady on there, Boots. Leave the guys something to learn in their sophomore year. I take it you have some more tips for us?

Boots: Maybe… Of course, river crossings are easy for Royal Marines Cadets, we just walk over the water, but I reckon I can sort some techniques out to get you lot across too. 😊

Shane: Boots, can I ask a question?

Craig:Sure Shane, fire away.

Shane:Is that your cadet uniform hanging on the door behind you?

Craig:Yes, it’s my new ceremonial uniform. It’s dead smart. I’m in the band now. I’m a Drummer Bugler. Well, I will be when I learn to play them properly. At the moment my mum says my bugle sounds like a cat screeching with its tail trapped in the door. 😊

Nathan: Okay guys, remember it’s late over in England and we need to get ready to go over to dinner so say goodnight to Boots and thanks for the help he gave you.

All:Goodnight, Boots. Thanks again.

Nathan: Will, make sure you close the link down properly, in fact sever all connections across the Atlantic. We don’t want Boots blowing Reveille at us when he gets up at dark o’clock … 😊