Firestorm Tom - 3. FST Chapter 3

After a few days off, spending it with the family at Catterick, a registered envelope arrived for me, which I presumed to me my orders for my first assignment as an officer. When I opened the letter and read the orders, I roared with laughter, and wondered if someone high up was making a joke. I was in the kitchen eating breakfast, and Dad had already left for work, so I handed the letter over to mum so she could read it, and she too saw the humour in my new posting.

After a quick shower, shave and change into my new uniform, I jumped into my car, and drove to the Catterick ITS to report for duty at 0900 hours. “Lieutenant Thomas Benning, reporting for duty” I said as I arrived at the reception desk at the administration building. “Major Phillips wishes to speak to you when you arrived” I was informed, and I was directed to his office, and knocked on the Major’s office door and entered.

“Ah Benning, good you made it, sit down” the Major said to me with a smile. “Sir is this a joke, why have I been assigned to the same place as my father?” I asked in a puzzled tone, and the Major chuckled, “I thought my might react that way, to be honest, Lieutenant Jarvis, who you are replacing, was recently injured and won’t be returning, and it was the Sandhurst Commandant who recommended you, because you have excellent\leadership skills, I am sure is thanks to your father” the Major said.

“Does Sir Dad, know that I have been assigned to here, has he had gone before I woke up this morning” I asked the Major, who smiled, “No, I decided to wait till you arrive, and the Warrant Officer had told me of your pet name of him, since that visit to the Palace, now we wait for your father to arrive” the Major said with a huge smile.

“You are really enjoying this aren’t you sir?” I said to my new CO – commanding officer, “Of course I am young man, I have enjoyed your family’s antics since you first came here the first time, even when you tried to surprise me with your little trick, when we first met” the Major said and I blushed remembering what I had done years ago. There was a knock on the door, and the Major called out “Enter Mitchell”.

“You asked to see me sir?” my dad asked as he entered, and I had back to dad so he hadn’t seen me yet, “Yes Warrant Officer, we have a replacement for Lieutenant Jarvis” the Major said with a smile, and as Dad stepped closer, I stood up and turned, smiling at the same time. “Holy Cow, son what are you doing here?” Dad said to me shocked, “I am just as surprised Dad, I had no idea till I received my orders, while eating breakfast this morning, and yes mum knows” I replied as Dad and I hugged.

“Well that is not the traditional way to greet your junior CO, but I think we can forget that on this occasion” the major said to us, and we all laughed, then Dad and I faced to CO, to await more instructions. “Warrant officer, I will leave you to show the Lieutenant around the base, that is all for now” the Major said and Dad and I snapped to attention and saluted before exiting the office. “I thought this was all a bad joke, when I read the orders this morning” I said to dad after we left the office and made our way out of the building.

“Yes, I bet you did, I was a little shocked to see you, by the way your office is next door to mine, so since you know where that is lead the way” Dad said to me with a smile, and I chuckled as I walked towards the other building, passing a few ITS trainees on the way, and they saluted us as we passed, which I found a little difficult to get use too. I cautiously entered my new office and looked around, before sitting down at the desk, and Dad sat in a chair opposite and smiled.

For the next hour, Dad and I chatted about my duties, supervising the six training instructors, including Dad, checking the progress of all the trainees, and review each of the training programmes. After a quick cup of tea, Dad lead me out to inspect some of the training sessions that are in progress, and as we sat down for lunch at the base canteen, I asked Dad a heap of questions about different aspects of the training programme.

By the end of the day, I was fairly exhausted and my brain was full of new information, which was a little difficult to absorb everything at once, and when I arrived at home, Dad was already there, and I went to my room, and had a shower, to try and relax a little. I was a little quiet during dinner, while my brother and sister were noisy as usual. I guess I was thinking about everything that had happened today, and after the meal, I helped with cleaning up before heading my room for a good night’s sleep.

When Dad moved to his new position as an instructor at Sandhurst. At first, I felt a little overwhelmed with not having him as a support system for me, but over the next three years, I settled into a new routine, with the Major being very supportive. I was still able to spend my holidays with the family each year, which I really enjoyed. I took a week’s leave when Mum and Dad and my siblings, prepared to return to Australia, and I went to the Airport to see them off, as they left for home.

When I returned to ITS in Catterick, I was a bit of a mess, already missing my parents and siblings, as it was the first time that we had been separated by a long distance, since I was 11 years old, and the Major understood and gave me a couple more days off, to help me get back into work mode, and when I did return to work, I concentrated on my work, and nothing else to try and forget my problems of homesickness and missing my family.

I received a call from Dad to let me know that they had arrived home safely, but they informed me that Aunty Jean was ill and in hospital, and that they will let me know how she is progressing. It was two years later, when I was in my final few weeks of my contract with ITS, that I was personally monitoring the progress of training in the field, and I was not happy with a new instructor, who was on his first training assignment, having to fill in for another instructor who had fallen sick and could not continue.

For a few days, I watched the instructor, Sergeant Jones as he put his men through their training schedule, and the more I watched, the more impatient I became with his sloppiness. At the end of the week, I had a meeting with the Major regarding my concerns with this instructor, and recommended that he be transferred to a unit where he would be a lot more useful, with less long-term damage to the Army, and the Major suggested that he give the instructor a little more time to settle in, since it was only his third week as an instructor with the ITS, and so I accepted the Major’s suggestion and headed home for the day.

A few days later, on the Monday morning, I was up early as the platoon commanded by sergeant Jones was going through an early morning fitness session, along an obstacle course, and watched from nearby, without revealing me being there. When I spotted a safety issue with one of the pieces of the obstacle equipment, I waited to see if the Sergeant would spot it, and do something about it, but the long I waited the more anxious I got, until I exploded.

“Sergeant Jones. you bloody wombat, what the hell are you doing you silly drongo”, I shouted at him as I was rapidly approaching him, unaware that the Major was just a short distance behind me, also watching what was happening. When I heard laughing coming from behind me, I stopped and swung around to find Major Phillips bending over and laughing loudly, and I looked at him in a puzzled manner, as he stood up and approached me with a huge grin on his face.

“Sergeant Jones, send your men back to their quarters to prepare for breakfast” the Major said to the instructor who was looking just as confused. Once the men where running double time back to base, the Major turned to me. “Lieutenant, do you remember much of the first time you came to the UK?” the Major asked me. “Sir yes sir, I got into big trouble for pulling a stunt on the Colonel, sir”, I replied with a little smile and the Major chuckled as he remembered this.

“How time passes by so fast, eh young Tom. Now a few months after you arrived here the first time, before that incident, do you recall your dad telling you something when he arrived home from work?” the Major asked me, and I frowned as I tried to remember. “Sir, I think that was about the time my mum was pregnant, I vaguely remember dad saying something about an education in Australian slang, sir” I replied, and the Major smiled and nodded his head.

“And what exactly did you just do a few minutes ago, Lieutenant?” the Major asked me, and once again I frown to think back to what I was doing. “I was shouting at Sergeant Jones, sir” I responded, “In what language, Lieutenant?” the Major asked, “In Engl... oops” I said when I realised that I had been swearing in Australian slang, and I blushed and looked down at my boots, which made the Major laugh loudly.

“You said word for word, exactly what your dad said over twelve years ago, and the soldier at the time was a Cadet Jones, I just hope that it is not the same person” the Major said to me. “I hope so too, Sir” I responded as the Major indicated to me to follow him. Twenty minutes later, we entered the dining hall of the base, and after a quick search, the Major found the person and headed his way, and indicated to me to follow.

“Sergeant Jones, could you tell me something, did you by any chance do your ITS training course here about twelve years ago?” the Major asked the sergeant, “Err yes sir I did, and I found it difficult learning stuff until the training officer, um, Warrant Officer Mitchell something sorted me out” the sergeant replied, and my face went ghost white, and I felt dizzy, and sat down hard on the floor. The Major looked over to me to see if I was ok, and I nodded my head that I was, before turning back to the sergeant.

“Sergeant, Lieutenant Tom Benning here, has just…”, “Benning, that was his name sir, Warrant Officer Mitchell Benning” the Sergeant said interrupting the Major, “Yes, that is my father” I announced as I stood up from the floor and faced the sergeant, who equally went ghost white when he realised the connection. “Hey wait a minute, are you that little kid that use to come onto the base, trailing behind the Warrant Officer all the time, and tried to order a Colonel to attention?” the Sergeant said as he recalled the event, which mad me and the major start to chuckle, as I blushed a little.

“Yes Sergeant, this is the same young Tom, who did that, and got punished for it along with the two platoons for laughing” the Major said, “Yes sir, I remember that now, and…earlier, you just shouted at me, just like your dad did over twelve years ago” the Sergeant said to me with a big smile. “Yes, according to the Major, it was word for word, I had sore legs for nearly a week after that march” I replied with a smile.

“Sir, was that the Sandhurst Sword of Honour that you were wearing at parade last week?” a Corporal nearby asked me, “Yes it was, the SOH, I was in B Platoon, Waterloo Company at Sandhurst, and I received the Overseas award also from Her Majesty” I replied, “What the Lieutenant neglected to say, is that his father is now Sir Mitchell Benning, as he was knighted, a few months after Tom started his Sandhurst training, and he was present at the ceremony at Buckingham Palace, as was I” the Major said proudly.

On reflection on what has been said, I will follow my father’s lead, and give you a break, with the Major’s permission, I will be assisting you with the training, to get your training skills up to par, see me in my office straight after breakfast” I said to the Sergeant, “Good call there, Lieutenant, you have my permission” the Major said and he walked off to get some breakfast.

“Thanks Lieutenant, I appreciate this help, I have realised that I am a little out of my depth here, and look forward to working with you” the Sergeant said with a smile and I nodded my head and also went to get some breakfast. By the time my contract had ended at ITS, Sergeant Jones was becoming a more confident and reliable instructor, and I could see that he was going to be an asset.

On the flight home, I was very fidgety for the first half of the flight, looking forward to seeing the family again, but when we stopped at Singapore for a 4 hour stop, I turned my phone on to check for messages and found one from Dad, “Call me, urgent”, so I dialled the house number, but it rang out, so I called dad’s mobile. “Hi son, are you still on your way home?” dad asked me, “Yes dad, I am in Singapore, the flight leaves in three hours for Perth, what is wrong, what is urgent?” I asked, as I could feel my stomach going on knots.

“Aunty Jean passed away this morning, she had an aneurism in her brain, she was not in pain and it happened very quickly” dad informed me. I cried softly as dad told me the terrible news, not worrying about the people around me staring at me, and it was nearly half an hour later before I was able to calm down enough. Dad said to me that the funeral would be in six days’ time, so I will be home in plenty of time to attend.

Then suddenly I thought about the incident with Sergeant Jones, and I smiled. “Dad, do you remember Cadet Jones at ITS?” I said to Dad, “Why yes I do, I recall giving him a verbal blasting in Australian slang, why is that son?” Dad replied, “Because a few weeks ago, I gave a new training instructor a verbal blasting in Australian slang, and Major Phillips was standing behind me, and burst out laughing.

“When he told me that I had said the same thing as you did, word for word, over twelve years ago” I replied, and I could hear Dad laughing softly, “Did the Major hand out Aussie slang books as he did for me, and who was the poor bloke that copped it from you?” Dad asked me, “It was a Sergeant Mike Jones, Dad, the very same guy that you shouted at twelve years ago” I replied, and Dad roared with laughter, dropping the phone as he continued to laugh. “Hello, is that you Tom, why is your father rolling around on the floor, laughing his butt off?” I heard Mum say to me, and I smiled.

“I will let Dad tell you that when he has calmed down enough, I will see you in about 11 hours’ time, bye for now” I said and I ended the call and sighed loudly and smiled, before heading to the bathroom to wash my face.

The End