Terror Again - 8. TA Chapter 8

“Well, you won’t have to worry about those two men anymore. Although they were wounded, they managed to break away from the soldiers before they ran into the river, and you can guess what happened next,” Mark said to me, “Oh man, that would not have been a pretty sight to see,” I commented, “Yeah, I'm going to have nightmares for some time having witnessed that… I want to thank you for what you did, you saved my life. I will never forget that” Mark responded as he gave me a short hug.

Later that day I received a visit from the surgeon who operated on my arm, who informed me that I had ligament damage from the bullet and that I would probably have some permanently restricted movement in my arm, although I should have full use of my hand, which I was pleased to hear.

About half an hour later, the Colonel entered my hospital room and my brother and Mark excused themselves to go to the cafeteria to get a snack and drink. “I am glad to hear that your wound was not too serious and that you will be out of here very soon,” the colonel said to me.

“Thank you, sir, and I wish to thank you and the Army for coming to the rescue to deal with those two men, I don’t know how it would have turned out without your help, even with me no longer in the Army,” I replied, “Ah yes, about that… there was a slight stuff up with the paperwork, which has not been completed, so officially you are still in the Army, but I will make sure that you get that paperwork so we can finalise your separation from the Army,” the Colonel said to me.

I was a little shocked at this, and in a way, I was glad with this stuff up, which explained why I got so much help from the Army, “Sir, I have come to a decision, and that is to grant the Australian Army permission to use my property as a temporary training camp for short periods, and I am happy to increase facilities to be able to accommodate the training teams,” I said to the Colonel.

“That is very good news to hear Captain Kenrick. Once you are out of the hospital, come and see me so we can discuss it in more detail,” the Brigadier said from the doorway, which caught me by surprise, as the Colonel snapped to attention, “I will be happy to do that sir,” I replied as I saw the Brigadier motion to the Colonel to stand at ease. “Tell me, what you have in mind for improvements to your facilities,” the Brigadier asked me.

“Well sir, I currently have a large shed that has half concrete walls that currently houses my ho… a vehicle, with another one currently stored in Darwin,” I said as I changed my wording a bit, “You were about to say hovercraft? What type is it,” the Colonel asked me on hearing my change of words.

“Yes, sirs, I have two hovercrafts, the smaller of the two is a Wildfire that is 7 metres long and 2.7 metres wide, in hover mode, slightly smaller when parked and has a cruising speed of 50 km/hr, with room for one pilot and 6 passengers. The second hovercraft is much larger. It’s known as an Aurora and is 14.5 metres long and 5.7 metres wide and can carry a crew of two and 34 passengers, plus a small storage area, it has a small galley and a marine toilet and has a cruise speed of 72 km/hr,” I announced.

“Now, I like the sound of that one, can we have a look at it once you are out of hospital?” the Brigadier asked, “Yes sir, and we can take it out for a spin too if you like, I am qualified to pilot both of them, with the smaller one already located at home,” I replied. “So that is how you got around getting access to your property?” the Colonel asked, and I smiled and nodded my head, as the Brigadier chuckled at this news.

Two days later I was discharged from the hospital, and I was a little surprised that the Army was paying the Private Hospital medical bills for me, and Sawney was there to pick me up. “Where is Mark,” I asked as I climbed into the passenger seat of Mark’s Humvee jeep, “At home, working on finishing the extended boundary fence, which is almost complete. Do you need to do anything before we head home?” my brother replied. “Yes, we need to call into the base, I have to go and see what’s happening, but I need to…” I was interrupted when an Army jeep pulled up in front of us, and the Colonel stepped out of the vehicle.

“Captain Kenrick, the Brigadier is ready for his tour of the Aurora now please,” the Colonel said to me, as I saw the Brigadier step out of the vehicle, to show his presence, “Very well sir, if you would follow me into the city, the Aurora is stored at the Marine Yard on the corner of Francis Bay Drive Gonzales Rd, on the edge of the city,” I said to the Colonel.

As Sawney was driving, I made a quick call to the Marine Yard, to let them know that I was on my way to come and take the Aurora out for a spin on the harbour, and when we arrived in the yard, I was surprised to see not just the Army Jeep there, but also two Army Hawkei vehicles, and several officers stepped out, including Navy and Army senior officers, including a Commodore which is equal to a Brigadier, a Navy Captain, Commander and Lt Commander, while there was also an Army Major and Captain that joined the brigadier and Colonel.

“Sorry about this Captain, but I have received requests from HMAS Coonawarra and Army Base Larrakeyah for senior officers to join us,” the Brigadier said to me, “Very well then, just stay here until I get the Aurora started and out of the yard… Sawney can you join me please,” I responded, as we stepped away from the eight officers. “Sawney, can you dash around the corner to one of the cafes in the Hummer, and get enough drinks and snacks for twelve people to last for about an hour?” I asked my brother, as I handed him my wallet before I headed to the office of the yard.

I spent about ten minutes speaking to the owner of the yard, before unlocking and entering the Aurora, and did some pre-flight checks, until Sawney arrived, driving the Humvee right up to the rear door of the hovercraft, and I assisted him to load the supplies into the galley and store. Once Sawney had parked the Humvee outside and returned, and with the rear door closed and locked, I started up the Aurora.

“Take a seat next to me, but don’t touch anything ok?” I said to my brother, who took a seat, and soon we were slowly exiting the large shed, before I stopped near the front gate to the yard, before going to the side gull wing, and opening it, to let our guests in. “Welcome onboard the Aurora, please take a seat anywhere in the main cabin,” I said as they entered, and took a seat.

After closing the side door, I returned to my seat and put on my headphones. “Darwin Harbour, this is Hovercraft Aurora, Captain Struan Kenick speaking, requesting permission to leave Gonzales Boa tramp for a Defence Department Harbour tour, over,” I said into the radio mic. “Hovercraft Aurora, permission is granted. Be aware of some heavy traffic in the harbour, over,” was the response, before increasing the engine thrust, and starting to move forward, then turning left towards the boat ramp.

Once on the water, I increased the speed to 8 knots, as I headed towards the Middle Arm Boat Ramp located on the Blackmore River, just past Greenwood Island, which is mostly tropical mangroves, before heading back towards the main harbour and stopping at Mica Beach on the other side of the harbour, where we served refreshments for the passengers, and after a short stroll along the beach, we headed back towards Darwin, where I landed at the Boat Ramp at HMAS Coonawarra, where our passengers could leave.

“Well, that was a very enjoyable journey, and I can see a lot of advantages of having a hovercraft this big. Would you consider leasing it to the Defence Force to transport personnel during training?” I was asked by the Commodore, “I would also like you to transfer to the Transport and Logistics Corp of the Army Reserves so that you can be the pilot if you accept this request,” the Brigadier added.

“I will think about it and let you know, sir,” I replied. “Good, you have a week of recovery leave, before I expect a response, on what your future will be,” the Brigadier said to me. A few minutes later, Sawney and I were heading back to the boat ramp, where the Aurora was stored. “You know bro, I think I will take this back home, so I will drop you off here, and I will see you in about three hours when I arrive home,” I said to Sawney.

When I arrived home, Mark and Sawney were at the open gate and waved hello when I hovered through, closing and locking the gate behind them, and I drove around to the large shed where the Wildfire is parked. Once inside my home again, I sat down in the lounge and was given a cup of tea with biscuits before Sawney and Mark sat down too. “So, what is the latest here?” I asked.

“The new boundary fence is completed, and the boundary gate on the road is locked, so we won’t have any issues with vehicles anymore, also Euan has taken over managing my part of the farm with a very tiny leasing fee of $1 per month so that I can live here with my boyfriend and his boss here,” Sawney announced, which caught me by surprise.

“Well that is awesome news, now I have decided to offer the Army the use of the property as a camping base when they have training out this way, so I want to build five groups of raised platform huts, with a roof, half walls, and shutters, so they can be used for basic camping huts, with a bathroom at the far end that will have two showers and two toilets.

Just inside the new boundary gate, I want to have a new driveway onto the property, which will be the defence force entry onto the property, and I want to have the group of huts located along the back fence line in square groups of four, with a central platform in the centre as their social space. I think that the huts should be big enough to have eight bunks and storage lockers, four on each side, with partial walls between each bunk for semi-privacy, and with all the solar power that we have available, we should have lights, and power points and fans included in each hut,” I announced.

“How many huts in total are we going to build?” Mark asked me. “Well, I am thinking four groups of four, that will make it a total of 16 huts, and I want to have one last group of four huts, that will have two additional huts for NCOs, that will have six single rooms, three on each side, with two full bathrooms in each hut, while another hut will be for officers only and will have just four single rooms, two on each side with two full bathrooms, and a raised platform between these two huts, and the fourth hut will be the officers meeting room, office and lounge,” I said.

“That sounds like a heck of a lot of work,” Sawney commented, “It would be if we are doing all of it, but I will get the steel frame huts built offsite and transported here by truck, while we build the central raised platforms,” I replied, “That is good to hear, so where are we going to start all of this?” Mark asked. “As soon as I can get the building material ordered and sent here,” I replied.

Four days later, I drove back to Robertson Barracks, to officially change from full-time soldier to reservist soldier for a term of four years, and while in town, I checked on my order for building materials for the platforms, and the progress of the camping huts. While at Robertson, I updated the Brigadier on the plans that I had made for accommodating the Defence Force on the property, and he was very pleased with what I had arranged to accommodate 128 soldiers, 12 NCOs and four officers, which is a whole Army Company.

I was now assigned to Larrakeyah Barracks, since transferring to a different company, which I didn’t mind at all, and I have been assigned, temporary quarters for when I am required to be on base, which would only be once a month for three days and nights. When I returned home later that afternoon, Mark and Sawney were finishing off the additional gate into the new section of the property, where the new bush camp will be located.

I decided to include a semi-outdoor kitchen and dining area as well, which will consist of four octagonal huts and a central raised platform. One hut will be the kitchen area, another will be the cold and dry food storage area, the third will be the officer's dining area, and the last one will be the scullery and extra stores, with the central platform between the huts to be the open dining area for the soldiers.

For the next few weeks, Sawney, Mark, and I were kept very busy with building the platforms, that the huts will be built around, and we decided to make them shaped octagonal instead of square, and that a raised solid roof is built over the top for weather protection. When I travelled to Darwin for my first three days of Army duty at Larrakeyah, I called into the construction company’s workshop, where the huts are being built, to see there are four square and four octagonal huts completed, with just internal fitting to be done.

On seeing the size of the insides of the huts, I decided that instead of eight bunk rooms, there should be just six, and I asked for ¾ high walls instead of ½ high walls separating each space, and to include a desk in each room, so there will now be only 96 bunk rooms for soldiers, and the NCOs and Officers cabins would remain the same, with two huts of 6 rooms for NCOs and one hut of 4 rooms for Officers, except the Officers will have individual bathrooms.

I also ordered an additional 4 octagonal huts, that will be multi-purpose for three of them and the last one will be a 4-bunk room for the auxillary staff, with two small, shared bathrooms. The two groups of octagonal huts would be located on the western boundary fence, a little distance away from the soldiers accommodation huts, which are on the north boundary. We had already completed the decking for all four of the groups of soldiers' huts, so we just had the remaining two for the kitchen & stores and the multi-purpose space.

Three weeks later, all the huts were completed and fitted out, including furniture for each accommodation room, as well as all the kitchen, storerooms, the scullery, plus the multi-purpose rooms, have three-fold-down tables that are attached to the walls. We had completed all the raised decking areas for the huts with roofs on all of them for weather protection, and we have also laid out a compacted gravel footpath to link them all together, with low 12-volt lighting for at night.