Chapter 3
Five days later, Jake arrived at the special forces base, ready to join the other recruits. He wondered what he would find, if they would be good enough to pass his scrutiny.
Jake made his way to the bunkhouse, knowing that he would be the first one there. That not only gave him the advantage over the others, but it gave him pick of the beds. He chose one behind the door.
It wasn’t long before he heard the others. It sounded like they had already formed a bond between them. That would make him odd man out, all the better for what he had to do.
They entered the room laughing and joking, throwing their kits on their chosen beds, then they realised there was someone else in the room. They turned as one to look at the stranger in the corner bed.
“G’day,” the stranger said.
They all stared at him. He was stretched out in a lazy fashion, in civvies. He didn’t look like a soldier to them despite the haircut. In fact, he looked more like a skinhead. They noticed his tattoo’s and leather thongs around his left wrist.
“What the fuck are you meant to be?”
“A soldier, mate, how about you?”
“You look like a yobbo fresh off the street…mate!!”
“Yeah, whatever,” replied Jake, looking at the group of men, feigning boredom.
“Maybe you need to know what being a soldier in this unit means,” said the leader of the small group as they advanced in a body towards Jake.
“Yeah right, and who's gonna show me...mate?” Jake asked.
The next thing he knew, he was dragged from his bed and forced up against the wall.
“Listen. We’re all here on trial, and we’re all being judged as a unit. Now I don’t know about you, but we all want this gig and no-one is going to mess it up for us...okay?”
“I don’t run with the pack, mate, I’m my own man and I don’t give a stuff about you or your bunch of merry men,” Jake sneered.
He gave them their due, they were bloody quick. He never saw the fists coming, but he sure as hell felt them. They were good too, not one blow landed on his face. The bastards even managed a couple of kicks before they heard footsteps in the corridor outside. They quickly threw Jake back on his bed and went to sort out their kit.
Jake lay on his bed watching the men as the door opened. A sargeant came in, closely followed by an officer. The men sprang to attention, Jake remained on the bed.
The sargeant ordered that the men stand by their beds, and while their attention was away from Jake, the officer quickly winked at him. Jake nodded his head slowly and the office began ranting at him for not getting to his feet when an officer entered the room.
Suddenly more footsteps were heard outside and Colonel Fisher entered the room. Everyone once again snapped to attention, apart from Jake, who was still laying on his bunk.
“At ease, gentlemen,” said the Colonel, eying up the new recruits.
He turned towards Jake’s bed.
“Comfy soldier?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at Jake.
“I sure am,” he replied.
“You’re out of uniform, son,” said the Colonel.
“Certainly looks that way...Colonel,” Jake replied, smirking at Tom.
“My office...five minutes,” barked Tom, turning on his heel and marching out, quickly followed by the officer and the sargeant.
Ah well, at least we won’t have to put up with him for much longer boys, not a good start getting called to the Colonel’s office first day, especially just before his welcome dinner. Best get into our number 1’s guys, want to make a good impression don’t we.”
Jake watched silently as the men changed into their best uniforms. He noted the service ribbons on their jackets before slowly rising from his bed, wincing slightly, and walking out, heading towards Tom’s office.
The men all took their places in the officers dining room. They had been told that the only others joining them would be Colonel Fisher and their main training officer. They had yet to be told who he was.
They all stood as the Colonel entered the room.
“At ease men, and take a seat. We won’t be kept waiting too long. Unfortunately your trainer was unavoidably delayed. He will be here directly….ah, I think that’s him coming now.
The far door opened and the men stood up ready to greet the latecomer.
“Gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to your chief trainer for the next three months, Major Aaron Mitchell.
Jake would have given anything to have been able to take a picture of the expressions on the faces of the men in front of him. The realisation that the lazy skinhead in their room was, in fact, their trainer left them cold to say the least. They looked him over from boots upwards, and they all gasped quietly when they reached the ribbons on his chest. Could they all be the real McCoy? Looking at him now, they had no doubt at all that he had earned every one. He was definitely not the same man who had allowed them to ‘welcome’ him the way they had. They looked worried.
Jake took his place at the opposite end of the table from Tom, and the meal began. Tom was amused at the way the men tried to make small talk around Jake. He knew about their little welcome without being told, he had seen the bruises that were already beginning to form when Jake changed into his uniform in Tom’s office.
“You men will have to forgive Major Mitchell and I for earlier. We like to see what the new recruits are like before they meet their trainer. No hard feelings I hope?”
“None with us sir, we hope the Major feels the same way?”
“No worries, I’ve not had such a warm welcome for quite a while,” Jake replied. “I can’t wait to get to know you all a little better.”
The men squirmed under his unblinking, emotionless gaze, and ended up staring into their dishes for the rest of the meal. Jake and Tom looked at each other and grinned.
The meal couldn’t end quickly enough for them and soon they were saying goodnight to the two officers, begging an early night in preparation for their first day of training.
After they left the dining room Jake and Tom collapsed in a heap laughing like drains, Jake wincing a little as the bruises on his ribs made themselves known.
“Are you going to do anything about your little welcome Mitch?”
“Not officially, no. I think I’ll just play it by ear for a while. Don’t want to discourage them before we start now do I.”
“Well, it’s your call. Just make sure you go see the doc before you turn in. In fact, I’ll take you over there now. We have a new bloke in charge. I think you’ll like him.”
“Is that an order Tom?”
“Bloody oath,” said Tom, laughing at the look on Jake’s face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jake stepped into the sickbay followed by Tom. He was convinced Tom was making certain he didn’t make a run for it, and smiled at the thought.
“Doctor, I have a late patient for you,” said Tom
“Good evening Colonel Fisher, it’s nice to have anyone in here on the graveyard shift. What’s the problem?”
“This is Major Mitchell, he…”
“I had a bit of a tumble on the bike on the way up here,” Jake interrupted.
“Okay, hop up on the couch and let’s have a look at you,” replied the doctor.
Jake removed his jacket and shirt and sat on the examination couch.
The doctor gave him the once over, determined that nothing was broken, and gave him something to bring out the bruising.
Jake thanked him and promised to catch up with him in the officers mess soon, then said goodnight and headed off with Tom to be shown his new quarters. He didn’t get much sleep that night, due to both being uncomfortable, and to planning his next move with the recruits.
4.00am the next morning found him running round the parade ground. 5.30am and the lads made their way out for their morning run. They were a little surprised to find the Major already there. They were even more surprised when the sargeant told them just how long he had been out there.
“Nice of you to join me,” he called as he ran by them. “Thought you were taking the morning off.”
He ran off in the distance with them in hot pursuit. At 6.00am they all hit the showers. The men noticed the marks they had inflicted on him the previous night, but they said nothing, waiting to see if he would bring it up. He didn‘t.
“Okay, go get your brekkie. Be in room six 7.30 on the dot.”
Jake marched off leaving them to get dressed and fed. At 7.29am they were all outside room six as ordered.
“Come in gentlemen, I won’t bite you.” Jake shouted through the door.
The men walked in.
“Okay, gentlemen, it’s time we got aquainted don’t ya think? I have names, now it’s time to match your ugly faces to them. I’ll call them out and you can take a seat after I sort you out.”
“Bedford.” “Sir.”
“Davies.” “Sir.”
“Edwards.” “Sir.”
“Gordon.” “Sir.”
“Hill.” “Sir.”
“Okie dokie, now you know me, and I know you, so we’re gonna get along just fine aren’t we?”
“Yes sir,” came the reply.
“I am actually your specialist jungle terrain trainer, but I will also be overseeing your other training, and if you’re really lucky I’ll even be joining in. Should be a load of fun. Now I know that you think you’re all the bees knees and that you’re the pick of the bunch, there’s nothing new we can teach you…but you are wrong! There’s a lot more to special forces than putting camo on your faces and creeping up on people. We are here to teach you those things … and … you … will…learn! Understood?”
“Understood…sir.”
“Thank you lads. Now I’ll introduce you to your first training officer, Captain Green, intelligence. Carry on, Captain.”
“Sir.”
Jake walked off to the back of the classroom and sat on a desk. He wondered how they would take to the theory part of training, he could see they were itching for a bit of action.
Over the next few days Jake was able to build up a profile of each man. He did this quietly by observation. For the first week he didn’t take part in any of the training with the men, which surprised them. They were certain he meant it when he said he would be joining them.
He watched and learnt. Each man was good in his chosen field, Bedford, communications, Davies, surveillance, Edwards, intel, Gordon, pilot, Hill, sniper, and slowly he learnt more about their personalities.
Jamie Bedford was quiet and shy, he took a long time to come out of his shell.
Robbie Davies was an out and out loner, which could be a problem.
Peter Edwards was gregarious.
Marcus Gordon was a typical fly boy, the life and soul.
Darren Hill was a cocky bastard!
Jake decided that the next couple of months could be very interesting.
As the weeks went by, Jake joined in the training a lot more. The lads thought he would just do the physical stuff and were surprised to see him in the classroom situations as well, and they were impressed by his intelligence. He was slowly rising in their estimation.
He had more mental and physical stamina than they thought, and most of the time managed to leave them all standing. For his part, he too was impressed with what he saw. He was still a little concerned with Davies, but decided that an exercise would show him whether or not he could be relied on in a team situation.
A week in the Blue Mountains put his mind at rest. When the need arose, Davies went into ‘team mode’ and worked well, back at the base however, he returned to his loner ways.
In the fifth week of training they met their unarmed combat trainer. This was the part of the course Jake was looking forward to the least. Captain Wilson and he just didn’t get along. Wilson always thought he was overlooked for promotion in favour of Jake, and he’d resented him ever since, especially as he was still in the service full time and Jake was only on the active reserve list.
They met up in the gym before the lads arrived. Wilson was belligerent as usual and the chip on his shoulder had grown into a forest since they had last met. By the time the boys piled into the gym, they found ‘their Major’ being stalked by their new trainer, both looking like their were about to attack the other.
Hill cleared his throat, hoping to distract the two men. Without taking his eyes off Wilson, Jake said, “Good morning gentlemen, we know you’re there.”
Captain Wilson stopped and turned towards the recruits.
“Right then lads, welcome to MY class! I’m certain I can make it interesting for you all, and with the help of the Major here, I will be teaching you ways to disable your enemy you would not believe.”
Wilson turned to Jake. “Ready Major?”
“Whenever you are, sport,” replied Jake.
Wilson took him through his paces. Jake was ready for each of his moves, thankful that he knew the way Wilson thought and worked. He had some good routines and nearly caught Jake out a couple of times. By the end of the workout Jake was really feeling it, and he was annoyed to find that his leg was beginning to ache, something that hadn’t happened for a while. He limped slightly as he went over to sit on the benches. No-one noticed, except Wilson.
He invited each of the team to see if they could take him on, alone, or in a group, and twenty minutes later, they all lay in a heap on the mats. Jake called time out, and they headed off for the showers.
“Good first lesson Wilson. Appreciate it,” he said, heading for the door.
“We’ll give them another good show in the morning Major, give them something to think about.”
“Right, see you at 8.00am, let them have an extra hour in bed eh?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following morning at 8.00am sharp, everyone was in the gym. Jake was in his sweats and tank, expecting Wilson to try to pull him thought the hoops in front of his men.
The fight, for that’s what it turned into, lasted about 30 minutes, each man getting the upper hand then loosing it time and again. Finally Jake got the better of Wilson and decided to end it. He left Wilson laying on the floor, and turned towards his men, giving them the thumbs up and winking.
Suddenly Davies shouted, “Watch out, sir!”
Jake turned to see Wilson racing towards him, he easily side stepped the charge, but Wilson spun round and kicked out at Jake’s recently healed leg. Pain arrowed through him and he staggered, then he saw the flash of metal and raised his hand to ward off the blow.
The next thing he felt was a searing pain in his left forearm, then his wounded leg finally gave out on him and he crumpled to the floor. The last thing he saw before the pain overtook him was his men jumping on Wilson to keep him away. Blackness swallowed him up at that point.
He woke up in the sickbay with Doctor Morris watching over him. He tried to sit up, but the doctor placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
“Don’t move yet, I just want to check out your eye responses okay?”
“Whatever you say, doc.” Jake replied.
Once he was checked out the doctor helped him sit up. He slowly swung his feet around and went to stand up. He groaned a little when he put weight onto his leg, but the pain soon passed. He reached over for his sweat top and looked down at the strapping on his arm.
“How bad?” he asked
“Pretty spectacular, Bedford fainted when he saw the wound. Long, but it could have been worse. Still needed 20 stitches though. Try to keep the dressing dry for the next couple of days. It will be sore and sting like shit probably.” the doctor said with a wink.
“Love your bedside manner doc,” Jake replied, trying hard not to laugh. He got on well with Doctor Morris and they were fast becoming good mates.
The door opened and Colonel Fisher came in.
“Leave us for a minute would you, Doctor?”
“Of course, Colonel.”
Tom turned to Jake when the door closed.
“What the fuck happened, Mitch?”
“It was an accident, sir. We were showing the men how to disarm a direct attack. My leg gave way and Captain Wilson was moving too fast to stop. He swerved at the last minute and caught my arm. It could have been a lot worse.”
“Is that your final explaination?”
“Yes sir.”
“Mitch, you’re a bloody fool. Wilson wouldn’t lie to protect you, but if that’s what you’re going to put in your report, there’s not a lot I can do about it. At least it’s the last part of the base training and you’ll be away from him from now on. Two weeks leave before you take them for their jungle training. I suggest you head for home okay?”
“Okay, Tom. Can I tell Emily that you may make it up for a couple of days?”
“I’ll try to make it next weekend, but I can’t promise anything. You look after that arm, AND that leg. Don’t go letting anyone kick it again any time soon.”
Jake grinned. knowing full well that Tom knew exactly what had happened in the gym.
“Okay, Tom. I’m heading for Sydney for a couple of nights, any messages for anyone there?”
“Watch it mate, I’m still your commanding officer you know…oh alright, come and see me before you leave in the morning and I’ll give you something to take to Jenny if you will.”
Jake winked at him as he left the sickbay, and Tom left soon after shaking his head, wondering what he was going to do with him.
The next morning after breakfast the small group were waiting together for their transport from the base and they saw Jake heading towards the Colonel's private garage. He was wearing leathers and they wondered what kind of bike he had. A few minutes later they heard the deep throated purr and knew at once what they were going to see. Jake emerged on a Harley Heritage Softail Classic. He pulled up by the side of them
“I’m heading for Sydney, can I give one of ya a lift?”
Hill was the only one from Sydney and he jumped at the chance.
“Okie dokie, Dazza, hop on. We’ll see you ratbags in two weeks. Have a good break...you’re gonna need it.”
At that, they roared out of the base for the long trip to Sydney.
Jake dropped Hill off in Paddington after arranging to meet him later for a drink at The Bells, then headed off for his apartment. He was looking forward to his nice soft bed. He shook his head at the thought, “You’re getting old mate,” he told himself, before gunning the engine and heading for home.
Later that evening he met up with Hill in the pub.
“Is this your local then Major?”
“Aw fair go mate, could you not call me that here? It’s Jake or Mitch okay, and yes it’s my local.”
“Do you live very far then Mitch?”
“No, just across the road actually, and if you drink too much more I think you’ll be bunking down in my spare room. I’m not letting you drive home.”
“Thanks Mitch, appreciate it. I’ll shout you a pie at Harry’s.”
“You’re on. Come on then, before the queue gets too long.”
They headed off across the road for a beef tiger, and sat on the edge of the wharf eating. When they’d finished they headed back to Jakes place. Hill seemed suitably impressed that Jake had an apartment on the wharf, and was determined to find out how he could afford it.
They sat down over a coffee and chatted long into the night. By the time they hit the bedrooms they had each learnt a great deal more about each other, and Hill’s grudging respect for Jake had grown immensely. He was a little surprised to learn that Jake was no longer a full time soldier, but was more than interested in the K&R game, and locked that information away in the internal filing system of his brain for a later date. You never knew when you might need civilian contacts.
The following morning Jake was up before dawn as usual in the pool, and Hill was just emerging from the spare room when he got back. He offered the grand tour of his office, and after lunch they parted company for the rest of their break, arranging to meet back at Jake’s place for the trip back to base.
Jake headed off for home as he knew this would be the last chance of seeing all the folks for the next few weeks. He missed them all, especially Angie. The end of the break came around too quickly for words, and he was soon heading back to Sydney to pick up Hill for the trip back to the base. They would all soon be on their way to a few weeks of hell and humidity in the jungles of Indonesia.
