Defaulters Parade

'Tell me the story of the foot soldier and I will tell you the story of all wars.'- opening title of Men in War

'Defaulter! Quick...March! Left right left right left right left right left right mark...time...left right left right left right left right...Defaulter...HALT! Right...turn! Defaulter reporting as ordered, sir!'

The Company Commander faced the teenager who was facing serious charges. His Company Sergeant Major who had marched him in assumed the position of parade rest. The Defaulter was not wearing his belt, beret or any facial expression.

In his entire military career, the Major had never seen any incident of what had now come to his attention, nor had he seen any private soldier like the Defaulter, who was a Regular and not a National Serviceman.

He had joined the battalion as a replacement. Though his Section Commander recorded him as a 'marginal performer', the Defaulter had zero record of misconduct and had performed his duties as assistant machine gunner, rifleman, machine gunner and scout well. He was of a different ancestry than anyone else in his rifle company; that may have explained his eccentric behaviour. He neither drank to excess, smoked nor used illegal drugs, ergo he was regarded as a strange standoffish loner by his comrades-in-arms. In Victorian times he would have been called a 'gentleman ranker'; this type never appeared in a peacetime army, but in a war where casualties were being taken...cry 'havoc' and let slip the mad dogs of war...

Stranger than the Defaulter was his Section Commander's reports. Initially the Defaulter had been reported Missing in Action, then he had been Absent Without Leave in an Operational Area. Prior to his being marched in, the Defaulter's Section Commander had informed the CSM of a new charge; the Defaulter had absconded together with three enemy soldiers...

The Major read out the charges.

'How do you plead?'

'Not guilty due to following orders, sir!'

'Whose bloody orders?'

The Defaulter broke his military bearing and whispered in his CSM's ear like a schoolboy.

'The Defaulter wishes to know if the Major will agree to countermand his Section Commander's orders, sir.'

'Orders countermanded! Let's start from the beginning, shall we?'

The Company Commander had previously read the Section Commander's after action report of a contact with the enemy that led to the happy occasion of five enemy combatant deaths and no wounds or injuries to the infantry section involved except the missing, later AWL Defaulter. There had been no mention made in the report of any prisoners being taken.

'Where are the enemy soldiers now?'

The Defaulter reached into his large trouser pocket and produced a hand receipt from the Military Police acknowledging the receipt of three prisoners of war. He had never known of a private soldier performing what was done exclusively by a senior non-commissioned officer or officer.

'Why the bloody hell didn't your Corporal do this?'

'My orders, sir.'

'What were his orders to you?'

'Take care of the prisoners, sir.'

'How did you take care of them?'

'I took them to lunch at a sidewalk café and the cinema, sir.'

The Defaulter produced a makeshift log folded around a variety of receipts and cinema tickets and handed them to his Company Commander.

'You bought them ice cream???'

The Major was in apoplexy; the CSM turned his head and stuffed his knuckles in his open mouth to keep from laughing.

'Following orders, sir. It was a hot day...'

The CSM still had his knuckles in his mouth, but a twinkle in his eye; the Major sat back in his chair in resignation,

'Give me a detailed account of those orders...'

'After securing the prisoners my Corporal told me to take them away and take care of them. I asked him to specify how he wanted me to take care of the prisoners. He said I knew what to do. I said I didn't. He said do what you have to do and come back to me alone when you're finished and don't tell anyone what you did because no one wants to know about it...My mother said, "always treat someone like you'd wish to be treated"...sir.'

The CSM interjected,

'Did your Section Commander say why he picked you to perform this assignment?'

'He said it would make a real soldier out of me, Sergeant Major.'

'Oh he did, did he...',

'So you ran them cross country, took them into the town where the military police were quartered, and before turning them over bought them lunch and a took them to the movies...'

'He bought them ice cream, too, sir! He kept the receipts...'

'I'm sure someone will reimburse me out of petty cash, sir.'

'Oh, someone's going to pay...CSM! Get...'

'I ordered him to wait outside, sir.'

The CSM marched the Defaulter's Corporal in. The Major slammed his desk with his fist that sounded like an explosion, rose and began screaming point blank into the Corporal's face about War Crimes and the punishments for them. The Corporal shook like a human vibrator.

When he completed his tirade the Major shouted,

'Get the hell out of here, Private!'

The Defaulter stamped his foot and performed a left turn.

'Not you, you idiot! The new Private...'. the Major moved within headbutting range of the ex-Corporal, and seriously contemplated giving him a headbutt, 'you!!!'

In addition to demoting him to the rank of private, placing him on indefinite fatigue duties and levying a fine, the former Corporal would reimburse the Defaulter's expenses as soon as possible. He also would be facing court martial for submitting false reports.

The CSM marched him out of the office. There was what sounded like a blow and a body falling to the ground.

The CSM returned alone with a satisfied look on his face.

'Did someone slip and fall down and hurt their head again, CSM?'

'I'll have him repair the safety hazard as soon as possible, sir.'

The Major returned his attention to the Defaulter.

'Charges dismissed...get out of my sight.'

'Sir!'

The CSM marched the ex-Defaulter out. On the CSM's return, the Major loudly exhaled.

'Can his lance corporal assume the position of Section Commander?'

'Yes sir!'

'Which man in the company should be appointed Lance Corporal?'

'The Major's just dismissed him; he's waiting outside like I instructed him, sir.'

'Are you out of your mind, CSM?'

'I've been soldiering for over fifteen years and I've never seen any man who has the guts to take initiative like that!!!'

The CSM had never shouted at the Company Commander before, no one below the Major's rank had ever did. He reached in his pocket and loudly dropped Lance Corporal insignia on the Company Commander's desk.

'Maybe you're right, CSM; the ones we usually select often let us down. Call him back in....but I'll expect you to mentor him, he's a loose cannon...'

'I'd be honoured, sir. I just might learn a few things from him...'

FIN

Author Notes: I am the author of three Extra Dimensional/Ultraterrestial military science fiction novels MERCENARY EXOTIQUE, OPERATION CHUPACABRA and WORK IN OTHER WORLDS FROM YOUR OWN HOME! as well as two travel books THE MAN FROM WAUKEGAN and TWO AUSTRALIANS IN SCOTLAND (all from Lulu.com). I have served in several military forces and farces; I now live happily ever after with my wife in paradise (coastal Kiama, NSW Australia).

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