LIVING OFF THE COUNTRY

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 104, 27 January 1943, Page 4

LIVING OFF THE COUNTRY

Teaching Bush Fighters

HUNT OWN MEAT AND COOK IT

Rise at 6 a.m., cook your own breakfast, off on the trait at 8 a.m., bread and cheese luiicli about 1 p.m., away again till the day’s farthest point is reached, v and then advance base bound again to reach there hot and tired about 7 p.m., not to sit down to a waiting meal hut to set about getting one for yourself. After that a' lecture by candlelight and to bed in a bush-made shelter on a bed of soft manuka tops. This is a brief description of the typo of day silent by officers taking the 12day course at the bush and mountain warfare wing of the Army School of Instruction when they are out in the ijdvanced area. Half of the course is spent under these conditions and the resume given above does not mention all the hard training that goes on during the course of this IG-hour day. The course is short and the hours long, but there is much to learn and, perhaps, so little time in which to learn it. At the end an officer should know how to fend for himself in the bush—and passi that knowledge on to his subordinates—and to apply his previous military experience to the entirely new conditions. Pushing off from the base camp to the advance camp means a three-hour trek over a range saddle and down into bush and forest valley. H’s no parade ground march. The way is long and rough, the track neglected and overgrown, parts under water, leading across boulder-strewn creek and river-beds, interspersed with slips, fallen logs and other bush obstructions. In summer the air is close and in the bush the sunlight is obscured by the growth. All the time the man is carrying his own gear—no batmen or bearers here—and if he takes too much the first time he won’t do it again unless he has unusual physique. A very fit and experienced bush officer usually leads the way, making the pace a cracker, and what is light work for him may be tough tvork for the man new to it. Mattress of Bush Tops. At the advanced camp site the officers taking the course split into small groups to build their shelters with poles cut from nearby trees, and thatched with the various grasslike vegetation. A ground sheet forms the base for a mattress made of soft tops of the manuka. Open fires are built with stones from the nearby river. There are no mess tables. Seating is on a limb resting on two V-pronged branches hit hard into the earth. Everything is cooked in billies and tableware is the usual two-piece messtin, a fork, spoon and the knife that muy be used to eat or kill. The officers have each carried their own ration of bully beef (greatly improved), potatoes; onions, oatmeal and rice. It's not over-plentiful for two reasons : First, it has to be carried by the man himself and, secondly, the men are expected to learn how to live off the country. The hunters of the party, in which a representative of “The Dominion” travelled for four days, go out after deer. They got one the first night. The shooter was Lieut. W. K. Kearns, of Blenheim, and as ail appetites were keen for venison, he was promptly dubbed “the maestro.” There was fresh meat for all. And another officer caught a trout to breakfast his small group. Any activity to get fresh food must be in the officers’ spare time. The killing of the eight-pointed deer, which whs "in the velvet,” meant not only food but a lesson in how to cut it up. The correct cooking wris left to the officers to learn by experience. Washing is in a chill bush river, with bathing a quick dash in and out to avoid the myriads of sandflies bent on a common errand of biting and generally making life uncomfortable. On training trips the officers must carry the same equipment as their tneu do and will in the same circumstances. This gives them an accurate —-and sympathetic •—understanding of the difficulties of busb travel for all ranks. Au afternoon period was set apart for river crossing. It was cold, the water colder with a fresh wintl sweeping down the valley, but the job went on. There was training in group crossing by rope and pole—necessary aids in swift and often treacherous currents. This training is essential. In actual warfare quick decisions about river crossings must be made. There cannot be any milling round of men on river banks tvhich may be under enemy observation or fire. In one day the party went five miles up the valley following both creek beds and spurs to a 2000 feet dividing ridge between two valleys. They split into two parties, each with radio, with the commandant remaining in radio communication at an advanced point, and setting off on different trails that would eventually lend to the same area, began the task of hunting each other down. This took both parties on another three miles to a point five, miles from the camp. The dav meant 13 miles rough going. That night the lecture programme went on as usual. . The compass plays a big part in this training, for all bush movements away from the track or other known features largely depend ou its intelligent use. At the same time, the officers are taught to make use of other aids to bush navigation, such as estimating height, levels ami the distances from such points as gullies, watersheds, ridges and so on. Ou bush operations there is strict silence, both of voice and movement. The met' must not be noisy intruders in the bush, but an unseen, silent part of it. The spirit of those in this party was well shown on the final day of the bush course. They rose at 4.30 a.m.. were on the trail nt <>. ami four hours later reached the last two miles ol tint leading to the base camp. Here the commandant picked up his truck and skirted the column to offer lifts to any feeling the strain. Not a man got aboard or even relieved himself of equipment. As a young, slightly-built officer put it when asked it he was all right, "there are no quitters in our family.’’