Training ends for TF recruits

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 322, 6 February 1990, Page 4

Training ends for TF recruits

Farents, rnends and Army recruiters were treated to a fine display of parade drill by the recruits of the Territorial Force 77th Intake at the Waiouru Training Depot recently.

The recruits wore the colours of their provincial Battalion and looked vpry proud as they marched on to the parade ground shortly after 9am on Saturday 27 January. The parade was the culmination of seven weeks of demanding military training and for most of the recruits there were no regrets on joining the Territorial Force. Tears were shed by several female recruits as they congratulated each other. They told they Empty Page reporter that they now respect the Army and they hope to promote the T.F. soldier when they return to university shortly. A few recruits hope to join the Regular Force but for the rest of the 77th Intake, they will be going back to their various occupations in civilian life. The Empty Page fol-

lowed three recruits during their training with the approval of the Officer Commanding Major Kevin Ashcroft. Of the original four one was medically discharged. The following are the recorded impressions of Brett Lyons and Rebecca Easterbrook. Amanda Thorpe was unavailable for comment on training. Brett Lyons 20, student, Otago University 3rd year student. "One week to go before we march out, but today I have a chance to reflect on what I've achieved on the last 7 weeks. "As soon as we arrived last November, we were flung into 'Army life'. Being a student, such things as making beds was pretty foreign to me, but in the Army you fold your blankets and sheets like origami everyday and call the finished product a bed roll. This along with

polishing rloors and brass and dusting serves to domesticate the naive recruit as well as learn the necessity of teamwork as individuals of a section work as a rusty unit, which slowly gains some polish and finesse by the end of the 7 weeks. 'Drill is hammered into the blistered recruits from the first day till the last. Drill is designed to establish proud, alert, obedient soldiers and forms the foundations for teamwork. Drill is certainly a case of learning to walk before you can run. "As we progressed through out training we got our first look at the infantry's individual weapon, the Steyr rifle. To the young recruit, the Steyr is the fire power as seen in the movies. This idea is rapidly dispelled in the first live firing test. "As we learnt more about weapons such as the Steyr, the ?light support weapon, the claymore anti personnel mine, the tripflare, the Turn page 6