Where It All Began For Rogue Gunner

(RG)I have just found these photos on the net of my old training establishment that I entered with great trepidation in 1978 as a fresh faced 16 year old. You will note from the photos from the air the H blocks where our sergeants began instilling us with the moral fibre we would need as Gunners of the Queen.


The flirtation with uniforms, rifles, loud bangs, and crawling in the shite, led to the inevitable and, much to my mother’s disappointment, I joined the British army on the 14th August 1978 at Carlisle. I became Junior Leader McNally of the Royal Regiment of Artillery at Gamecock barracks, Warwickshire, for the simple reason that the man in the careers office was a Gunner, as opposed to a cook or a Para, or I could be writing about my best ever pea and ham soup, and about how its introduction into the army diet fundamentally changed the culinary perspective of the average squaddie.

I enjoyed my twelve months training, and learned how to fire large pieces of metal, with lots of different nasty surprises inside, over long distances so they land on the heads of the even more surprised Soviet enemy. In those days, the consensus of opinion was we were going to have a war with the Warsaw pact. Funny how they ended up speaking with Spanish accents and flying American and French aircraft.

If, during the week, we had the audacity to lose step, or be found with a contraband orange under our armpit after meal times, to put us back on the straight and narrow, we were put on punishment parade. This event consisted of standing to attention on one leg for as long as humanely possible. Obviously, as God had designed us with two legs, eventually, somebody’s leg would touch the floor.

This led to the Drill Sergeant Major breaking into convulsions, verging on the ‘St. Vitus Dance’ affliction, and made us do the whole thing again for an extra hour. This punishment parade was held on a weekly basis until the Commanding Officers wife, whilst out walking her dogs, noticed us being tortured in this manner and promptly let her hubby know her feelings on the matter. The end result was the dropping of the word ‘punishment’, being replaced with the phrase ‘extra drill parade’ and the practice of using two legs on the ground to be adopted.

My mam, God bless her, used to send me a food parcel now and again, containing lots of goodies and the local rag. We’d all line up for our mail outside the troop office and wait for our names to be called out.

‘Your mammy has been good enough to send us a food parcel. Isn’t that sweet of her McNally?’

‘Yes, Sar’nt.’

He would then tear the parcel to pieces and I’d have to watch as he scoffed all the choccies. If I was lucky I’d get the odd Spangal and the Evening Mail to read.

One night, we fell in outside. The rumour was we were being taken to the NAFFI shop.

‘By the front, quick march.’

Off we went, mouths watering. The rumour turned out to be quite true. We arrived at the shop, halted, was shown the shop with the sweeties looking at us, then about turned and quick marched back to where we started off from, tummies a rumbling.

We would survive by buying sips of pop from the senior Gunners at 50p a shot from a bottle top. Just enough to wet the whistle. If we fancied a Mars bar this would cost us a further £1.50. We’d quickly ram it down our throats before the hungry pack of
hyenas descended upon us. Eventually, when we became senior Gunners we would continue this profitable tradition.

One morning, whilst being inspected, one lad had a crease in the wrong place and was loudly told by the Sergeant he had ten seconds to get into the block and iron it properly. The panic stricken soldier plugged in the iron and proceeded to iron the shirt while still on his back. He ended up in the medical center with serious burns and a beautifully pressed shirt.

Of the initial intake of 50, around 20 remained to pass out. Some literally. In August 1979, to the tune of the British Grenadier
Extract from Watching Men Burn

© Mack (RG) The thoughts of a Falklands War Veteran.
Rogue_gunner_32_alpha@yahoo.co.uk
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