Having come back from my 4th annual camp with the ACF I have come to realise the bond that I have with the guys.
For example, this year I was put with a group of 6 other lads, only 2 of whom I knew, and both of them I hardly knew. By then end of day one I was not with 6 strangers, I was with:
Rambo,
Chris,
Too Tall,
The Hair,
Maplin and,
Jonty
I am now mates with them all.
I have noticed several other things about cadet mates. Take Jez (Jeremy) for example. I met him in March this year. I have seen him about 4 times since, if not less. However, I know him 1000 times better than people I have been with day in, day out, since primary school – over 12 years!
The language we use is different too. I normally call people “Twat” or “Tosser” if I dislike them. With military mates however I use such words as terms of endearment.
I came home a day earlier than the rest of the company to collect my GCSE results. However, I missed them, my cadet mates, terribly in that day.
At school you would get bullied if you cried over something, at cadets, your mates would be there for you. Cadet mates are both stupid and clever, daring and cautious. They make you laugh, they help you, they take the piss, but they are best mates. I can recognise them in the dark from the way their wear a hat, their webbing or even just their outline in the darkness.
I believe I am on the way to understanding those words said by many about the relationship between soldiers,
The result of these shared experiences was a closeness unknown to all outsiders. Comrades are closer than friends, closer than brothers. Their relationship is different from that of lovers. Their trust in, and knowledge of, each other is total.
Stephen Ambrose – Military Historian
The three of us, Jake, Joe and I, became…an entity…..This sharing…evolved never to be relinquished, never to be repeated.
Pvt. Kurt Gabel – US Soldier
The thing that I find even more startling is that this is in the cadet force! The camaraderie in the regular army must be simply unimaginable.
Good article Rootsie, and every word of it the truth. A shame I couldn’t go, and a shame I sadly can’t stay in, but it’s just gone down hill.
Some good times. Still need to get a copy of the photo CD from Annual Camp 2007 though.
Gekko