Yes I was a Drop Short in a previous life, over thirty years ago now. Actually The school of Artillery was the best three months of my Army service, it was still reasonably disciplined but a lot more relaxed than basic training. Unfortunately peejay I wasted my time in the Army and it is something that I regret. It was a combination of having a chip on my shoulder, the lack of actually doing the job that I was trained for and the lack of respect from a couple of officers. I was an operator in the command post and it was a fairly technical job that required a quick mind and good mathematical skills. I was good at my job and left the school of Artillery with a really good pass on my course, go to my regiment and the battery I joined had two officers straight out of Duntroon , who were younger than myself , and refused to let me in the command post for the first six months . I lost my skills, lost interest and just wasted my time and the Army's time to be honest. I complained to a Sergeant that liked me and he convinced them to let me into the command post on exercise and prove my worth. Once I got the jist of it again I performed very well, but rather than put my head down and work, I let pride get the better of me. I spent the next two years trying to make these two officer's lives hard, but it worked against me.
I left after my initial term of three years as I couldn't see a future for myself. I was actually chasing a disciplined life and a career but looking back, when things didn't go my way, or I was spoken to like an imbecile , I let my feelings be known. I realised that you can't beat the system, so in the end I just left.
When I did an I.Q. test at Kapooka, the psychs actually said they would offer me a job there if I had year twelve. That wasn't to be.. I think I was too set in my civilian ways when I joined, I was almost 22 at the time, and I joined for the wrong reasons. All in all, I did some good things in the Army, stuff that I never would have done in civilian life.
