Page 29 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2019

REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
The author finds some relics in Cairns Lt Abdelmessih and Tpr Mulholland throwing a shaka from the turret
Exercise LONG LOOK – Outbound
From day one, I am a Pom. A soldier is a digger and diggers drink at the boozer every Friday at 1500. A boozer is the squadron bar. You’re not smoking a cigarette – you’re punching
a dart or rolling a durry. Chocos are reserve soldiers because they melt in the rain. The SSM is the Fox, Cpls are full tracks and LCpls half tracks. A reo is a soldier just out of training. Oath is gen. A replen is black market activity. If you’re playing brass chickens then you’re emu bobbing. A donga is a large pothole in the ground that your driver hits too quickly causing untold rib pain for the commander and operator. A bombie is a small bump in the ground which when your driver hits too quickly causes a similar outcome. Maccas, Jack, grunts, Ruperts, Normal Army Tea Order (NATO), getting your s**t in one sock, hurry up and wait, redders, Q blokes, Sam Browns and sparkys are all synonymous.
For the latter half of 2019, A Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment (2 Cav) was home. At first I thought that Long Look (the exchange programme) was an opportunity for me to spend a lot of time horizontal on a beach. It was. But I quickly realised an age-old Army adage; you get as much out of it as you put in. Working alongside A Squadron was genuinely brilliant and they were just as keen to learn from me as I was to learn from them.
To begin with, however, it was certainly me learning from them. Initially these lessons were about how not to die, and since this article is partial to a list I shall list them for you. In North Queensland you can die from the following: extreme thirst brought about by getting lost on an exercise area the size of Wales. I was particularly worried about this one, as getting lost is a very officerly thing to do. Further causes of death are snakes, spiders and saltwater crocodiles; wildfires which travel quicker than an Australian Light Armoured Vehicle (ASLAV); swarms of bees; the sun; and the Gympie Gympie or ‘Suicide Plant’ which, according to myth (though some would argue evi- dence), makes you choose death over months of excruciating pain, the pain being described as “like being burned by hot acid and electrocuted at the same time”. This list is not exhaustive. With these lessons firmly in my mind I justified my existence in Australia by assisting the Squadron where I could on-and-off exercise in a Battle Captain’s role.
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