The Army is made up of 'characters'. Whats a character?, well it depends on your point of view. I met a character when I was attached to 1 RTR. The intervening years have done nothing to diminish the impact that he made on me. I was happy in C Squadron and just going with the flow when all of a sudden it was decided that I was off to D Squadron. I never found out why but it was there in D that I met Trev. Even now the name is enough to start off a mixture of nostalgia and queasiness (in equal measure!)
First time I saw Trev he filled my doorway, literally filled it (and doors in German Barracks were HUGE) the first thing to strike you about Trev was his size, that was followed by his sheer presence, not to be confused with size. Trev gave off a 'feeling', a don't mess with me feeling. I've met bigger guys. Colin Brookes at 6 feet 8 was a second row in the REME Rugby Team. He was enormous but was approachable and you picked up on that straight away. Trev....well he made you think as you walked up to him "Do I REALLY need to speak to him? and is what I've got to say something he wants to hear?"
Stories soon started to circulate about Trev. He was spoken of in hushed tones. Apparently he'd 'lost' a total of 7 tapes while he was in the Army. That meant he'd been busted from LCpl to craftsman a few times (3 as it turned out) and from Cpl to Cfn a couple of times too!. I found out that the LAST time he'd been bust from Cpl it was for beating his Artificer (a S/Sgt) to a pulp in full view of the rest of his unit. Who else saw him do this? well, only his Officer Commanding and his ASM!! He was, as they say, caught red handed. That resulted in his demotion to Craftsman. Of course now in the Army that would result in jail time and probably headlines in the national papers but then it was more 'acceptable'
It soon became clear that Trev was NOT a person to take liberties with.....and by liberties I mean speak to, look at in a funny way, be in the same room as, etc etc. One particular memory springs to mind. We were sat in the squadron fitter section office it was morning break and the guys were finishing their tea. Dion, our 'ece' was doing something technical, Dave our gunfitter was doing ....whatever gunfitters do, I was finishing my brew before getting back to work on the hydro start system of a Chieftain and Trev was being quiet. Oh how we should have known!. Trev was like a volcano, he couldn't be quiet. He was either 'active' or 'dormant'. He suddenly looked over at Dave who was sat down and said "Move I want to work there", Dave replied "Sod off Trev I need to finish this" Like a bear Trev moved forward and the next thing we saw was Dave flying through the air ending up on the floor with Trev glaring at him. Like everyone else in the room I suddenly realised I had a deep and abiding need to be somewhere else.
Another time we were on exercise in Soltau, it had been a busy exercise for the mechanics as ANY exercise involving Chieftains tended to be. We had been working non stop for days, grabbing the odd cat knap whenever there was a chance. I had less chance to sleep than others because I was driving the 434, a REME repair vehicle. It was tracked and our role was to follow the tanks and repair them on the (frequent) occasions they needed repair. One particular tank was being a bit of a 'problem child' it would start and run for a few minutes then cut out for no good reason. As a result we would pull in next to it, within an inch or so because Trev wanted the vehicles close. Trev would fiddle with something, the tank would drive off, we'd follow it and then it would happen again. Each time the tank drove off I'd turn round and look at Trev to make sure he wanted me to follow. There was a good reason for this, armoured vehicles take no prisoners. If you do something silly a person could end up dead. So, each time the tank drove off I'd turn to Trev and say "OK to go?" and each time he'd say "go!"....after a few times I was still asking, but by now he was saying "for f*&^'s sake drive the $%^&&%ing wagon you !""£$%%" The next time I reasoned that as Trev was getting annoyed with the delay, it would be best if i just watched him back on to the wagon and then followed........MISTAKE!!!!!!
I was told by Dion what happened next as I didn't see it. Apparently Trev stepped back on to the 434 and instead of getting back into his hatch, he decided to grab a brew from Dion. I, of course' didn't see this. I just went. The result was that Trev nearly fell over. With unexpected balance for a big man Trev spun round and kicked me in the head. I lost conciousness at that point. Trev then shouted at me to follow the tank. Being unconscious I didn't comply. Trev then bent over, grabbed me by the shoulders and in one movement lifted me out of the drivers position and threw me into the back of the 434. He then turned to Dion and said "you drive!" The fact that he didn't have a license and didn't know how to drive never crossed Dions mind....he decided that if Trev wanted it, best he gets it. I regained conciousness some time later. Still, at least I didn't have to drive for a while!
Next
Trev, the murder plot and Canada
No comments:
Post a Comment