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Fifth installment

One morning I went to Livana as usual to find everyone still in bed, that was not for long because if I was awake then everybody else should be, so around the rooms I went waking them all up then I went to have some breakfast and wait for everyone to get up. When they eventually did get up what Ernie said to me didn't surprise me at all, he had decided for some reason that he now thought that it would be better if the whole unit went back to Briest, so that morning we packed and by the afternoon were all back where we were in the first place, it seemed to me that Ernie changed his mind more times than the weather and he also now changed his mind about reporters. We were to have two film crews, one from the Gardist who were the country's propaganda machine and the other from a company called Visnews. We had so many reporters that I lost track of all their names, it was like one big circus with us as the star attraction, it was becoming a nuisance but Ernie had agreed to it so we went ahead with it. The first to arrive was from Visnews and because there was snow on the ground we had to wear our snow camouflage, they took shots of us patrolling, setting up all round defense and how best to cross a road in enemy territory, all of which we had taught the men and they did it almost perfectly, but I had one trick up my sleeve which would look good on camera and would catch the crew unawares. One of the things we had taught the men was reaction to enemy fire and that was as soon as they heard shots they would take cover as quickly as possible and that meant hitting the dirt as soon as they heard anything. After they had finished interviewing everyone I called Ernie to one side and explained what I wanted to do and he agreed, so we told the film crew to keep the cameras rolling as we returned back to the base. My weapon was already loaded as it was every time I went outside towards the front line, Ernie and myself walked behind the patrol and just behind the camera crew. After we had gone about ten meters I pointed my rifle up in the air and pulled the trigger emptying the whole magazine, the men were on the ground in a firing position in a split second, it was perfect. The cameramen were not to happy as the rounds had gone off right behind them and they were also on the ground in a state of shock, we asked if they had recorded it and they said that they thought so. As we walked back Ernie and I were laughing at the cameramen, it was funny to think that they had come to the front line to make a film about us training and did not know what to do when the bullets started flying. When we arrived back we dismissed the men Ernie and I remained outside as the film crew wanted us to say a few words on camera about why we were fighting for Croatia. When we had finished we went inside with me still laughing to myself, the sight of the cameraman down and the look on their faces was enough to make anyone laugh, it had been a good demo, I wondered what it looked like on film and I didn't have long to wait because they had instant playback on their cameras, I watched intently waiting for just the one part, I saw the men patrolling and the interviews, they had missed the whole thing. When I started to shoot they forgot about the camera and just got down so there was nothing recorded,I started to laugh again, super duper war reporters had missed the action perhaps they should film something like paint drying, there would be no chance of them missing that. When all the laughing and joking had finished they said they would send us a copy when it had been edited, we went outside and bid them farewell, it had been a very enjoyable and hilarious day, I hoped that the other film crew were just as professional as these had been, a couple of days and we would find out

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