Seventh installment

The next day was the usual we had to put on another demo this time for the commanders from all over Osijek so that they could see how well we had trained our men, the time came for us to show how good we were but before we left I gave the men a pep talk,

"I know that you can do this demo without any difficulties, you're not doing it for me or your commander but for yourselves, if you do it right then you can be very proud, I know that you know a lot more than any other unit in Osijek so now is the time to prove it, you have done the rehearsals now let's do it for real. One day you may have to attack a Serbian or chetnik position, so do this right and remember what you have been taught, if and when that time comes we won't lose so many of you as we might if you didn't have the training that you have had.All we ask of you is to do your best and we know that will be good enoug, enjoy your day"I told them,

They all got on the truck and we left for the aerodrome, we were right on time, all we had to do when we arrived was wait for our guests. After about ten minutes of cars driving and parking in the car park everyone who was anyone was there so we proceeded, I gave a story book to the general and asked if he would be kind enough to read and translate to the others what was written so that they could all understand what was happening, he agreed, it started and twenty minutes later it was over, it had gone superbly well, I had the men line up in formation and we gave three cheers for PIV, it was a brilliant ending.

"the beers are on us" I shouted,

everyone left and headed into the restaurant, I made sure that everyone went in before I did when I was satisfied I followed in. Once they all had a drink I asked for order and asked George to translate,

"firstly I would like to thank the commanders for coming today and I hope that you were all suitabley impressed but that is not the most important thing I have to say. The men in our unit were just ordinary civilians before this war but now we have turned them into soldiers, I was not sure that everything would go right today but I was obviously proved wrong and I am very proud that I was, I stand here before you knowing that these are the men we trained, they did exactly as we had taught them and we now know that in a short space of time you can make a soldier out of a civilian as long as the civilian has the heart and the will to learn but mostly as he or she has pride in themselves and their country. There have been a few ups and downs while this unit came into existence but today makes up for all of that, I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart that today is one of the most proudest moments in my life and I thank the men under our command for the privilege of training them, enjoy yourselves because training continues tomorrow, thank you one and all"

It was a very good speech and I meant every word of it, I was so proud that I could have cried but that would not of looked right, after we had finished we shook all the commanders hands and they congratulated us, it was overwhelming, I decided to sit down and have a drink not with civilians but with our fellow soldiers, I would feel a lot safer now if we had to go into battle knowing that these men were by my side, as I drank I thought about the men that had died and were left at our base they had all missed a fantastic day. 

Two days after the demo it was decided that we would have another base in Osijek so that one section at a time could have time off and also as a school but that soon changed as did everything in this war, we sorted out everything and protected the windows from shrapnel. Once we had finished we had to go to Zagreb to collect four men who wanted to join us so we arranged where to meet them. We arrived in Zagreb to pick them up, there was also a women who wanted a lift to Osijek as she was to join the hospital staff she apparently was from Australia, the four men were all British, three ex-soldiers and one mercenary,Ernie had decided to use them to train our men,

"great there goes my job" I thought,

They were to move into the new base that was to be used to train new recruits, over the last few days I had noticed a change inErnie it was as if he had no confidence in me again, I didn't understand what I had done wrong but bringing these four men to Osijek was adding insult to injury, if they were to train the men what was I supposed to do twiddle my thumbs, only time would tell whether I was still useful or just part of the furniture, I would not allow Ernie to see that this or anything else was getting under my skin, I would carry on as if nothing had changed and see what developed. The war was not over yet and I was not as expendable as Ernie seemed to think, I was just as much a part of this unit as Ernie was, he thought that the formation of the unit was due to James and himself after all they had formed it in Laslovo but after evacuating it was not them that had kept the unit together, they were just figure heads, I was not going to give them a chance to get rid of me as this unit was part of my life and there was no way that I was going to leave especially because of my men.