Officers plan, decide what needs to be done, eat nice meals, and do admin. Sergeant Majors get the job done. Never mind the fact that they salute you, or accept orders from you – if you piss them off your day will rapidly become miserable. No matter what rank you are. People are invariable polite to the Sammajoor.
The Sammajoor of the Army was at Bethlehem (not the one with three wise men and a virgin) on an inspection visit. I’d met him earlier in the day. A short, stocky, quietly spoken, polite and obviously competent individual.
He was standing at the entrance of the HK security area, talking to Blackie Swart when I came out of the office. All the troops were strekking, a couple of flustered one pips saluted him (he saluted them back with a small grin on his face) – all was peaceful.
Then out came “Pete” (I cant remember his real name). Pete was an English Lt from Durban doing one of his diensplig camps. He’d made a deal with devil eyes De Villiers. He’d be called up to Bethlehem (not the one with three wise men and a virgin) every year, and he’d audit the Regiment’s book during that time. Nice and cushy. He was neatly dressed, wearing his browns, but his long blonde surfer hair was almost at his shoulders.
Sammajoorvandieweermag was a patient man, but this was just too much. “Luitenant hoekomisjoufokkenharesolank!” It was a statement not a question. Pete did the totally unexpected - “Sergeant Major, if you don’t even have the decency to salute me before using such crass language, I’m afraid I don’t have time to talk to you” he said in his best poncy Durban accent. And off he walked. Sammajoor came to attention, gave him a perfect salute, and stayed at attention until Pete was at least 10 metres away.
The next day Pete wore civvies to work. Two days later he flew to Sector 10 to do some mine clearing… his hair was short.
That Sergeant Major must have been one tough son of a bitch. But what a perfect example of how it really is. Excellent post!
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