My country had been at war with three adversaries but the first Italian I saw was a prisoner-of-war in Iraq; the first German I saw was a prisoner-of-war in Alexandria just prior to my demob and I have never yet seen a Japanese soldier. However I did have some enemies, a few real and many potential; anybody adorned with stripes, pips crowns or rings could make trouble for me and a few did. This does not mean that I was anti-authority because I did encounter many whom because of their leadership qualities I would have readily followed but there were others on whom power did not sit well. I didn't have much to do with RAF personnel and can't comment on them but most of the Royal Navy types of all ranks that I came across seemed to be rational beings. Of the army the peace-time regular officers with some years of service appeared to be the most considerate of their charges but the wartime intake of people unused to exercising authority produced some very objectionable characters. What had the army done for me and what had I done for the army? I don't really know. I had gone where I had been told to go, done all the things that I had been told to do, (with some minor glitches) but I cannot assess what contribution I had made to the war effort Being part of a team I was probably indirectly responsible for some enemy deaths, even making the plotting table may have contributed but I'm not aware of any and have no worries on that score. Perhaps the army knows, I don't. Then what had the army done for me? When I left I was as physically fit as anyone had the right to be, I had a short fuse and was perfectly capable of looking after myself, very different from the lad who joined the Territorials in 1939. What skills had the army given me? Well for one thing I had demonstrated that on a lucky day I could, unarmed, overpower an opponent charging with a fixed bayonet (the bayonet in a scabbard of course), three times out of five actually, theoretically I knew how to split a mouth from ear to ear (the lips tear like paper I was told) and I knew that hobnailed boots rubbed down an opponent's shin would stop him temporarily from whatever he was doing. There were some other party tricks too. Additionally I had had some experience in plane table surveying but none of these attributes had a place in the kind of life I envisioned. What the army had given me was a tour around many parts of the world that I probably not have achieved otherwise but this had to be paid for in loss of earning capacity and wasted hours. I quite enjoyed the camaraderie and I also appreciated the opportunity of living communally 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for six-and-a-half years. Nobody can keep their guard up for that protracted period and I was able to study uninhibited human behaviour first hand. The group I studied was almost infinite in number and thus I acquired an ability to judge character that has stood me well over the years even if I did