BULFORD CAMP.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 263, 23 October 1916, Page 3

BULFORD CAMP.

Memories of Bulford Camp will dwell long in the minds of members of the New Zealand Reinforcements, that is those who are not “topped off” at Sling Cainn or seme other place on Salisbury Plain. What sort of memories thov will he can best be conceived alter perusal of the following descriptive verses written by an English Tommy: — There’s an isolated, desolated spot I’d like to mention. Where al) your hear- is “Stand at ease,” “Slope Arms.” “Quick March,” ‘Attention.” lt'.> miles av.ay from anywhere, by Gad. it is a rum 'tin. A chap lived there for fifty years and never saw a woman. There are lots of littl-. 1 huts, all dulled here and there, For those who have to live inside, I’ve offered many a prayer. Inside the huts there's RATS as big as any nanny goat. Last night a soldier saw one trying on his overcoat. It's sludge up to the eyebrows, you "pt it in your ears, But into it you’ve got to go, without a sign of fear, And when you’ve had a bath of s.udge, you just set to and groom. And get cleaned up for next Parade, or else, it’s “Orderly Room.” Week in, week out, from morn till night, with full Pack and a Rifle, Like .lack and Jill, you climb the hills, of course that’s just a trifle. “Slope Arms,” “Fix Bayonets,” then Present,” they fairly put you through it. And as you stagger to your Hut, the Sergeant shouts ‘‘Jump to it.” With tunics, boots and puttees off, you quickly get the habit. You gallop up and down the hills just liKo a blooming rabbit, “Heads backward bend,” “Arms upward stretch.” “Heels raise,” then “Ranks change places,” And later on they make you put your kneecaps where your face is. Xow when this War is over and we've captured Kaiser Billy, To shoot him would be merciful and abso.utely silly. Just send him down to Bulford, there among the Rats and Clay. And i’ll bet he won’t be long before he droops and fades away. BUT WE RE NOT DOWNHEARTED YET.