"SEEING RED."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 26 September 1918, Page 8

"SEEING RED."

LEARNING A TERRIBLE ART

There are soitta -aspects of the. soldier'a training—-many of; them are of I quite recent introduction—about which 1 tihe general public knows nothing. One of these training "stunts" was recently described to me by a school chum who has just gone "out there." He described it as "seeing red." In a word, it is teaching the men all about i the elemental passion for. blood/ making them, as it were, itch for battle, writes a correspondent in an English, paper.

In. a large marquee behind the camp some! hundreds of soldiers are assembled. It i» easier to stir the emotions of many tihan of a few, and the instructor knows this. - „ The instructor mounts the platform, and in a clear voice begins his lecture. .Gradually he works on the emotions of his audience till the atmosphere seems to be electrically charged. The men are "seeing red"—unconsciously their hands clasp, their.faces flush^ and they • are ripe for battle. ) Then from behind the platform i steps' a dapper little N.C.O.a-in private* life a i schoolmaster. He looks a mild little man. One could scarcely imagine him saying "Bo" to a goose! In his hand he carries a rifle and bayonet. The instructor introduce* th« N.C.O. telling bis hearers. at the same time to watch the little man carefully; In a flash he. changes his whole appearance. He grips his rifle viciously, and with shoulders hunched and eyes flashing he lunges desperately forward, bringing the gleamuig steel to within a few inches of the instructor's throat f Snarling and sweating the N. 0.0. leaps about frothing at the lips. The "Tommies" can hear the labored breathing of the man as he parries and thrusts, throwing all his passion for blood into a single jab. ! The instructor raises his hand. Magically the N.C.O. drops his rifle and smilingly bows to his audience. In a few terse words the instructor tells the soldiers how this particular N.G;O\ has shown them the art of "seeing red." The class files away to give place to another. The new batch of soldiers arrives to. learn this terrible art. Thus it goes oil.

Tjq the civilian mind this practice may seem revolting, but in the Army nothing whatever must be left to ohaaiee. the more so as the soldier knows that in a charge it k either his life or his enemy's.