2 I.C.’s Greetings

Observation Post, Volume 1, Issue 30, 11 December 1942, Page 11

2 I.C.’s Greetings

IN RETROSPECT.

As we approach the second Christmas since the Regiment was mobilised for full time service, we may be permitted to look back over the past year and ask if we have anything to show for it. Doubtless our first recollection is of innumerable fatigues, guards or orderly duties; of days occupied with the same routine of training; of all the mass of discomforts and inconveniences that go towards a soldier’s life. So far we seem to have progressed little, and if we were compelled to use the tour of duty as our measuring rod ,most of us would be “in the red.’’ We have, however, progressed although such progress is not recorded in routine orders. tn the first place we are now • soldiers and not civilians in our makeup. The jargon of the Army is our everyday speech, we accept unconditionally that summary of all orders ‘‘Growl you may, but go you must.’’ Then we have met a lot of good chaps, some of them have gone again, but what of it? We know them and when we bump up against them next time there will always be time for a quick one. So our circle of friends widens until the time when we can have, if not a wife in, every, port (a not impossible feat to

some) then a friend or two in every town. ' I think, however, we can gain the greatest satisfaction in retrospect, in the knowledge that whatever the task, problem or difficulty that confronted the Regiment, we “gave it a go’’ and while our achievements may be insignificant compared with those of our fellow countrymen on Active Service, yet they are a reassuring omen regarding any

greater job that may come our way in the future. • ■ At this time the traditional wishes regarding a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year seem rather empty. Let us rather wish that with a hard job of work successfully completed we can next year, know that it will indeed be the Merriest of all Christmases and the Happiest of all New Years. G. NELSON.