Humour in Uniform

A somewhat suspenseful yet humourous account of an all night guard duty in the jungle, back in the 1950’s by our reader TVK Raman.

Final phase of jungle training. Pic courtesy: TVK Raman

In the Fifties, Royal Indian Air Force (Depot) at Jalahalli, Bangalore Hospital town (West) was the centre where Air Force recruits received their initial general service training for twenty weeks, to be moulded into a soldier first, before passing out for their trade training in other schools. The training commenced with squad and rifle drills, then moved on to weapons and firing them, bayonet charging and rounded off with ten days of jungle training in the abandoned Yelahanka Airfield. During this jungle training, the whole squadron will be in full battle dress carrying rifles and fully engaged in field exercises.

Our squadron No. 4 was the last batch to pass out from R.I.A.F depot in Jan 1950, when it shed off its ‘Royal’ tag and become the present No.3 Ground training school (GTS). When this Base Hospital, where 2nd World war causalities were treated earlier, was shifted to another part of the township after World War II, a part of the old hospital complex was handed over to accommodate the training center — the R.I.A.F Depot. Some of the wounded soldiers did not survive while in hospital and there were stories about ghosts haunting the training center, including one about a wounded soldier who walked on his crutch.

The trainees of each squadron were put on guard duty once every fortnight. The duty was from 6 P.M. to 6 A.M. with each duty at 2 hours stretch in two turns with a 4-hour rest between shifts. Before deputing us for our posts, we were instructed by the Guard commander on how to challenge someone when he/she approached our posts, i.e., jump to ‘on guard position’ with the rifle bayonet pointing towards the person approaching, and shout aloud, ‘Halt! who comes there?’

If the reply was “friend,” the trainee on guard would say, “friend advance to be recognized.” When the person was at six paces closer, he would be asked to halt, place his ID card on the ground and turn about. He would then march six paces away and halt while the guard checked his identity.

A memory that stands out from one of my guard duty days involved my colleague, Aircraftsman (AC) Tripathy who was posted some hundred yards away from my post. He had requested me to come to his aid if needed. After settling in our posts, I heard the bell in the guard room nearby strike 03:00 hrs. A little later, the sound of footsteps in the stillness of the night was clear. Then I heard it- tak, tak, tak. I peered into the darkness but could not make out anything. Then I heard Tripathy’s challenging voice loud and clear, “Halt! who comes there?”

The footsteps stopped. Some seconds passed by and then the footsteps advanced- tak, tak, tak. This time it seemed closer and continued to advance on us. Anticipating trouble, I rushed to Tripathy’s post. A small figure was moving closer and the footsteps got bolder. Tripathy called out again. “Halt who comes there?” this time in a quivering voice.

No response. The footsteps continued to advance. Tripathy’s voice trembled as he shouted,

“ H .. A .. L .. T  ,W..H..O…O… C.. O…M…E…S   T..H..E..R..E?”

We waited and watched. The figure was closer and as the light from the lamp post covered it, we noticed that it was a donkey. Its front hoofs were tied together and it had strayed from the dhobi ghat nearby. As it let out a bray, our guffaws echoed in the darkness, only to reverberate again the following day at the breakfast table while we shared the joke with the rest of the squad.