Combed Out by Frederick Augustus Voigt
page 25 of 188 (13%)
page 25 of 188 (13%)
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their own interest if men tease these pigs and pull them about by tails
and ears or feed them with unsuitable food. Offenders will be severely dealt with." We had been on parade for nearly half an hour. The torture of freezing toes was so acute that even men in the front ranks were trying to get warm by treading the mud or sharply raising and lowering their heels. The Sergeant-Major suddenly observed them, blew his whistle and shouted angrily: "Stand still there ---- ---- d'you hear? Stand still there. Can't yer understand English, damn yer?" We were convinced that we would hear the blast of his whistle and his angry shout in our nightmares to the end of our days. He was in reality quite a kind-hearted man, but he was bullied by his superiors just as we were bullied by ours. He was bullied into being a bully. And his superiors were bullied by their superiors. The army is ruled by fear--and it is this constant fear that brutalizes men not naturally brutal. The Sergeant-Major began to call out the fatigue parties. We felt relieved and thought that at last we would begin to move and get warm. "Fall out Sergeant Waley's party!" A score of men splashed across the mud and lined up under Sergeant Waley. "Fall out Sergeant Hemingway's party!" Forty or fifty men lined up. It was Sergeant Hemingway whose sense of |
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