The Australian Army Medical Corps in Egypt. Deane Percival Edgar
same evening, and twenty-one men had gone. Some had rolled up coats or blankets and so placed them that it seemed that the men were still in bed. Subsequently uniforms that should have been in the pack store were discovered under their mattresses.
These and similar difficulties were aggravated by the fact that even a moderate disciplinarian did not always receive the support of the nurses or even the medical officers.
To illustrate: An endeavour was made to limit smoking in the wards to reasonable hours, as it has become an unfortunate tradition that a sick soldier may smoke cigarettes all day long, when in bed, without injury.
One of us (J. W. B.) entered a small ward which was filled with smoke, and was just in time to see a sick man practically blowing smoke into a nurse's face; needless to say the cigarette vanished with astonishing rapidity. Looking through the murky atmosphere, I asked the nurse whether she had seen any one smoking, to which she unblushingly replied, "No, sir."
If nurses and a section of officers throw their weight against enforcement of discipline, because they don't think it necessary or right, the difficulties become considerable.
Again, the sentries were often in collusion with the men. Two instances suffice: A soldier got out of the hospital through a hole in the fence. On returning he determined to test the sentry with an eye to future escapades. Walking up to the gate, he said, "I want to visit a friend." "Have you got a pass?" said the sentry. "No," replied the sick man. A discussion followed, and finally the sentry said, "Go in and out by the hole in the fence; it will save me a lot of trouble."
Yet another amusing incident. Sitting on the great Piazza at Heliopolis were a number of men convalescent from serious illness, pneumonia and the like.
A short distance away on the outside of the iron railing fence, the Arabs were conducting illicit and prohibited trade with the men inside, and a sentry appointed to prevent it was walking up and down studying astronomy.
The Commanding Officer witnessed the occurrence, visited the happy scene, interrogated the sentry, and asked him what his duties were. The sentry answered, "To walk up and down here with me gun to prevent them prisoners" (the unfortunate convalescents) "coming down them steps, and to prevent them niggers jumping the fence!"
The hardest part of military work is waiting. The soldier who has the magnificent fundamental qualities of the Australian, and who can wait and obey, would be the greatest soldier on earth. We are hopeful that the experience gained will render the Australian the claimant for this coveted position. All thoughtful Australian officers we know tell the same story: "Give us discipline, and again and again discipline."
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