1969
Sundays at the Dat
Milton C. W. Pearson, CSM, 106 Field Workshop, 1968-1969
Soldiers required for duty on Sundays were confirmed by me when I took the parade on Sunday Morning. Once all duties for the day were confirmed, the remainder had the choice of playing sport, or simply going to Vungers on a swim trip.
And of course, there was the CSM giving them some fatherly advice as they boarded the trucks that would head for the Task Force gate and join up with the morning convoy. During those talks I would hand out prophylactic kits (Army issue) and wish them well.
Sunday mornings for me, when I was not playing in the Unit soccer team, was for my attendance at the TF RSM Conference. These meetings would commenced around 10.30 and would be held in rotation at various Sgt's Messes. The meetings were very important and unit concerns and various remedies on how problems that arose were tackled. The forum was quite open and many morale issues were discussed. At the conclusion of such meetings I would carry out networking for the benefit of my Unit.
One Sunday, at the end of a meeting at 12 Fd Regt, we were served up VB which was in short supply at 106. Knowing that 12 Fd were a Sydney unit, I said to the Mess Secretary, "Have you got any blue?" He said his members preferred blue but only had green. I told him that I could probably swap a pallet of blue for a pallet of green. He thought all his christmases had come.
I rang back to our Transport Section. Cfn Blue Saunders just happen to have a Peddy Bone forklift licence and, when I told him the task, he was wrapped; our Unit only had blue but liked green.
The deal was done and from then on 106 never ran out of green.
