Duelling British Officers

[Flying10uk]

I remember a Sergeant in the Cadets always said and taught the same. I've always remembered what he said to this day, "never ever point any gun at anyone under any circumstances unless you mean to kill them".

On a drill night a cadet next to me was stupid enough to point a D.P. No4 rifle at this very Sergeant for no apparent reason. I knew instantly that there would be consequences but didn't know what was about to happen. The Sergeant, in a quiet controlled voice, asked the cadet to turn round. The Sergeant then proceeded to take a kind of running kick at the cadet and caught him right in the centre of his backside and it appeared to be a terrifically hard kick from a size 12 boot. I realise that in today's world the Sergeant wouldn't get away with handing out this kind of instant justice and such actions would most likely end up in court. The Cadet learnt his lesson and didn't miss-behave with weapons again as far as I'm aware. The fact that the rifle in this instance was only a D.P. was neither here nor there because if the Sergeant had turned a blind eye the Cadet was quite likely to do it again with a live rifle next time.