With Ex Broadsword and long leave weekend over and done with it only left me with 2 weeks in RMAS before I headed of for my operation. Both of these weeks were pretty uneventful with just the usual inspections most mornings in 95’s back in change in to tracksuits then off back to the gym till 12. Have lunch (consisting of a bowl of either coco pops of cheerios) then some bone lecture in the afternoon. Although on a number of occasions the lectures would get chinned off so we would be left to our own devices for most of the day – which sounds great but when it happens time after time it gets a little boring especially when your used to the intensity of the commissioning course.

Finally operation day was up on the 2^nd of November. All pretty standard stuff going in and then after 90 minutes of surgery and another screw heavier I came round from the general anaesthetic. Feeling slightly groggy and having had a bit of banter with the nurses (average age being about 60) I was shipped back to Sandhurst where I spent another night in the MRS. The MRS is a strange place in comparison to the commissioning course, much like Lucknow Platoon, it takes a bit of getting used to as all the nurses and some of the doctors are civilians and such actually treat you as human beings with the nurses bringing you tea and biscuits at least 3 times a day plus 3 hot meals a day. Luckily for me I was only there for 24 hours before I was shipped out of RMAS and headed west down the M4 to go and stay with mother for a few days and then ship myself back down to Bournemouth. The next couple of weeks were mainly spent drinking tea, eating more than was humanly necessary and watching more TV than I had watched in the whole of the last 6 months since starting on course in May.

With a 2 week check up in Frimley/Grimley park in Camberley I headed back up the M3 and then back in to camp to get myself signed off on another 2 weeks sick leave. The next two weeks were mainly filled with drinking beer, going to watch a few rugby games and basically chilling out. Which was nice. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and as such I headed back to Lucknow platoon with 2 weeks left to go before getting out of there for another 3 weeks Christmas leave.

With the cast now removed I was attempting to be extra cautious about what I could and couldn’t do which meant the only good bit of Lucknow, being able to get fit, I was able to partake in. so most of my time was spent on treadmills and carrying out specific physio on my wrist. With Christmas just around the corner every one seemed to take their foot off the pedal and their were numerous trips to the pubs in the evenings and Nandos for some good that wasn’t utterly stomach churningly awful and to also just get away from what was starting to feel for most of us as a prison.

During the last few weeks a number of the guys disappeared off on regimental visits. Myself and one other being the only to “lads” left in the platoon decided we’d break into one of the other guys rooms and play a prank on him. The prank involved two trips to Tesco and 600 M’s of cling film but the desired effect was more than achieved after the guy came back the next morning with a massive hangover and just wanting to go to sleep only to find every single item in his room cling filmed. Including pillows, duvet and mattress.

On the last week I was asked to head up to Edinburgh to give a presentation to all the new cadets starting in January with the Royal Regiment of Scotland down as a choice about RMAS and what kit to take and what to expect etc. All in all a good couple of days away from camp and hopefully managed to give some of the younger guys a slight insight into the mind boggling first day of RMAS.

On the Thursday night 3 of us headed to the “local” which is about a 10 minute drive away for a quick beer – where in fact we ended up getting pretty merry and winning a pub quiz and as such a free meal for 4! There may have been a bit of iPhone cheating on the go but that’s only because the 2 other competing teams were also both cheating. And full of chavs.