"Энди Макнаб. Немедленная операция (engl) " - читать интересную книгу автора

On judgment day the other two got probation; I got let off with a
caution. I was free to carry on where I'd left off, or I could show
everybody, including myself, that this time I meant business.
I jumped on a bus that would take me past the army recruiting office.
want to fly helicopters," I said to the recruiting sergeant. "I want to
go in the Army Air Corps."
I took a simple test in English and math, which I failed.
"Come and try again in a month's time," the sergeant said. "The test
will be exactly the same."
I went down to the public library and studied a book on basic
arithmetic. If I could master multiplication, I told myself, I'd never again
have to hear the sound of a cell door slamming.
Four weeks later I went back in, sat the same test, and passed-by two
points. The sergeant gave me a pile of forms to take home.
"What are you going in?" my dad said.
"Army Air Corps."
"That's all right then. We don't want any of that infantry shit.
You don't learn anything in that."
I was given a travel warrant and went off to Sutton Coldfield for the
three-day selection process. We were given medicals and simple tests of the
"If this cog turns this way, which way does that cog turn?" variety and did
a bit of sport. We watched films and were given talks about teeth arms and
support arms and where the army was in the world. I was loving it. The Army
Air Corps seemed to operate everywhere; Cyprus and Hong Kong looked good for
starters.
As I was going through the tests, though, the terrible truth dawned on
me that there was no way I was going to become a pilot. A lot of the other
candidates were in the brain surgeon bracket, loaded down with 0 levels and
going for junior apprenticeships to become artificers and surveyors. You'd
have to be in their same league to go for pilot training, and I didn't have
a qualification to my name. All the time I had wasted humping coal and
lemonade flashed in front of me as if I were a drowning man. For the first
time since I'd been old enough to do something about it, I was surrounded by
blokes who had something that I wanted, but this time it was something that
couldn't be nicked.
At the final interview an officer said to me, "You can go into the Army
Air Corps and train as a refueler.
However, I don't think you would be best suited to that.
You're an active sort of bloke, aren't you, McNab?"
"I suppose so."
"Probably fancy a bit of traveling, seeing a bit of the world?"
"That's me."
"Well then, have you considered a career in the infantry? There's a lot
more potential. The battalions move every two or three years, so you're
going to different places. It's a more exciting life for a young man. We
have vacancies in the Royal Green jackets."
"Right, I'll have some of that."
I was quite proud of myself. I thought I'd cracked it. I was a man; I
was in the army now. I couldn't wait to get home and tell my parents the
news.