Theirs’s was a life of celibacy and dedication, great people. On top of that I had 5 sisters. I was very protective of them. I was already in the Army and I did not have a girlfriend until the age of 27!

Well there were guys who always get innocent and naïve young soldiers into challenging situations. Some of the older guys in my unit have sexual relationships with girls, for recreational purposes only. Well, shit happens, the girls of course get bloated.

Those days’ no one talks about contraceptives and that kind of sex education, we were in a very conservative society. The girls being innocent and naïve believe that the guys are crazily in love with them, they give their all! I do sincerely pity them. Due to this I ended up in an “identification parade”.

Well, the guys don’t actually give their name rank and serial number to the girls they are bonking, that only happens when you become a prisoner of war. Even their names are created. These guys can’t even afford to take care of themselves, with the meager pay they receive. Only shit can happen, we were always in a world of shit.

What happens is that these young girls go to the nearest army camps with their parents and approach the CO or OC as whoever is in charge and relate their predicament. During the insurgency they emphasized a lot on “hearts and minds”. Well this was one of the moments. Unlike the Americans in Vietnam, who used to say, “Grab them by their balls, their hearts and minds will surely follow”. Well, in my country we did not have that liberty.

Well, that happened in my camp, there was girl, very pregnant, with her parents, apparently they had already seen the OC, who instructed the Sergeant Major to have us assembled, of course the Officers are exempted, only the lowly Other Ranks are capable of shit, that was the thinking then. Anyway all of us were assembled in 3 files, by our respective troops and with our troop sergeant in front of us. We did not know the reason for being assembled.

The Sergeant Major approached an old couple with a fat and very pregnant girl, spoke to them momentarily. He brought them up in front of us and asked everyone there whether we knew her. My friend a smart aleck, quietly whispered to me, “she has been inflated, god bless the guy who did it, she looks like a medium battle tank, I hope she doesn’t fancy me and pick me, I am too good looking and I have better taste”. I was petrified, me who had barely hairs on my chin.

The Sergeant Major told her to conduct the inspection, she walked slowly, looking at each individual, smiling with hope in her eyes. She walks very slowly, looking at each individual up and down. Most of the guys hold their breath, worried that she might fancy any one of them, at that time there was no such thing as DNA that would have been science fiction.

There was this Corporal in my Troop, Cpl Omar Kurap, he was the authority on sex education to us newbies. He will tell you to get laid you must woo the girl, slowly and with flowery phases. Do not straight away tell the girls, “Give me a shot” (mai sedas). They will most certainly slap you!!

Time moved very slowly, soon she stood in front of me, looked at me, smiled and moved on. After nearly finishing almost the whole squadron, I heard her voice break out in pure joy, she had found her man. The guy was a gentleman, he admitted that he was the culprit.