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     been a fiasco. They were on first-name terms with most of the non-coms 5 
     
     any suggestion of stiff military formality would have been ridiculed. 
     
    

    
     A story was told of w squad::that was being drilled in the Park on a 
     
     -very hot afternoon. When they halted for a momentary breather, one of the 
     
     recruits called out to thé drill sergeant: "Say, Pat! Let's quit this damn 
     
    

    
     foolishness an! go back th! drill: shéd' where it's cool." 
     
    

    
     Few of the younger men had had any expsrience of drill; at the start, 
     
     the old wheeze, "hayfoot! strawfoot!" wasn't too far short of being 
     
     appropriate. Those farm boys were agile enough behind the plow, or handling; 
     
     a team of trotters, but pnderstvancably a bit awkward when it came to 
     
     moving in close formation with a company of others equally unskilled. 
     
    

    
     Many of the non-coms, too, were recently off the farm, but they soon 
     
     reslized that new recruits were the better for an occasional Nbawling-out. " 
     
     A story that went the rounds, and gave rise to much merri:nent, was told of 
     
     a corporal who was trying to initiate a particularly raw platoon into the 
     
     mysteries of foot drill, and who addressed them in something like this 
     
     fashions | 
     
    

    
     "For two weeks, I've been tryin! to Show you how to keep step. when 
     
     you're goin! someplace, and how to stand when you're not goin' any place. 
     
     I've showed you how to stand at attention -- heels together; feet pointhn' 
     
     at an angle of 45 degrees; eyes to th’ front. And now, just look at you, 
     
     Billy, in th' rear rank! Standin' there with one foot on Pownal Wharf, 
     
     th! ather on th' Malpeque Koad, an’ gawkin'-around like a gander in a 
     
     thunderstorm!" ~ 
     
    

    
     Somewhat exaggerated, but very descriptive! 
     
    

    
     Some of the new warriors were eager for an immediate opportunity to 
     
     demonstrate their fighting qualities. A story was told of a big, eee 
     
     down-country lad who had just been issued his uniform and other gear. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Brandishing his rifle, he thundered, "Now for the Germans}"