A Company Court-Martial

It had been a while since 3 Coy had held a Company Court Martial. Captain Vickery had asked Roper to preside over it, along with Jacklin and Schroeder. Cotton was appearing as a witness.

The three Riflemen were sitting together, slightly separately from the rest of the Company. Roper had the company's Punishment Book in front of him in case it was needed, although it was still closed at the moment.

He looked up at Pye. "All right. You're here 'cause you've twice done things that'd give us a bad name with the rest of the Division if the Captain hadn't been there to defend you. And you chose this rather than take what the Captain'd give you." He sighed. "Happy with havin' the three of us hear this charge?" He indicated himself and the two Riflemen on either side of him.

It was the first time he had ever been witness or part of a company court martial. Was it a thing of the riflemen? Probably. In whichever case though it made him feel no less at ease when he compared it mentally to one not of the company. Cotton was the witness, and the three men who were not officers acted in the role of the party that might decide his fate. It's how he understood it. But he could as well have been wrong. The absence of officers just didn't look natural to the lad.

The accusation voiced, the lad shifted uncomfortably. It wasn't what he had expected to be said and he wondered if that was a good thing. "Uh.. yes." He didn't know who else could have presided. Did it matter? Were there the better and the worse lot? The question seemed one that he could not answer with any conviction for he really did not know. "Sure.."

"You jus' got here from a redcoat regiment, so I'll 'splain a bit about what happens," Roper said. "It works like a proper court martial, only with us Riflemen, an' no officers. Which means we can't hear serious charges that'd lead to a floggin' if found guilty - we ain't got those powers. So, 'ficially, we get lesser charges. Like bringin' the Rifles a bad name - into disrepute, the officers'd call it, see."

"I think I understand." He nodded slowly. "N' no officers. " Which still looked very unnatural and strange, though he reminded himself that there were ways men dealt amongst themselves too. Fighting usually, not a court-martial of any sort, but he could compare it to that.

"Thing is, you're charged with that 'cause if you was to be charged with doin' what you did that give us a bad name, it'd be a proper court martial, officers an' all, see?" Roper was aware that the two Riflemen with him were looking somewhat mystified, but it would all come clear later. He hoped.

Pye nodded. " I am aware of that. N'.. it wouldn't be summat ..you could judge at..." He straightened somewhat. Did he have to give a special address to the court? Well, he wouldn't, till they told him to and told him what to say.

"All right, then." He pulled out a piece of paper that had been tucked inside the cover of the Punishment Book, holding it to prevent it from blowing away in the light spring breeze. "The charge as brought by Captain Vickery is that you took the law into your own hands when dealin' with a provost, rather than accept that he was goin' to be charged himself, resultin' in severe injuries to the man an' givin' us a bad name with the provosts."

He had read the Captain's charge sheet earlier, but it was the first that either of the other two had heard of it. Schroeder held his hand out for the piece of paper and looked it over, frowning a little as he translated it into German to understand it better.

He had to concentrate not to show his pride at those words. No, it was better if he looked as if he was stood before the sergeant, in a line of soldiers waiting to be given the order to march. He had nothing to say yet to it, so he rather stole a glance at the faces of the men, to see what they thought of it.

Schroeder passed the piece of paper back to Roper, looking serious.

"So, did you do it?" Roper asked, tucking the paper back inside the black cover of the Punishment Book

"I didn' give t' rifles a bad name." The lad answered truthfully. Since they were not found guilty and the charges were dropped, they could not be considered the guilty party. In his opinion that meant, that their name was as good as cleared. Even when he should have answered the first question though, he was somewhat reluctant to.

"I ain't so sure," Jacklin put in. "Did you do what Tom Roper here says you done, to this provost?"

"i've not injured 'im. He injured 'isself." He spoke, then shrugged his shoulders. "..but.. i wos' in 'is tent, yes." He could have lied, but not to his peers. Well, not when he was not exactly ashamed of it, either. ".. I did sum' things.."

"So you did get after him yourself. Your own idea, I s'pose?" Of the other three Riflemen back with the baggage, Roper would not have believed that any of them would cook up such a scheme, or have anything to do with it.

"Yes. My own." Since he had admitted to it before, he could as well give them a clearer answer. He didn't want any of them to think, or even suggest of believing that any of the other riflemen had had their fingers in it. Especially as they were innocent.

Well, that was something. "You didn't think to leave it to the Captain to get after 'im and bring 'im to answer for what he'd done, then?" Roper shifted his position a little and found himself drumming his fingers on his leg.

"....I've faith t' captain would have done his best." But as for whether he would be successful, he did not want to publicly voice that doubt, even if he had it at the time.

"How do you think it will make us look in front of the rest of the Division, when word of it gets out?" Schroeder asked, his English clear if accented. "Because it will get out - there are always rumours and gossip among soldiers."

"Rumour n' gossip ain't fact. As ye said, there's always those, n' some will always believe it, n' some never will... n' some will say something happened that didn't.. too." He looked at Schroeder giving a short nod.

"Mebbe they ain't, but folks'll take it as fact," Roper said. "Did you think about what anyone else would think, if you was seen, or otherwise found out?"

"Well they'll take anythin' fer fact then....beg pardon. Can't help that." He hesitated then and shook his head. "Wasn't plannin' ter get caught..."

"Really." The word was spoken flatly. "Ever heard the sayin' 'Plan for the worst and hope for the best?"

".... I did plan ..t' make sure I left nothin' ter be caught by...,means.. t' worst possible...but..." His voice trailed off. Getting on the wrong side of the men of his own regiment, of his own kind, that wasn't exactly a smart thing to do. He bit his lip.

"Look, you've only been with us for a short time. We know there's things you don't know. But you've got to learn you can't just up and go your own way 'cause it seems like a good idea at the time. 'Specially when we're right up close with the Frogs - if the Captain wants summat done one way in partic'lar, he won't be any too pleased if you don't agree with him an' go off doin' your own thing 'cause it seems like a good idea, or you don't see how his way would work." He rested his hand on the Punishment Book. "What if that happened, an' you ended up givin' us away when he wants us to set an ambush, summat like that?"

"...that's different. I would not disobey an order." He was confident of that. "Never done so when I was in the 33rd." Not since entering Portugal certainly. "It's not m' place to think, there. Not like that. " Did they think he was a loose cannon? That he would, in battle even, turn about and go on his way if he thought Vickery had done something foolish. He shook his head again. It wasn't so at all. "...It's different. I'd never have done it. Never."

"Did you ever think that there are some orders an officer might not know he needed to give? Such as stayin' away from that provost, I mean. An' if an offcicer don't know he needs to tell you summat, he ain't goin' to. Which'll mean you can go gaily off an' do whatever you like, 'cause you ain't bin told not to?" Jacklin asked.

All right. Time to try to get back to the point of this. Roper held up a hand. "We're Riflemen. Means we can be trusted to have a bit of common sense, a bit of... of intelligence an' to use it, think about things afore doin' 'em. Seems to me mebbe you ain't ready to be a Rifleman if you can't try thinkin' like one."