During Army Warrant Officer Flight School, at Hunter Army Airfield, we had a daily Retreat Ceremony at 1700 hrs. That was when we formed the Regiment, fired off the 75mm Pack Howitzer with a Blank Round and lowered the Flag to the official music standard for the occasion.
Some of us thought adding some variety to this repetitious bit of Army Tradition would be good fun. One evening we spent hours cutting up Newspapers into Confetti then loaded the Cannon Barrel with the fruit of our labors.
The next afternoon, at 1700 on the Dot....off goes the Howitzer.....and a Million pieces of Confetti fly well into the air....to shower down in a most splendid manner.
The RSM being a wise old Dog....noticed only a half dozen or so of us were laughing while the rest of the Regiment had honest looks of surprise on their faces. Being able to add 2 and 2 together, he quickly did his Sums and came up with the answer...1st Squad, 1st Platoon, Bravo Company.
Do you know just how long it takes to pick up the same exact amount of Confetti that can be packed into a 75mm Howitzer?
At Graduation the RSM told us that he too owned Scissors and subscribed to the Newspaper....which I think may have explained why despite our most diligent efforts to remove all evidence of our youthful transgressions took so long....as we were not off Restriction until those efforts were done to perfection.