For Love of Country - Military Policewoman www.silvaredigonda.ca

At 9: 45 the next morning we were awakened. The entire day was spent socializing. The girls were very friendly. It became quite clear that privacy and time to myself would no longer be a possibility, as we continued to hear about the endless rules. We were not permitted to close the doors to our rooms unless we were dressing. I started to hang around with a girl named Mary Oster. She was a real country girl with a hearty laugh and wonderful sense of humour. She spoke of her several brothers and how she used to kill the rats stalking her barn. Her dream was to marry and have half a dozen children. (This wonderful, happy woman would be emotionally destroyed fifteen years later, and die shortly thereafter.) Before the day was over, two girls had asked to be allowed to leave. The military, each had said, was not for her. They departed or rather were “released.” I was okay so far. I must have learned a hundred rules that day, as well as how to make the perfect bed. It only took one hour to accomplish the feat. Two of the other women were shouted at, without reason, and some began to taunt me for having an unusual name and for being of Italian descent. That night I slid carefully into my bed, to avoid making it in the morning. The following morning, I tucked the blanket and sheet under the mattress, which was all the bed required to look fresh. That morning I attended a lecture regarding fires and learned more procedures. After the lecture we lined up for uniforms, which they called work dress. Later, in the common room, two of the women pressed mine for me after watching me struggle with the iron. Washing clothes I managed to handle myself. The meals were a disappointment. The food was actually terrible – tasteless and soggy: not at all what I had expected. I had been assigned to a work detail which consisted of scrubbing, washing and polishing the exit section of the barracks. Already I was beginning to miss home and felt like I had been at the camp for a month. Excerpt From: Silva Redigonda. “For love of country : military policewoman.

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