THE RUGBY TACKLE

I had finished my phase one training at Bassingbourn ATR, in Cambridgeshire, where they taught me to be a soldier.

I had spent two months at Rheindahlen Military complex, 1RMP in Germany, where I spent my time working in a real police station, before phase two of my training, where at the Royal Military Police Training School (RMPTS), in Chichester, England, they taught me to be a policeman.

It is at the RMPTS, that my story takes place.

I started my police training on Monday 7th September 1998, and it was a week into it that my story happens.

We had been allocated our squad. I was in Foxtrot Squadron, made up of 30 people.

One day we were at the park. We were there with another squadron who were further along the training schedule than we were.

Our sergeants were racing each squadron against each other.

“Run to the tree and back, last man in makes their whole squadron race it again”.

Low and behold as we raced back to the finishing line I found myself the last man, a yard behind the person in front of me.

I remember looking at the two squadrons waiting at the finish. Praying I got in before the other man, preventing another race to the tree and back.

I thought to myself there and then. “I will not be last”.

So I put in an extra spurt of energy and with only 10 yards to the finishing line, I rugby tackled the guy to the ground.

He went down like a ton of bricks and I picked myself up and sprinted to the finishing line.

Everyone looked at me with their jaws dropped.

I just shrugged my shoulders and said that “I’ll never be last”…

And I never was.

© Copyright 2007 Matthew Taylor