327831

327831...

This is my Regimental Number. I was given this number some time in late October 1986 when I joined the Australian Regular Army (ARA - As it was called back then).)

I notice that many folk I know from the army will regularly post on Facebook something like: "On this day 33 years ago I joined the army..." For some reason I don't remember the exact date I joined up. I don't know why I don't remember this somewhat important date in my life. I just don't. For all I know it could have been early November that I joined up but I'm quite certain it was October.

However, I do remember my Regimental Number and, like every person that has ever served in the armed forces, it remains very much embedded into my memory. I think that this is because when you join the forces the powers that be distill your whole psyche, your whole personality, your whole self down to this number. Some numbers are longer, some are shorter.

Without this number you don't exist according to the Army. If it were ever to be totally forgotten or somehow erased from the record you would cease to be. It would be as though you had never existed.

I wonder: if I managed to forget this number would I vanish? I was around prior to being allocated 327831. I was a young musician. My whole life up to that date was devoted to playing music and having a good time. The moment it was determined that I was to be 327831 my life changed. Some things changed for the better and some for the worse.

I look at that last sentence and I notice that I put better before worse. Is that an optimistic view or is it that I have been conditioned to write such a phrase in that manner?