[Julian Knight continues…]
DMA’s Board of Study:
On Wednesday 3 June 1987, the Duntroon DMA’s Board of Study sat in review of ‘5266, Staff Cadet Third Class J. Knight’. The Brief of the DMA BoS (Board of Study) recorded the summary of the CSC CO, Lieutenant-Colonel KIBBEY, as; ‘Unsatisfactory CSC performance. Offr qual poor. Discipline. 10 charges. (Three civ offences pending). A poor cadet setting a bad example to others. Pers and regt standards below average. PT and sport satisfactory. (Aust Rules 2nds). PGR [Peer Group Rating] 23/26.’ Lieutenant-Colonel KIBBEY’s recommendation was listed simply as ‘Show Cause.’
The MTW CI, Lieutenant-Colonel WILLIS, had his summary recorded as:
‘Field Training: Assessed as marginal for FEX 3 [Exercise “Tobruk”] and 4 [Exercise “Samichon”]. His fieldcraft was poor and he was impulsive. He seems to have low peer acceptance. His nav is suspect. He was not tested in Battlecraft due to his being at the RAP for treatment of a broken nose he sustained in a fight on 23 May. He was spoken to by CI MTW at the last BoS for low personal standards and indiscipline. General Studies. Satisfactory.’ Lieutenant-Colonel WILLIS’s recommendation was listed as ‘Discuss.’
The reference to ‘a fight on 23 May’ was a reference to the fight I had with the Midshipmen from ADFA (* discussed above). The ‘low peer acceptance’ referred to in Lieutenant-Colonel WILLIS’s summary was a reference to the comments in my Field Report card for Exercise “Tobruk” (* discussed above).
The comments of my Guidance Officer, Captain GOSS, were summarized as:
‘SCDT Knight’s performance has been unsatisfactory during this Reporting Period. He has shown a distinct lack of motivation and self discipline. He has been charged on an almost continual basis -a direct result of his poor judgement and a lack of a sense of responsibility. His integrity is also in question due to the member resubmitting another cadet’s work during a retest. His trouble stems from a lack of maturity and his new found wealth resulting in a preference for social activities rather than applying himself at RMC. Though he has accepted advice and criticism and is aware of his faults, he is yet to take action to remedy them.’
Captain GOSS’s last interview with me had been on 11 May 1987. The ‘retest’ he referred to was the map marking homework (* discussed above) .
The BoS also recorded a summary of the other factors they discussed:
‘In hospital, three charges by civil police (Crimes Act), hearing next week. Trial probably in three months, probable not guilty plea. Unsatisfactory discipline record. (Seven charges, three civil). Not accepted by peers. Med unfit for 6-8 weeks.’
The final decision of the DMA’s Board of Study sealed my fate at the Royal Military College. In the BoS Brief the Board’s decision was officially recorded as:
‘Decision: Prepare Show Cause, seven charges. Below standard on all leadership qualities. Issue following legal advice re civil charges. Convalescent leave from RMCj5 Camp Hospital. Seek legal advice on whether he can be suspended pending court case.’
I was not present at the Board of Study’s review; I did not even know it was being held. Nor was I immediately informed of its decision.
During the early morning of Thursday 4 June 1987, my father flew back to Townsville, while I was finally discharged from 5 Camp Hospital on extended convalescent leave at 1030hrs. That afternoon I collected my pay from the CSC HQ, along with the rest of the 3rd Class cadets from Kokoda Company.
I was understandably the centre of attention as most of the 3rd Class cadets gathered around me to question and probe me about my stabbing of CSM REED and my arrest. They also told me that I had been given the nickname “Staff Cadet Knife”, and that there was a joke going around that I was going to be issued a machete the next time we went out on a field exercise. It was also humorously rumoured that an annual “Be Kind to CSM Day” was going to be inaugurated. This was later referred to in the June 1987 issue of The Journal of the Royal Military College Duntroon in the chapter on Kokoda Company: ‘an annual ‘Be kind to CSM Day’ was inaugurated following a particularly unusual [15] days-to-go present.
As all this was going on, 45 Section went from being the Corps Rearguard to the official College Backdoor with ‘Hooks’ Crane continuing to lose his hair and Gary Stone having to bulk order consortments of PD105s [Army charge sheets]’ (The Journal of the Royal Military College Duntroon, June 1987, page 30).
My classmates also told me about now the senior cadets had reacted with intense rage when they learnt of my stabbing of REED. I was informed how the senior cadets had found out that I was admitted to the Royal Canberra Hospital after the stabbing, through a nurse who worked there and who was a friend of Sergeant Stephen ALEXANDER, and how they had planned to sneak into the hospital and bash me in my hospital bed.
They had abandoned the idea only after finding out that I was under police guard. Instead, the senior cadets had searched my room in the barracks, disabled my car after finding my spare set of car keys, and had planned to wait until I returned to my room then firebomb the room with a Molotov cocktail. The senior cadets had even contemplated firebombing my room even if I did not return.
After I collected my pay at CSC HQ, I was given a lift by Staff Cadet Adrian MANNERING to collect my car from the garage in Fyshwick. The Torana’s servicing fee accounted for most of my pay but luckily I had saved over $1,000 of my past wages in my Defence Force Credit Union account (* Contrary to Captain GOSS’s assumption, I had, in fact, been reasonably thrifty as far as my ‘new found wealth’ was concerned). As soon as I had collected my car, I went to stay with my paternal uncle and aunt at their house in the Canberra suburb of Griffith.
1st DMA Interview
On Friday 5 June 1987, I was interviewed by the Director of Military Art* at RMC, Colonel Rodney EARLE, in the DMA’s office at the college. Major P.J. NEUHAUS, who was an SO2 Cadets at Duntroon and who had been on my Selection Board the year before, sat silently in the rear of the office and transcribed part of the interview. His official Record of Interview recorded the following exchanges between Colonel EARLE and me:
EARLE: “I have called you here to advise you of your current situation as a result of my recent Board of Study. You were raised for special mention and the decision of the Board was that you be asked to ‘Show Cause.’ The ‘Show Cause’ is in relation to your poor performance here at RMC, and does not include your current difficulty as a result of the incident the other night (pause) . You are below the RMC standard in every leadership and personal quality. Do you understand?
KNIGHT: Yes Sir.
EARLE: During your time at RMC, you have shown the following weaknesses:
(a) Poor fieldcraft,
(b) impulsiveness ,
(c) low personal standards,
(d) poor self discipline, and
(e) poor acceptance of responsibility.
I don’t think you would disagree with these, would you?
KNIGHT: No Sir.
EARLE: So it would seem that you are not suited to being an Army Officer, and I have grounds to ask you to ‘Show Cause’?
KNIGHT: Yes Sir.
EARLE: What happens now is that you remain on convalescent leave until after your [court) hearing. Then when we know what is to follow, I will either ask you to ‘Show Cause’ at that point or you will be suspended from RMC. It is quite clear that you cannot return to RMC until this is resolved. Is that clear?
KNIGHT: Yes Sir, except in regards to suspension.
EARLE: The suspension will be until after the court case is concluded, should that be the way the hearing goes. I believe you would be paid while on suspension, but you will not live in the lines [barracks] again.
KNIGHT: Yes Sir.
EARLE: At the moment you are on convalescent leave?
KNIGHT: Yes Sir.
EARLE: Staying with your uncle?
KNIGHT: Yes Sir.
EARLE: Your father?
KNIGHT: He went back (to Townsville) yesterday.
EARLE: What course of action do you propose to follow?
KNIGHT: I am undecided at this stage Sir. I have legal counsel and will take their advice.
EARLE: Alright so you know where you stand now?
KNIGHT: Yes Sir.
EARLE: So you go off on convalescent leave until 12 Jun 87. After your (ACT Magistrates Court) hearing, you are to report to the ADJT [RMC Adjutant,
Captain R.J. MARTIN], and we will make the necessary arrangements then. OK is all that clear?
KNIGHT: Yes Sir.”
[* NOTE: Director of Military Art (DMA) at RMC is second in command at the College below the Commandant]
I wanted to present my own case to the DMA but I did not believe that there would be any point. It was obvious that I did not have a chance of remaining at Duntroon; my fate had been sealed by the Board of Study.
I also did not believe that the Board’s decision for me to ‘Show Cause’ was not related to my ‘current difficulty as a result of the incident the other night’ (* The official Army records of the BOS’s meeting clearly shows that my suspicion was correct, and that the stabbing incident had been a determining influence in the Board’s final ‘Show Cause’ decision).
I knew that ‘Show Cause’ hearings only ever had one outcome: an immediate and dishonourable discharge. It was known by every cadet at the college that ‘Show Cause’ hearings were only an administrative formality when the college authorities wanted to expel a cadet from the college, and the cadet in question refused to resign voluntarily.
At this stage, I was graded as 108/118 in academics and 115/118 in leadership, but I was the only 3rd Class cadet asked to ‘Show Cause’ by the Board of Study after their 3 June 1987 meeting. My appointment as a Staff Cadet at Duntroon had been tenuous for some weeks but the stabbing of my CSM effectively left the college authorities with no option but to force me to resign.
For most of the time was on convalescent leave in Canberra I was with relatives or friends. I did not return to the college during this time, nor did I visit the Private Bin.