All through high school my cousin had insisted that she was going to go to officer training school and make a professional career in the military. Our dads had been in the regular army and we had been brought up a pair of army brats. Kristy-Anne had always preferred playing war games, donning fatigues and scaling assault courses to âgirlyâ pursuits like checking out boys or spending hours playing with makeup.
When we were about 14, we were separated as my dad was discharged and moved into a new career in anew town. Then Kristy-Anne and her family were posted overseas.
I drifted around after high school, not really knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I had a few short-lived relationships with boys, and then men, none of whom satisfied me emotionally and all of whom I was eventually cold with physically. By the time I was just 19, I had hit the hippie trail, spent time wandering through India, and then ended up on the streets back home, with a drug habit â I took uppers to get through the nights of selling my body, downers to sleep during the day and forget. I hated it but was spiralling out of control. Things went on like this for another two years, by which time I was pulling tricks, and under the direction of a pimp, rolling customers. Fortunately I never succumbed to cocaine or heroin. I was too scared of the consequences for that.
The first and only time I tried to hold up a pharmacist for cash and drugs I was caught. I was dragged before the courts. The judge gave me a suspended sentence and lectured me about getting my life in order. This was the kick up the arse I needed. First stop was a rehab centre, where I realised my drug use was dragging me down.
Mum and Dad took me back in. I guess I was the prodigal daughter. But nothing really interested me long-term. What was WRONG with me, I kept asking myself.
Then Dad made a suggestion which I had never expected. Why didnât I consider an army career? He could pull a few strings and make sure my past would not be examined too closely.
Whoooooooooooooooooah! From druggie whore turning tricks to army recruit? Bizarre! But Dad had planted a seed. At least I could get a degree, or learn something useful. So, here I was, standing in the Army Recruiting Office, signing on the dotted line. My dadâs distinguished career held me in good stead, and within a week I was off to boot camp. A women-only boot camp! After recent scandals involving sexual harassment and assault of female recruits, the force was trying an experiment in training women with women, by women, with a view to forming a special elite women-only corps. At least that would keep me out of distractionâs way â no way of returning to my sordid ways â I had thought when I volunteered to join the experiment.
As the bus pulled up at the barracks, I was greeted by the sight of six women in uniform standing to attention by the bus door. As we emerged, they appraised us, scrutinising every aspect of us. I was wearing the last of my floaty Indian dresses, sandals, and my long braid of sandy hair hung down to my arse.
Immediately, we were marched into a wooden barracks room, where we were met by a middle-aged, very chunky woman, told to strip and remove any jewellery. We were issued with sensible, waist high white panties, told to raised our arms, a tape measure run around our breasts, and a utility bra (more like a harness) thrown at us. We then lined up and were issued a kakhi shirt and trousers and socks. Last of all, we had our feet measured, and a pair of brand new, stiff leather boots fitted.
None of us talked to each other. One fragile, rather petite looking girl had silent tears rolling down her cheeks. âStop snivelling, recruit!â the army woman barked at her. âAre you, or are you not here voluntarily?â A tiny whimper in reply seemed to say ân-n-n-n-n-noâ. âRubbish, recruit!â came the reply. âThis army has no conscripts. If you are here, it is because you want to be. There is no alternative!â
The girl was so startled she did stop weeping, but she withdrew even further into herself.
âOk, recruits. Sit on that bench. You will be called individually for the next stage of induction.â
We sat. We waited. Eventually, a tall, serious looking woman came and called a name. âFollow me!â she ordered. The girl who had been crying stood, and took a few tentative steps forward. âLook smart, Recruit Smithâ. Forward, march!
With that, a door was opened which led into another room, and then closed behind them as Smith and the officer left. I heard a strange humming noise, a scream, and then silence. Smith didnât come back, but the Officer did, and my name was called.
I was fairly familiar with army protocols, so I tried to look like I knew what I was doing. I walked forward into the next room, where I was prodded into a large straight-backed chair. An electric implement like a dentistâs drill hung from the ceiling overhead, but I soon realised it wasnât. I felt myself take a sharp intake of breath. An unseen pair of hands from behind grabbed my braid and within a few seconds I heard a heavy schnik as it was severed from my head. It was thrown on the floor beside me. I noticed then for the first time that there were mirrors on the walls all around me, and I could see the jagged and rough end of my hair above my collar! It hadnât been this short since I was a very small child! I gasped.
Then the woman behind grabbed the electric clippers and turned them on. I guess I hadnât even thought about this when I had joined up. Like most of my body, I just took it for granted that my long hair was there, a part of me. Well, I certainly wasnât going to snivel about its loss. I would just take what came.
What came was totally unexpected! The barber tilted my head forward and ran the clippers up my neck. And I felt a jolt of electrical excitement zoom straight to my cunt! My nipples stood erect, and I felt moisture pooling in my underpants! For fuckâs sake, I thought, Iâm getting turned on by an army haircut!
The barber was an artist! No rough and uneven clippering here. She took her time, and lovingly guided the shears up the back of my neck, before taking a comb and executing a perfect horseshoe shaped crew cut! When she was satisfied with the shape, she took a straight razor and sharpened it on a leather strop. She lathered my neck and around my ears and shaved me bare so that a white line appeared at my neckline and ears. (Later I learned itâs called âwhite-wallingâ) The back of my head was shorn at a 0 setting, just the barest hint of blonde stubble remained. It was almost imperceptible, but as she ran her hands over it, I squirmed in my seat.
âYou have to maintain your hair at a length no longer than a #1 back and sides and #2 on top throughout basic trainingâ I was informed. âYou will report here at 0800 hours every Saturday for barbering.â My pussy already looked forward to it. I hadnât felt this sexually aroused sinceâŚwell, since a time I had long put out of my mind. A silly thing, when I had accidentally brushed against the prom queenâs breasts on the dance floor on graduation night. âMany of our recruits like to come more frequently. Dismissed.â I knew I was going to be back in that room as often as I could be.
I was accompanied out another door at then other end of the hut. Smith was sitting bolt upright on a concrete stoop where she had been told to wait. She too was now completely shorn, although her dark hair looked like a 5 oâclock shadow all over. She was staring straight ahead. âOoh, youâre beautiful braid,â she exclaimed. âDid they have to punish you too?â
âPunish?â I asked, not catching her drift.
âYes, I resisted, and was punished. They pulled down my trousers and paddled my bare arse until I submittedâ. She started to snivel again, and then pulled herself up. She whispered âBut they said it will get worse if I cry again.â This seemed to stiffen her resolve. While she stared into space, I couldnât help wondering what her stinging arse had looked like, and what kind of paddle they had used.
Eventually the other recruits joined us, each of us now outfitted in khaki, with shaven, heads. Despite the regulation clippering, all our cuts looked different. That barber really knew what she was doing. I mused to myself how one became an army barber!