Bruce Dawe

‘Weapons Training’ is an example of how Dawe entertains his readers. He makes a serious subject lighter by including humour in the poem. It tells the story of a drill sergeant who is preparing new recruits for war. The sergeant has a short time to prepare the young men for war, and thus why he has to extremely mean and horrible to them. It is his job to get them ready for war and if they go to war unprepared there is a great chance that they will return home in a body bag. The sergeant’s exterior sees him being very hard on the boys, whilst inside he has a softer side. He cannot let the boys see that he is doing this with his best intentions, because if he does they will not absorb the information given to them as much. The job of preparing young men for war is one that is very serious and it takes a man who can shut out all personal attachment to people. The sergeant says very demeaning things to the boys like, ‘one more brain it’d be lonely’ and ‘unsi...