This account is a description of the Conscription in 1945 of Gerald Cooper, and of his subsequent deployment to locations in England for training, and then to the Middle East. He was deployed in Egypt, Palestine, and Cyprus, where he observed the workings of the British Army. He had a German POW batman for part of his deployment. His batman was an industrious craftsman who made him a sturdy canvas briefcase out of tent canvas. That briefcase, a memento of that era, saw him through architectural school in Leeds. It also saw his much younger brother-in-law through university, and is still in serviceable condition somewhere in Australia or New Zealand.