The Greatest TEWT Ever

Professional military education of a different sort, from Bugles And A Tiger by John Masters; the memoirs of a young British Army officer serving in a Gurkha regiment in India in the 1930s.

A selection from Chapter 11…

“We discussed a problem which tradition said was set to officers about to qualify from the riding school of the French Army at Saumur. I didn’t believe the tradition at the time, but it is true; a couple years ago I had the opportunity of confirming it from a French general and cabinet minister. When the French officer had passed all his tests in horsemanship and horsemastership, he still had another trial to undergo before was passed as a true cavalryman, Frenchman, and heir of Murat. He was allotted three horses, three bottles of champagne, three whores, and a cross-country route of thirty miles. He had to cover the course in all particulars in three hours. The problem was, obviously, in what order should he tackle his fences? We reached no agreement on a single plan to solve the problem presented in this interesting TEWT…”