By HANNAH STONE in Rotorua
A constant "atmosphere of fear" may have led to a loss of concentration which cost a Rotorua regular force cadet his life in an explosion at Waiouru 22 years ago, an ex-cadet claims.
Former New Zealand Army regular force cadet John Subritzky, 39,
said his senior room commander, cadet Bryce Gawler, was killed in an ammunition explosion when he wandered into the wrong area during a signal exercise in July 1982.
The Katikati chef's claims come at a time former cadets from around the country are alleging decades of sexual, physical and mental abuse at the school.
Mr Gawler's lack of concentration on map co-ordinates could have been a direct result of the endless beatings and abuse he received from his fellow senior cadets, Mr Subritzky said.
"It is a real possibility. He was playing with live rounds and one of the six exploded.
"It was more than likely the system failed and no-one picked up on it."
Mr Subritzky said Mr Gawler was constantly picked on by his peers for being one of the weaker ones in his class.
"There was always an atmosphere of fear.
"It was crazy stuff. His death could have been avoided. I believe it could have been the seniors inflicting torture on him that made his life miserable as well as ours."
Mr Subritzky said in one incident he saw a senior cadet heat a spoon with a lighter for more than five minutes before pouncing on Mr Gawler and pressing the spoon to his neck.
Mr Gawler's family declined to comment to The Daily Post.
Mr Subritzky said he also suffered at the hands of his senior cadets during his 18-month stay at the Waiouru-based school.
He said he was singled out by seniors who beat him daily.
"I would be made to stand in a corner of a room at attention and I would have one or four or eight guys beating me at a time ... I was their special boy that year.
"If this is what I suffered in 1982, I would hate to imagine what happened to the guys [earlier].
"I would have not minded running around the parade ground 100 times or doing 100 press-ups but when they want you to do 100 press-ups with guys standing on your back, your hands or your toes, or kicking you ... it was total animal chaos - mayhem."
It was only when Mr Subritzky approached his uncle, an army recruiter, "screamed and jumped up and down" and revealed the scars on his body, that he was able to leave the cadet force.
Mr Subritzky is one of the 4000 cadets who attended the school between 1948 and 1991.
A year before Mr Gawler's death, cadet Grant Bain was shot and killed by fellow cadet Corporal Andrew William Read, who was convicted of careless use of a firearm.
Mr Subritzky said he had heard about the shooting when he arrived at the school.
"We all knew about Bain. We had been told it was deliberate but it was hushed up."
Meanwhile, a former All Black has been singled out for the way he ran the barracks at the army's Waiouru cadet school during the years alleged abuses took place.
Stan "Tiny" Hill, an All Black between 1955 and 1958, was regimental sergeant major in charge of drills and barracks life at the school from 1963 to 1966.
A cadet who was at the school during Mr Hill's time described the former army, Canterbury and New Zealand rugby selector as a harsh disciplinarian.
Eric West says he was hospitalised for a week with a displaced tailbone after a beating at the school during Mr Hill's time.
Now aged 77, Mr Hill said yesterday that cadets were treated honestly in the proper military way. Speaking from his Christchurch home, he said cadets were treated according to military standards.
"We dealt with the things the way we saw it at the time and there was no grizzling and the job went on."
- additional reporting NZPA
