At some odd time in the early morning lights in his room turn on. He remembers this routine from basic training. Wake up at dumb times, do physical “training” and then do some drills. Johannes doesn’t even think as he slides out of bed, hearing the drill sergeants' yells to make their beds and stand at attention. Every trooper prospects flies through this routine. In amazing time, he is dressed, has his bed maid and standing at the end of the bunk bed next to Erwin.
“Privies! Strength test starts in hour, you should go warm up. PT’s” The wolf drill sergeant says with a bit of attitude. And the recruits turn around and open their lockers. They switch into their PT uniforms a shirt and shorts. When they are done, they again stand at attention at the end of their bunks.
“Go! You fucks are wasting your own time!” The wolf yells. The recruits run out, and in the hallway, they find another drill sergeant who yells “Hey! Your mine!”
The drill sergeant runs with them outside the barracks and to the adjacent field. There he orders them to form up. He guides them through different exercises, correcting the form of anyone who was doing them wrong. Others from the barracks join them. After they quickly ran through all the exercises the drill sergeant makes them form up and run to where the actual assessment will take place.
Jogging in formation, it starts to rain, only light drizzle at first. The drill sergeant guides them a field in a clearing. Stopping, they formed up tighter.There a number of officers and drill sergeants awaited. Some of them had scanners and tablets, while others walked through the lines and rows of the formation, assessing the new recruits. When Johannes and Erwin’s group joined the growing formation, in front of him he could see a maned wolf, no doubt Tahvo. He stood a head taller than the rest, and attracted the attention of two of the officers. They walked through the formation, pushing past the recruits, to stand in front of Tahvo.
“Where are you from lad?” One of the officers asked
“Abental, Blomwig mountains, sir” Johannes heard Tahvo say sternly.
“Far away from Camlip aren’t you?”
“Yes, Sir.”
The officers pulled away, seeming finished with their inspection, and went back to open lane dividing the two large formations of recruits.
“Attention!” someone shouted at full strength, silencing the quiet chatter amongst the officers and drill sergeants.
An officer presses his tablet’s screen, and the microphone in the device is activated, “This physical assessment will consist of four tasks. Fifty push-ups, fifty sit ups, ten pull ups, and a six-mile run in forty minutes. If you fail any one of these, you will leave today. No second chances, no mistakes, no failure. You will be split up into platoons and these tests will be done at their pace. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Sir” the crowd of recruits yell in unison. The rain had started to pick up, and had settled on a steady downpour.
In the center dividing line of the two formations, drill sergeants broke their way through the tight formation, pushing recruits to either side of them forming platoons. Johannes watched as one pushed his way past on his left, making him shuffle to his right to make room. The now six platoons separated, forming six individual formations, three on each side of the dividing line.
"Platoon, Right flank, march!" The loose formation turns to the right, and quickly falls into a march. Within the first few steps, everyone is at elbows length and stepping in unison. Johannes saw Tahvo in front of him, he was near the front of the formation. He could no doubt see the course way before Johannes, who was only able to see the bars and stamped down grass as they walked into the clearing.
“Platoon, Halt!” the drill sergeant yells, and formation stops. The drill sergeant talks to the officer and other two sergeants who accompanied them briefly, but Johannes could not make out what they said.
“Platoon, Right Turn!” The drill sergeant yells, and the platoon’s formation turns right, now facing the officer and drill sergeant.
“At ease” the officer says, and the platoon stands down from their attention, relaxing.
“Get a buddy, we’re going to do this is pairs” the drill sergeant says. Johannes looks to his right, and Erwin is still there, now looking back at him. They shuffle a step closer without saying anything. After a moment, and everyone had found a friend, the drill sergeant said “We are going to pushups first. Form two lines so that we can see you.” The platoon shuffles around quickly, forming two parallel lines, with a pair of recruits standing next to each other making up that line.
“This test consists of a push up, if you don’t know what a push up is you shouldn’t be here. I don’t want to see anything less than perfect form. If you bend your back, chest doesn’t touch the ground, arms not at ninety degrees, it doesn’t count. Your partner will count for you, if your partner counts a pushup that shouldn’t have counted, he will have to do that push up. Is that understood?”
“Yes, drill sergeant!”
“I don’t care who goes first, so get on the ground.” Johannes and Erwin look at each other for a second, seeing if the other wants to go first, after a second of neither offering, Erwin jumps to the ground. The rest of the platoon had joined him, and half of them were on the ground while their partners were standing or knelling next to them.
“You will go on my cadence, go down when I say down, go up when I say up. Is that clear?”
“Yes, drill sergeant!”
“Assume the position” the drill sergeant says as he starts walking down the line. The recruits on the ground extend their arms, lifting off of the ground. For an agonizing minute they stay there as the drill sergeants make sure everyone is ready.
“Down!” the drill sergeant yells. The recruits go down, everyone’s chest is on the ground, their toes curled to support their weight.
“Up!” the recruits push up, all extending out in a quick motion. The recruits counting say “one”.
The drill sergeant continues to give cadence at a regular pace. Him and the other drill sergeants accompanying him along with the officer walk down and through the line trying to find flaws in one’s form. Until the count became 38, they could not find anything. A fox recruit started to slightly bend his back. The nearest drill sergeant yells “doesn't count, vixen!”
The drill sergeant giving cadence pauses for a second, then resumes. The fox’s partner counts the next one, one number behind the rest of the platoon. The fox visibly struggles, and again at count 44 he faulters. This time his partner says it doesn’t count, and he growls, frustrated that he is failing.
The rest of the platoon finish at 50, but the fox remains in the upright position. He awaits the drill sergeant’s ‘down’ call. After an agonizing few seconds, he hears “down” and falls to the ground. Upon hearing “up” he pushes with everything he has and slowly gets his arms extended.
“C’mon little man, let’s go!” a wolf recruit yells watching the fox started his final push up. This gets a few more to begin cheering as the drill sergeant yells “down!” and the fox falls once more. The Fox looks up and sees a couple recruits surrounding him, but in his struggle could not interpret what they were yelling.
“Up!” the drill sergeant yells and the fox pushes again. This time egged on by his fellow recruits is more successful, and easily pushes all the way out. At the apex of his pushup the recruits cheer and then the fox fall to the ground again, this time catching his breath. One of the drill sergeants, the one who stood next to the fox during the last few pushups, used the scanner he had and scanned the fox’s wrist. No doubt writing notes on him for future use.
“Get up and switch positions. Counters should be on their face now” the drill sergeant said. It took a few seconds, but the recruits who counted on the first round were now in the ground with their arms extended, including Johannes. Johannes was focused but relaxed, he was not worried about these first tests, he had spent his childhood training. Not only strength, but his father and older brothers all shared in teaching him traditional wolf martial arts and endurance running and climbing. His mind was wandering, and halfway through the fifty pushups he got out of rhythm, going down instead of going up.
“Hey! Get in the rhythm, or those won’t count!” a drill sergeant to his right yelled. Johannes corrected his pace, waiting at the ‘up’ position and joining the rest of the group. He continued without issue, this time focusing on his form, and not his previous training. He finished one cycle after the rest, and stood up.
The officer who was watching walk up to Johannes with his scanner in his hand primed to scan, Johannes lifts his wrist up, and lets the officer scan him. The officer doesn’t say anything and turns, writing something with the stylus.
“Are they seriously going to knock me on that?” Johannes said, directed to Erwin.
“Shit, I don’t know, they might need to if everyone’s going to ace the tests like that.”
“I hope not.”
“Hey! I never said you could talk!” The main drill sergeant yells though a bunch of recruits. Johannes and Erwin reactively stand at attention for a second before shutting up and relaxing.
“We're not going to waste any more time, the first guy, get back on the ground” Shuffling around the recruits get back on the ground, and prepare for the next test, they already know it will be sit-ups, and the recruits not on the ground stand at their partner’s feet.
“Fifty sit-ups, same as before, your form isn’t perfect it doesn’t count” The drill sergeant pauses, “You go down when I say up, it doesn’t count” looking right at Johannes. “You get the idea I shouldn’t have to tell you. Counter, make sure you hold the feet of your partner, if you sabotage your partner, that's more sit-ups to do for you.” By now all the recruits were ready, Johannes had his hands firmly holding Erwin’s feet.
“Up!” The drill sergeant surprises the recruits by his expediency, and they panic to sit up. “Down!” The recruits lay back down, this time much more in sync. Having already gone through the push up test, the recruits adapted to the format of the test, and everyone got through the test with no hiccups.
“Alright, switch. I want to go home, let’s not waste time” the drill sergeant says, checking his Ismount. Johannes and Erwin quickly switch, Erwin gets on his knees and gets out of Johannes’ way as he lays down in the same spot he was in.
“Up!” just as he lays down and Erwin gets his hands on his feet, the drill sergeant starts the test. Not all of the recruits were ready, and they scramble to get their anchor point, and sit-up.
“Down!” laying down, Johannes knew, just like the pushups, that this test was going to be easy. But unlike the pushups, he wouldn’t let his mind wander, and he focuses on his form and staying on cadence. The whole platoon finishes the sit up test with no issues.
“You guys seem to be doing fine, normally I’d give you a break, but my wife is making Saffron tonight” the drill sergeant says. “Get up, there are four bars over there” he points over to the bars standing on their own in the middle of the clearing. “Make even lines, I don’t care which one you go to.” The recruits head over to the bars, some jogging, some speedwalking. They stumble into four unorganized lines.
“Hey! I said four lines, not a mob, fix your shit!” the drill sergeant yells as the recruits try to organize the lines. Eventually they do, fix their shit, and four even lines are formed.
The drill sergeant walks around them to the opposite side of the bars, and he is followed by the officer. “Ten pull ups, that’s it. I will tell you when to go up and down, just like before. If you go down before I say so, it won’t count. I will wait at the top until everyone gets up, the faster you all get up the faster you go down. If you don’t get your muzzle over the top of the bar, it doesn’t count. When I say ready, you will grab the bar, then hang there until I say up. Understood?”
“Yes, drill sergeant!”
“Ready!” The first recruit in all four lines jumps up grabbing the bar, and hang there for a second waiting for the drill sergeant.
“Up!” they pull up lifting their muzzles up and over the bar, resting it on top.
“Down!” they fall back down, again hanging.
The first few groups succeed without a hitch, that was until it was Tahvo’s turn. Tahvo walked up to that bar, but instead of jumping up to the bar, he simply reached up and grabbed it with his feet still on the ground. He looks at the drill sergeant for guidance.
“Pick your feet up cloudlicker!” the drill sergeant yells at Tahvo. As soon as he does and his feet come off the ground the drill sergeant looks back to the other three recruits and when he sees that they are still ready, he yells “Up!” Tahvo, due to his height and long neck, has no problems with the pullups. And when they are done, he simply puts his feet on the ground.
When Johannes was on deck, the guy in front of him started to struggle on pull up number eight. On his nineth, he barely makes it up. The three other recruits waited at the apex of their pull ups, some struggling to keep it up. The recruit, on his last rep, fails to get up. He goes down before the drill sergeant says so.
“I didn’t say down! That doesn’t count!” The recruit tries again, but he doesn’t even get half way.
“Down!” the drill sergeant yells, allowing reprieve for the three other recruits who were holding their pull ups. They let go of the bar, while the recruit continues to hold on.
“Up!” the recruit tries, pulling his hardest, but fails to make it up. “C’mon you mutt, get the fuck up! You’re holding up the line! UP!” The recruit’s grip starts to slip, and he readjusts.
“Alright, you’re done, get down” the drill sergeant says, sounding like a disappointed dad. The recruit lets go, bending down trying to relieve his soreness.
“Come over here private!” a drill sergeant off to the side yells, and he quickly walks over.
“Ready!” Johannes looks back to the bar, running and jumping up to the bar.
“Up!” Johannes goes up, putting his muzzle on the top of the bar.
“Down!” pushing back and down, he goes down. Johannes finishes the rest of the pull ups without a problem. When he is done with the last one, he drops down and heads over to the rest of the recruits gathering on the other side of the bars.
As the last few groups of recruits were finishing their pullups, a drill sergeant and the officer walked over to the crowd of recruits. The drill sergeant yells “Fall in! You’re going straight to the run.” The platoon of recruits form up, going back into two ranks. When the last recruits get down from their pull ups they join the formation.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
“Forward, march” the drill sergeant yells, right after the last recruit gets into formation. The platoon head back to the field where they were first orientated, and then to the dirt road opposite it. They follow the road for a few minutes until they get to a station. There was a platoon and a half lining up in formation, and at the front Johannes could see two recruits take off running at a time with a few seconds interval between them.
Johannes and the rest of his platoon waited in line, in the meantime Johannes looked around for Erwin or Tahvo, but they must have been behind him, and he didn’t want to look around and have a drill sergeant notices him. When Johannes got near the front his there was a drill instructor yelling instructions “You have fifty minutes to run the course. At the end you will be scanned, and if you do not finish in under fifty minutes you fail. Follow the road, there are no markings but if you can’t follow a damn road, you shouldn’t be here anyways. When you get scanned here, your time starts.”
When Johannes got to the front, he held up his right hand to the NCO on his left. When he heard the beep, he took off running. He started out at a good pace, breathing consistently, just like his father taught him. His strides were long, longer than most people of his size.
Maybe a mile in, he was making good pace, when he heard “Hey! Johannes! Wait up!” behind him. He took a moment to slow down and look behind him. He saw Erwin, gaining ground on him. Erwin was running much harder than Johannes, so Johannes slowed down to meet up with him.
“Fancy seeing you here” Erwin says when he catches up with Johannes.
“You wanted run together ... or are you going to pass me?” Johannes said in between strides.
“We can run together if you want.”
“I don’t want to ... slow you down” Johannes said knowing Erwin was a much better runner than he was. His skinnier, taller frame made running his specialty.
“You might get a better score if I push you a bit” Erwin jokes, not tired at all.
“And you ... will get a worse score ... you’ll need all you can get ... for the strength test.”
Erwin laughs, “So you have to help me then, deal?”
“Fine.”
The rest of their run was silent, Erwin kept pace with Johannes, pushing him when he started to slow down. The “road” was really just a well-maintained trail through the swamp. It weaved its way around ponds and still water. Johannes tried to keep the pace set by Erwin, but fell behind multiple times. Each time Erwin slowed down, allowing for Johannes to catch up. The heat started to get to them, even though the sun just started to rise. Johannes, a lot more gassed than Erwin, took the new sun’s heat worse. He started to pant, his tongue hanging all the way out of his mouth and to one side.
Eventually, the pair could see the end station. With two drill sergeants on either side of the road. Johannes panting, slowed down at the end, walked the last few feet. He held his tired arm out to the drill sergeant and he scanned his wrist. Johannes looked over towards Erwin who started over to one the water tanks with hoses connected to it. A couple of tired recruits stood next to it holding the hoses, some drinking it and other pouring it on their heads. Johannes met Erwin at it and Johannes first poured it over his head.
“What do you think our time was?” Erwin asked, taking a sip of the water out of the nozzle.
“You got a better time than I did ... you started after me” Johannes said still out of breath
“Yeah, well I'm sure we passed.” Johannes doesn’t reply, chugging the water coming from the nozzle. “Did you see Tahvo or Vanir?”
“No, I was focused on not dying.”
“Oh come on, it really wasn’t that bad.”
“Did you see Vanir anywhere” Tahvo said, walking up behind Erwin.
“No” Johannes and Erwin both said.
“He must be behind us” Erwin said while Johannes returned to pouring water on his head.
The three waited at the water tank while the last of the recruits finished. The recruits were weary not to use this time to rest too much, drill sergeants and officers from all six platoons walked around the crowd. Some were eyeing up the recruits, others were holding their tablets and talking with each other.
Tahvo stood near the finishing line, eagerly waiting for Vanir. After Johannes caught his breath and cooled down, or at least as much as he could in this heat, he walked over to Tahvo. He stood with him, leaning on the tree, avoiding as much of the early morning sun as he could.
“Did they make him go last or something?” Tahvo asked rhetorically, worried for his friend.
“Probably” Johannes says sarcastically, not sharing the same concern as Tahvo. Johannes slides down the tree, resting when he reaches the bottom, and they continue to watch the recruits trickle in.
A few more minutes pass, when Johannes Vanir round the last corner, “There he is” Johannes states matter of factly.
“They really did make him go last” Tahvo says as he pushes off the tree and walks towards the finish line to meet Vanir. Vanir gets scanned by the drill sergeant and Tahvo asks him “How many people were behind you?”
“What?” He asks out of breath, “I don’t know, less than a dozen or something.” Vanir walks past Tahvo heading for the water tank. He refreshes himself with the water, and Tahvo lets him. After he seems to catch his breath Tahvo resumes his conversation, “You passed right?”
“Yeah, I think so” Vanir says, a little annoyed from the questions.
After all three hundred recruits had finished, and were gathered at the camp, The drill sergeants and officers met and discussed. They gathered in a circle and worked on their tablets. One officer walked out and tapped his tablet, activating the microphone, “The following names have failed to complete the run in the allotted time. Aldar Emelsohn, Ghislain Ivesohn, Aalim Turan.” The officer continues, listing another two dozen names. With each name called, a groan, yell, or slur can be heard as the recruits reacted to failing the required test.
After the names were called, the remaining recruits gathered back into their platoons, and were marched back to the base. They arrived at their barracks, and were ordered to change into their combat uniforms. The recruits rushed inside and to their lockers. They changed then rushed back out. After everyone had changed, and came back out and fell into formation, they set out again and headed to the mess hall.
Inside, the recruits were split up into two lines. Each line went into a separate food line. They fallowed their tray as cooks put food on it and then pushed it down to the next station. At the end they were given silverware and two drill sergeants urging them to sit down in order they went through the line with.
Johannes and the rest of the recruits scarfed the bland food down, they were all hungry, none of them had eaten since before arriving on the island. Johannes had gotten separated from Erwin, Tahvo, and Vanir and so eat with recruits he did not know. It didn’t matter anyways since no one talked. They had all learned etiquette from basic, and so no one wanted to test if Trooper School had any different rules.
When they were done, they stood up and put their tray in a bin, none of which had any left-over food. They knew that they had to eat every calorie to be able to survive the coming days.
Johannes fell in when he exited the mess hall, his platoon again formed up, not ten minutes had passed and they were already out of the mess hall. Johannes and the rest of his platoon marched to the other side of the base, passing other platoons at different stages of the school. They entered a big building, in the small foyer, they stopped. The drill sergeant, a coyote, yells “Fall out!” and the platoon relaxes.
“Good thing y’all just ate, because we’re going for a swim!” the coyote drill sergeant says with fake enthusiasm. “Now would be a good time to tell me if you can’t swim” he says walking around the side of the now loose formation. No one speaks up, so the drill sergeant walks back to the front and yells, “alright if you drown it's not my problem.” he heads through the open double doors to his left and into the big pool room.
The platoon followed him, walking around the edge of the pool, around to the end of it where a number of drill sergeants and an officer or two were waiting. On the ground there was sets of armor, ammo pouches, and bandoliers. On the ground, next to the wall were a set of blasters made of plastic.
When the recruits were all in position next to the equipment the coyote drill sergeant says, “everyone get your equipment, there’s a set of armor and pouches for each of you.” The platoon rushes to put on the equipment. While they are buckling straps and adjusting the fit of their equipment, the drill sergeant starts to explain the tests.
“There will be two tests. The first will simply to swim to the other side, keeping your blaster above the water. The next will be to jump off the diving board, and after you are in the water, you have to take off your armor and equipment then swim to the opposite end of the pool, again keeping your blaster above water. At least for the swim.” By the time the drill sergeant finished, the recruits had geared up and picked up their plastic blaster. "If you sink and can't get up, just let go of your blaster, and a lifeguard will come help you.”
“Line up, the pool has three lanes, I'll give y’all one guess how many lines there should be.” The recruits form three lines, with Johannes the second in line of the left lane. Three drill sergeants awaited them at the end. Three more drill sergeants made their way to the front of each line. They scanned the first recruit in each line, then stood at the edge of the pool, waiting for everyone to get set.
“Ready!” one of the drill sergeants at the other end of the pool yells.
The drill sergeant in front of Johannes says “Go” and gently pushes the recruit next to him. The recruit jumps in, and after being under the water for a second, he resurfaces and begins swimming. His effort was labored, all the gear noticeably weighed him down and his progress was slow. Johannes stepped up to the edge of the pool, waiting for the drill sergeant next to him to give him the order to jump in. Johannes stood there in anxious agony, watching the recruit in front of him start to struggle.
When the recruit in front of him reached the halfway point, life guard standing at the point gave the drill sergeant a thumbs up, and then the drill sergeant pushed Johannes on the back and said “Go.”
Johannes took a deep breath and jumped in. All the extra weight pushed him down further than he expected, and he swam to the top. He took another deep breath as soon as he breached, and then started swimming. Instead of the doggy paddle the recruit in front of him employed, Johannes got on his side and used one hand to hold the blaster and the other to paddle.
His father had taught him to do this stroke specifically for this test, and he had practiced this before. Johannes started to gain ground on the recruit in front of him, going noticeably faster. When he got to the half waypoint, he heard a big splash behind him, and he switched sides. Holding his blaster in the opposite hand now.
He was not mere feet from the recruit in front of him, and when the recruit finished, Johannes was just behind him. He grabbed the ladder and pulled himself out. The wolf recruit was out of breath, he had worked himself much harder than he had to. Meanwhile Johannes was doing just fine. The drill sergeant at the end scanned him, signaling to him that he had succeeded.
Johannes waited at the end of the pool with the other recruits that finished. They watched as the rest of the platoon took their turns. Two recruits went under and had to be saved. When they were pulled out, they took off their equipment and were escorted out of the building. Tahvo was the first of Johannes’ friends to finish, he used the same stoke as Johannes, and so like him he didn’t have too much trouble. The same could be said for Erwin and Vanir, they all had trained together for this test.
When most of the recruits had finished, one of the drill sergeants walked over to the group of recruits and told them “Start lining up on the board, I don’t care who goes first, start a line.” The recruits followed his instructions and started a line at the diving board. Johannes eagerly lined up and ended up near the front of the line.
The diving board was about halfway down the length of the pool and faced the short end. The dripping wet recruits, weighed down by their soaked gear and fur trudged up the ladder, and at the top there was a life guard, who stopped them, “Hold on, we have to wait for everyone down there to finish.”
Johannes was at the bottom of the ladder, he watched the last recruit finish, and the life guards and drill sergeants moved positions. When they were all set, the coyote drill instructor yelled “Alight, this one is fun, you get to jump in the water! When you do, take off all your equipment. Your armor, your bags, everything except your blaster, then swim to the opposite side. Same thing as before, if you can't get about the surface, let go of your blaster and you’ll get help. But you’ll also fail.”
The drill sergeant gives the life guard at the top of the diving board a thumbs up and he says “Go”. Johannes watches the recruit fall down into the water, making a big splash. After a few seconds, he sees the recruit surface and take off the last bit of his bags over his head. He then swims to the other end of the pool without a problem.
Johannes climbs the ladder, and at the top stands behind two other recruits. The first jumps as soon as Johannes stands up. Then the one behind him walks to the edge to watch. After another minute, Johannes now stands on the edge waiting for the ‘go’.
When he does get the go call, he jumps. He slams into the water, going very deep. As he kicks, he unbuckles his bandolier, then armor. Looking down he can see them slowly fall to the bottom, right into a pile of equipment. He raises the strap of his bags over his head just as he reaches the surface. Throwing the bag to the side, Johannes again swims on his side, keeping his plastic blaster above the surface.
When he reaches the side of the pool, he climbs up the ladder. As he gets all the way off and stands up, a drill sergeant takes his arm and scans his wrist. He walks over to a small pile of plastic blasters that have been dropped off by the recruits who have already finished and set his down.
Johannes looks over at the diving board just in time to see Erwin approach the edge and jump. He stops walking, waiting to see if his friend will surface. He does, and when Johannes is satisfied that Erwin wont drown he continues walking to the end of the pool where the first few recruits who finished were standing and drying off.
One by one each recruit jumps off the diving board. Some stayed underwater for a suspicious amount of time, but all made it up and across the pool. When they finished all roughly fifty of them gathered at the end of the pool, making use of towels and fans to dry their wet clothes and fur. One of the drill sergeants and says “Don’t bother drying off too much, you privies still have more fun with water left today” as he walks past them heading for the door.
After everyone was at least semi-dry, they formed back up and headed for the mess hall again. The whole ordeal of the water survivability test had lasted a couple of hours including walking there and setting up. At the mess hall, they went through the same order of events as before. They split into two lines and got their small try of food. Everyone got the same thing and sat down at a table in order and ate.
Just like before they were rounded up and sent marching to the other side of the base. This time they continued past the big building with the pool and went down the road. After a few miles of marching, they arrived at a flooded obstacle course. They walked the length of it to the entrance which was on the opposite side.
The platoon turned into the gate and stopped at the entrance of the obstacle course. The drill sergeant who led them out here, the same coyote as before, walks over to another drill sergeant who was there when they arrived. Johannes saw them talking but could not make out what was said.
The drill sergeant returned and said “Thanks to his platoon being slow” motioning to the other drill sergeant “we have to wait. Now would be a good time to take a piss”. Almost reading the minds of his platoon, the coyote drill sergeant allows a much-needed bathroom break. They fall out and head for the nearby woods and relieve themselves, the first opportunity they have had since this morning.
“Hurry up!” the drill sergeant yelled, getting impatient with the slowness of some of the recruits. The remaining recruits hurried back, just in time for the coyote to be approached by the other drill sergeant, “ ’S’all yours.”
“What, did you have a podgy?” the coyote drill sergeant snarked at him.
“No, a twig.”
“Ohhh. I’m good to start?”
“Yes” the drill sergeant says as he starts to jog down the side of the obstacle course.
“Everything on this course you did in basic, I shouldn’t need to tell you how to do them” the coyote drill sergeant says. “This is the easiest thing you’ll do here, none of you should fail this one if you made it this far. Get into two lines, you’ll go two at a time, just don’t get in each other's way.”
The platoon starts to form two lines, as the drill sergeant yells down the course to the other drill sergeants stationed at some of the major obstacles, “Y’all ready? I'm sending mine now!” the other drill sergeants yell back, confirming their readiness.
“First two, let's go!” the coyote drill sergeant yells, and the first in each line step up to the drill sergeant with a scanner. He scans them, and when he does, they take off. After a few seconds, the coyote drill sergeant orders the next two to start. Johannes is confident that, just as the drill sergeant said, this obstacle course is easy, and he is not worried about it. A lot of the recruits are; none of them are particularly worried about this course.
When it is Johannes’ turn, he gets scanned by the drill sergeant and takes off running. The first section is twenty meters of knee-high muddy water. After that, the water continues but there are hurdles varying in height. He scales them with no problem and runs to the next section. He drives down into the water and starts crawling under the barbed wire. The water is so high he is half swimming and half crawling. He passes the recruit that started with him, his struggle to stay dry slowing him down.
After passing the barbed wire, Johannes stands up running towards the rope. He jumps on it and begins to climb. He uses his feet as an anchor and pushes up at the same time as pulling with his arms. He reaches the top of the rope and touches the cross bar holding the ropes. He descends down and jumps off at the end. He runs to the next obstacle which is another climbing obstacle. Johannes climbs up the logs one at a time, pulling himself up to each of them. At the top he hurdles over and starts descending. The other recruit passes him on his way up as Johannes goes down.
Johannes then runs through another twenty meters of knee-deep muddy water just as he was starting to dry off. At the end of the water there is a set of monkey bars, he hurriedly jumps on them. As he is making his way across the pit of muddy water, he wonders to himself. There are drill sergeants watching right? No one is yelling at him like basic. During basic they were yelled at the whole time during the obstacle courses, not to mention the rest of the training.
He jumps off the last bar and runs to the last obstacle, or more so task. There is a pull up bar with a drill sergeant standing at the base. Johannes runs up to the bar and jumps up to it. He does five perfect form pull ups, counting outload after each one, pausing at the end of the last one. As he drops down, the drill sergeant yells “You got ten! this isn’t basic!”. Johannes jumps back up and finishes the last five pull ups. At the end he looks over at the drill sergeant for approval.
“Alright you’re done, get down!” Johannes drops down and steps towards the drill sergeant. He scans him, and Johannes walks over to the side, getting a look down the course to see if he could make our Erwin or Tahvo.
He spots Tahvo on the monkey bars, having to raise his feet up more than most in order for them not to get wet. Tahvo continues onto the pull ups and does them no problem. Tahvo walks over to Johannes and asks “Hey ... did Erwin finish yet?”
“No.”
“Thank God that’s the last of the water, I fucking hate water.”
“We’re done after this, right?
“What for today?”
“Yeah.”
“I think so, who knows if they have a surprise like last night.”
Johannes laughs, “Yeah, they’re definitely doing something tonight, it’s too early to be done.