Anyway, I've got an annoying spammer in the blog comments, and a bunch of other things to deal with. On with the snippet!
Still in In the Army Now:
Agnosta
The ride to Agnosta was initially exciting
but got dull within days. Conway had been warned they need to get prepared, so
he tried to work with Kaufman's reading. He tried to read the Marine manual but
kept nodding off.
They were each given two BDUs
since neither of them had more than two outfits. The BDU or Battle Dress
Uniform was a standard camouflage affair. He knew he was going to get lost with
all of the acronyms.
They were also given a series of pills. They
had been informed that the pills would make their basic ID implants. The
following morning they and the others on the ship were entertained with their
implants and the tutorials on how to use them. Conway picked up on it right
away and even enjoyed it. Kaufman, of course,
had problems.
They were in steerage, and they didn't get to
see much until they got to Pyrax where they went through a station and shifted
to another ship. In the barracks bay, they were met with dozens of other
recruits. They were given the last bunks far from the door but next to the door
to the bathroom. Which meant they got to hear people getting up and using the
bathroom all the time. Fortunately, they were only stuck on the ship for a
month.
An agonizing month where even playing with
the implants got dull after a while. There was little to do but try to explore
the ship. They were constantly in trouble for that before the crew started
locking down hatches and declaring areas off limits.
Even the ride down, a bit bumpy,
lacked a view since they were in a military shuttle. When they got off the
shuttle, they were put in a line to a bus. Occasionally,
some people would talk, exchanging stories about where they were from.
When the bus arrived,
Conway was chatting with a pretty girl. She had a really nice smile, surprising
given that Agnosta had lacked proper dentists until the Federation had
returned. He missed the sights out the dust covered windows.
He didn't miss the unsmiling Neochimp female
in a funky hat when they got off the bus. His smile slipped,
and he even tried to salute. She barked at him to get in line,
and he scampered to obey.
Once in the “recruit bay,”
they were run through medical exams and then sat down in barber chairs. “Just a
little off the top,” he said.
The barber chuckled, shook his head, and then
got to work with the clippers.
When he was finished,
he turned Conway to the mirror. Conway's face was horrified as he saw he had
just stubble.
“Welcome to the Marines,”
the barber said as he whipped off the apron. “Next!” he called out, pushing the back of the chair and forcing a
dazed Conway up and away. Conway stumbled but then followed the directions of
another unsmiling Marine to get in line with other sheepish men and women. Even
the Neos had been shorn. “That's just not right,” he moaned, touching his hair.
“You're telling me!” a Neolion
said. He looked at the lion and winced. The cat looked hilarious but he fought
the snicker down at the sudden look from the cat.
“You look … good,” he managed
to choke out.
}{%}{
What followed was fourteen weeks of pure hell.
They were formally introduced to their lead DI, Sergeant Ladd. She had a
favorite punishment, push-ups. The first time they were introduced to learn the
proper form, Conway made the mistake of asking, “All the way up and
down, right?”
He had to ring his ear out when Sergeant Ladd
shrieked at them. Mouth open, try to pop ears from sonic torture. “Damn!”
“There are no such thing as stupid
questions,” she said, marching up and down the rows as Conway and the others
struggled to do a push-up. “There are, however,
inquisitive idiots!” she barked, slamming a foot onto the back of Conway.
“Down!”
He groaned as he dropped under her added
weight. “You're heavier than you look,” he said.
“Up!” she barked. “Your
friend here just earned you ten more!” she said.
There was a collective groan from the group
as well as dark looks shot Conway's way.
“Drop and Give me fifty,” became torture to
them. Conway would rather run until he puked than struggle with the push-ups.
The first week they were kept awake and
introduced to the Marine's form of discipline. The intent was to break down
their civilian bad habits and treats and replace them with the Marine's.
Over the course of phase 1 and 2,
Conway and Kaufman managed to survive mainly by keeping their mouths shut and
keeping to the background as much as possible.
Then they were introduced to weapon training.
}{%}{
Sergeant Ladd ran a class on how to dress in
their formal day uniform. She explained a gig line and how it needed to be
clean and precise. As she walked the line of boots,
she occasionally made adjustments or nodded in praise. When she went to one
lad, he was messed up so she adjusted it for him, fixing the
shirt and belt.
Conway saw that and deliberately messed his
up. The sergeant saw him do it out of the corner of her eye. When she came to
him, she made the adjustments and then gave him a wedgy.
“There,” she said with mild amusement. “All better.”
“Thank you, Drill Sergeant,” he
gasped out.
She smirked as she walked away.
}{%}{
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