A/N: Before we begin, it's been a while since I've written much on this site. As a matter of fact, it's been a while since I've written anything but a paper. This is a story about 2nd Lieutenant Jennifer Hailey, recent graduate of the United States Air Force Academy (assuming she was a grad of the class of 2002- RTB forever, baby, and stretching the truth by making her a Skyraider (which actually went out of commission one month before she in-processed)). She looks so headstrong and independent during Prodigy and Proving Ground, but chances are she didn't start out that way. Basic does things to a person that they never thought possible- and after my recent experience, this popped into my head as something I could write about with a decent level of expertise.
Her First Proving Ground
"Determined," was the word you could use to describe Jennifer Hailey. A stellar cadet, she proudly wore the Superintendent's Pin (which looks like it could take someone's eye out if they weren't careful) signifying a 3.0 in every facet of the cadet's life- academics, athletics, and military. She was the picture of the ideal cadet- excellent in all she did. Before, and even after, the incident with punching an upperclassman, she was held in high regard by her classmates, squad mates, and teachers. But before she did all this, she had to prove herself to her worst enemies- herself, and her BCT cadre.
BCT- Basic Cadet Training, Basic, Beast, Hell, whatever you want to call it- is part of every Cadet's transition into the Wing. You are Basics: you have no basic rights, get yelled at all the time, you are always wrong, you get nasty blisters from your new leather infantry boots, you march everywhere, and Vandenberg Hall smells because of you and 1200 more of your classmates. You are "dirty Basics," who never know their knowledge, wake up at four thirty, and you spend hours at night shining your boots (which are never shiny enough)- and they don't even let you sit down. You are pond scum; dirt on the cadres' pristine Corafram boots, and you become a better person because of it.
During in-processing, Jennifer Hailey did not stand out. A green seventeen year old straight form high school, it was immediately obvious to the cadre that she made it in on brains. During the school year, this is a blessing. During Basic, it gets you nowhere.
To understand the way things work during Basic, one must understand the groupings. There are ten squadrons consisting of about 130 basic cadets. Each squadron, letters A through J, are separated into four flights, A through D. Jennifer found herself placed in Jaguars A flight, which, during the school year, translated into Squadron 37- Animalistic Skyraiders. Of course, there was dreaded Group Staff, who were the scariest firsties and two degrees Permanent Party could find.
For Basic Hailey, knowledge came easily. Flight Staff took only a few run-throughs to master: Flight Commander, Cadet Captain Justin P. Martinson, 1st/2nd Element Leader, Cadet 1st Lieutenant Carl K. Mitchell, and so on and so forth. Life in the first few weeks of Basic wasn't too bad; she got three meals a day (though seven chews per bite was a little (really) ridiculous, she conceded) got to sleep a decent amount ( if 2300-0430 was decent, then sure) and the cadre stayed off her back because she looked Sierra Hotel and knew her stuff, and helped her classmates, too. She was made A-2 element chief and led the way in marching in the front left position- a great place for left turns, but right turns were terrible. That, and the kid next to her really just couldn't march, she decided. Element chiefs are not chosen on marching ability.
It was at the end of 1st BCT when things started getting rough. They were issued M-14 rifles (not operational, of course) and were taught rifle drill. This either comes easily or is the bane of a basic cadet's existence, and for some reason, Jennifer Hailey just could not master the 15 count rifle manual. Port arms, left shoulder arms, right shoulder arms, present arms, order arms in rapid succession did not come easily to poor Basic Hailey, and it caused her a lot of grief.
That was only the beginning.
Soon thereafter, tried and true first BCT cadre left to pull off another three week trip either on Ops or at home, and the new cadre "introduced" themselves. Eight new people, all five times as scary as their 1st Beast cadre were at first. The new flight commander spouted off how he had chosen these cadre because of their athletic, academic, and military achievements and that they could basically kick 36 (though now 34) basic cadets' collective asses. That was the instant she knew she was not going to like Jack's Valley.
They marched out to Jack's in a few days with rifle in hand, much to her chagrin. She hated that damn rifle, who she had lovingly named Barney- she wanted to drop kick her damn rifle about as much as she wanted to drop kick that stupid purple dinosaur. It worked.
Then came tent setup- by far the most fun day anyone has at Jack's. They spend two or so hours trying to figure out the damn knots for the ropes they have to replace, then deal with the fact that no matter how hard they try, it sinks in randomly in the back left corner. The girls notice about four medium sized holes in the tent, that, when it rained, which it inevitably would, would allow a massive amount of water in. Of course, they fought over the prime spots (places without holes) with a round of rock paper scissors; those who lost were most sorely discontent. A flight was in the same tent as B flight, as there were only six or seven girls in each flight, they had to share a tent. It was tough getting used to new neighbors, and Jennifer often thought her roommates were too whiny- "We have the assault course in the morning, there's no way we're doing tent guard." But stupid girls, the entire squad is doing the assault course in the morning- but A flight got the least amount of sleep. It sucked, to say the least.
A common occurrence before second beast that happens is that at least one of the cadre tell their basics that the trains go by at 0200 and 0500- and reveille in Jack's is supposed to be at 0530. This is supposed to be a nice gesture on the part of the cadre to help their basics out in second beast, but as it turns out, the trains go by about once every half hour- meaning that everyone in the tent is up and in a frenzy as soon as they hear the first train- only to realize that it's about 2330.
Fucking cadre.
A/N: Reviews make me happy. Part two: Jack's Valley, Dust Machine