Have you ever looked at a person and wondered...
What is going on inside their head?
The young cadet had just arrived at Fort Leonard Wood, SC. The four emotions: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear watched the monitor as 18-year-old Colleen O'Shea looked around.
"Ooh!" said Joy. "This is exciting! Camp!"
"Everyone looks so serious," Fear said nervous. "What do you think will happen?"
"It's the Army, beanpole!" Anger said, looking up from his newspaper.
"Army?" said Sadness. "There's going to be a lot of yelling and people being mean."
"Oh I'm sure there's something good going to come of this," Joy assured also a bit nervous. "I mean Colleen's been always wanting to be a soldier like her Daddy."
"He was always mean," Sadness pointed out. "He made us sad. He shut us out. He didn't really love us."
"No, that's not true," said Joy. "Colleen lost some very important people in her life. Maybe going to camp is just what she needs."
Colleen looked around, seeing cadets doing push-ups, sit-ups, running, even crawling in the mud and dirt. She wrinkled her nose a little bit since she hadn't done anything like this before.
"Ugh!" Disgust groaned, wrinkling her nose. "Look at all the sweat! And...dirt! Yuck!"
"Well no kidding," said Anger. "It's the Army, D. It's all about getting down and dirty! There's no sense of cleanliness here."
Anger was really looking forward to this since Colleen had grown up with a very strict father who was lieutenant of the Army. He looked forward to fighting back. Fear and Sadness were mostly in charge of the young girl since she had a lonely childhood: although Joy did manage to find some happy moments in her life. Joy was beginning to feel a bit left out. Most of her personality had crumbled away: her imagination was gone. Her dreams seemed at the point of dying. Yet...the good thing was she still had long term plans. Joy liked that. She hoped the Army would be a good place for Colleen.
"I seriously doubt that," said Disgust. "I mean...there's men sweating...and..."
"Oh come on!" said Joy. "There's women here too."
The drill sergeant came towards the new cadets. He stared seriously at all the nervous teenagers who had joined the Army. Colleen hugged her stuff tightly. Fear touched the controller.
"Oh, c'mon, beanpole!" said Anger. "This is the Army. There's no scardey cats here."
The drill sergeant began to call attention to the new recruits. Many of them failed to remember. Colleen tripped over her feet. The young cadets sniggered slightly at her. The drill sergeant glared at them, making them shut up.
"ON YOUR FEET, SOLDIER!" the drill sergeant barked.
Fear trembled at the sound of the sergeant's voice, accidentally pressed one of the buttons that made Colleen respond to the instructor.
"S-s-sorry," she said meekly.
"Oh, come ON, beanpole!" complained Anger. "That's no way to make a good impression! Like this!"
Anger pushed Fear out of the way to the control panel where he proceeded to press a few buttons to make Colleen respond.
"Yes, Drill Sergeant!" she spoke, firm and confident.
"That's what I'd like to hear," the drill sergeant said. "That's the kind of attitude is only accepted here. There will be no weakness here."
Joy watched the scene, seeing a few memory balls roll in: one made by fear and anger. She smiled a little. She could guess that this feeling made her proud to be a soldier. She wondered how she would turn out in life.
The Five Emotions continued to watch as the life of the young female cadet began her first day at basic training. The drill sergeant was shouting at them to march. Next, they were herded into rooms where the women were measured for their uniforms and their boots. They gathered up their clothes and toiletries from the commissary. Soon, the cadets were led into their barracks.
Colleen frowned a bit at the room, but that was to be expected.
"Wow," said Disgust. "So dreary...not to mention so much grey. Plus the BEDS are tiny! No sense of fashion here in the Army."
"They're supposed to be like that, D," Anger replied. "It's all about cutting the cadets off from civilian luxuries. It's to teach them to survive with what they really need."
"This is sad," said Sadness. "She misses her home. Not to mention, so much shouting and insulting. I should drive, right?"
Sadness touched the controllers just lightly, making some tears well up in Colleen's eyes.
"No way are we crying here," said Anger, pushing Sadness away.
Colleen wiped away her tears. Nope! She wasn't going to cry. She was a soldier now...at least until she completed her three months of basic training. She had to harden herself. Least she could cry later into her pillow when everyone was asleep.
After getting settled in, the Emotions saw that it was quite strict here at camp. Sadness was on the brim of crying since there was a lot of shouting and ordering around. Anger refused to let anyone take control of the panel. He was more than willing to make sure Colleen hardened herself this time. Fear would spasm a bit and touch a button or two, driving Anger to irritation.
By the time her first day of basic training was over, she laid in her bed. She curled up in her bed...
"She's sad," said Sadness. "Just a little crying will do."
She pressed the button on the panel, making Colleen cry. She buried her face into the pillow, letting tears fall. She missed her home. Yet at the same time she didn't. She was happy to be away from her father. He had been so cold, shutting her out...
By closing time in the headquarters, the five emotions watched as a new core memory had formed. It was a mix of a few colors: red primarily representing her willingness to be tough to survive with mingles of purple for her fear of what to come, blue for sadness for missing her old life, and of course a little bit of yellow for joy for becoming a soldier. It created a new island in Colleen's mind: Army Island. It was decorated with all the things that were Army themed: a helmet, decorated with camouflage colors of the Army uniform. There were rifles, barbed wire, and an American flag and her rank was there.
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Joy thought. "She's strong."