Chapter 2: BUD/S and Boot Camp

Richard was wondering if he'd bit off more than he could chew, and it wasn't the first time in the four weeks he'd been in Basic Underwater Demolitions/SEALs pre-training in Coronado California. It was day three of Hell Week, he'd slept around two hours since Monday, not all of them in a row, and he was in the middle of one of the many, many runs he and the dwindling number of recruits went on.

"This is not my limit..." Richard mumbled to himself, sweat dripping into his mouth. "I am not down yet..."

Two more days passed complete with another ninety or so minutes of sleep. They were on another run, Richard being in the middle of the pack, but dangerously close to the back end, only about twenty recruits remained from the original class of almost eighty. The man in front of Richard fell, tripping him and another recruit, Richard went to get back up but his body failed him, he told his arms to push him up but they simply did not respond, he let his face hit the dirt in exhaustion.

"Get the fuck up!" The BUD/s instructor yelled, Richard didn't respond. "Get your ass up and back in formation now! Or else ring that bell and bring your panty-ass home!"

Richard's eyes opened wide, a sense of determination washed over him as he moved his arms into a pushup position. With a long, loud scream, Richard was slowly able to push himself off the ground with his violently trembling arms and bring himself to his feet, he turned and saw the other two men who had fallen had not done the same.

"Get back in formation now" the instructor ordered in a calm, but very firm tone. Richard took one more short look at the other two men then began running towards the group that was a hundred yards ahead of him now.

Rachael struggled to pull a fortieth, and final, sit-up out of her body then quickly let herself go limp laying on the ground.

"Taking a nap after the warmup Roth?" The female drill instructor asked, Rachael's eyes opened wide. "Yeah, get off the ground and over to the wall, now!"

Rachael had to roll herself over to get up, her abdomen felt like it was on fire. "Yes Ma'am!"

"Get up that wall Tempest! Ladies first and all, you got men waiting on you!" The drill instructor yelled. Garth Tempest, a young man Rachael had befriended over the past six weeks was in the process of climbing the stereotypical rope wall. When they had first met he had long black hair which Rachael was extremely disappointed to see shaved off, but that was part of the process as she was sporting a buzz cut herself. Garth made it over the wall a few seconds later. "Your turn Roth let's go!" Rachael grabbed the rope and put her right foot against the wall, she tried to pull herself up but her foot slipped off the wall. "Kick off those high heels and get up that wall!" Rachael tried again, gripping lower on the rope and placing her foot higher on the wall, shifting her weight more to her arms which seemed to do the trick, it was very difficult, but she was able to get up the wall and over it, eventually.

Sitting in a classroom was never one of Richard's favorite things, until he entered BUD/S that is. It was one of the very few times he had to relax and give his body a chance to recover, at least somewhat from the intense training he'd been undergoing. The instructors were going over what this new exercise they would be performing in the pool, something about doing basic maintenance on your diving equipment while underwater. A colleague took this opportunity to quietly introduce himself.

"Realistically how much water are we going to be dealing with in the middle east?" The redheaded man sitting next to Richard questioned.

Richard paused and diverted his eyes, toward the men, barely moving his head. "I think it's more to do with general operations rather than the specific mission."

After a sigh, the other man spoke again "You're probably right, I'm Roy by the way, Roy Harper" he extended his hand to shake, below the bodies of the men in front of them so the instructors wouldn't see.

Richard hesitated slightly, but shook his hand "Richard Grayson."

"Well since you two like holding hands I guess you want to be paired up" an instructor blared from the side of the room and slightly behind the them, causing the whole classroom to turn and stare at the two men.

Rachael shouldered the M16 rifle, put the red chevron reticle of the Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight on target and fired, her shot hit low left.

"You're supposed to aim for center mass, not his right hip, do it again" the male instructor ordered.

Rachael took aim again, adjusting her point of aim to the high right and fired again, this time the shot was perfect with elevation, but off to the right. "This ammo is terrible, it has no consistency at all!" She complained.

The instructor stood up from his seat behind the spotting scope and grabbed the rifle out of Rachael's hands. He shouldered it, aimed downrange and let off ten shots in fairly rapid succession, all of his shots hit slightly left, but his group was less than two and a half inches on the target one hundred yards away. "I don't like excuses Roth, drop and give me twenty."

Rachael groaned in embarrassment, she slowly got on the ground and began doing pushups.

Richard had been waiting for this moment for six months, six grueling months of pure hell. He was weak, his entire body ached and not just a little bit, but this was it, he had completed his final task at BUD/S, which was to place explosive charges on a handful of underwater targets, and was now just waiting for the show. Seconds felt like hours as he sat on the beach with the other eighteen remaining recruits, waiting for the fireworks. He had just begun to lose patience when a loud explosion occurred, causing him to jump. The sight was spectacular, six massive plumes of water all shooting up into the sky a good hundred feet or more, it brought new meaning to the phrase "ending with a bang..."

... The time was at hand, cleaned up and dressed in his white dress uniform Richard sat in the second row on the last seat to the left as a SEAL Captain gave an inspiring speech about the accomplishment he and the other recruits had achieved. "We live in a world where mediocrity is frequently rewarded, and those who rise above, who refuse to accept it and become something more are observed with no small amount of curiosity, but with amazement..." Richard looked around, more people were at the ceremony than he had anticipated, not that he didn't welcome the company. "... You nineteen young men have joined an elite group very few earn the privilege of being a part of, while this is only the first step, I have no doubt we will see great things from each and every one of you in the time to come... Welcome to the team."

The celebration was far quieter for Richard than it was for his colleagues, having no family to celebrate his graduation with he opted to remain seated, the mixed emotions were almost overwhelming.

"Hey man" Roy said as he sat down next to Richard "I remember what you told me about your family, you're welcome to join mine for dinner tonight." Richard looked at him. "You earned it, and you deserve some good company."

"I..." Richard began, caught completely off balance by the offer.

"Would love to? Awesome, let's go then."

Rachael embraced her mother and father, ecstatic at her graduation from basic training. "I'm so proud of you Rae" Travis said with a massive smile.

"I love you dad!" Rachael said, barely able to control her emotions. It took quite a while to pull herself together, but once she did she excused herself to chat with Garth and another recruit she had met, Karen Beecher.

"This has got to be the biggest moment of my life!" Garth exclaimed as Rachael joined the conversation.

"Hell yeah, I feel like I'm on top of the world right now!" Karen added.

"I second that!" Rachael said, "But you and I still have a long way to go..."

Karen turned to face the slightly shorter girl, "I know, but I'm amped up and ready to take on anything!"

The past few weeks had been a mixed bag of events, between bar hopping with Roy and visiting his family's graves, Richard found himself in a state of disorientation. BUD/S had given him something to focus on but now that it was over his mind wandered, had he made the right choice? Done the right thing? He was scheduled for a flight back to Coronado that left later in the day, but he took a moment to visit the sight of the explosion.

At first glance it was as if nothing had happened on this innocent enough street corner. The courthouse was repaired seamlessly as was the road, sidewalks and restaurant, until he took a moment to really look hard. A potted plant stood next to the door to the restaurant and small blood stains were noticeable on the leaves if one were looking for them. Richard broke one of the leaves off and stared at it, was that blood from his brother? One of his parents? One of the other innocent bystanders? Contemplation made him realize it didn't matter, the evil wrought on this corner eight months ago was inexcusable and had to be answered for. He put the leaf in his pocket and headed for the airport.

"To think, we lived across town from each other and never knew it" Karen said.

"I guess that's what they mean by it's a small world" Rachael said as she took a bite of her food.

"What made you want to become a pilot?" Karen asked.

Rachael swallowed her food and smiled. "Five years ago, helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon with the family, it was unbelievable, a sight you can't get from a fixed wing, I was hooked from then on."

Karen laughed. "I know the feeling, my uncle had a helicopter he took me up in a bunch of times, you don't feel any freer than when you're up there."

Rachael nodded in agreement. "And we're in the same class for rotary wing, ready for that, partner?"

Karen quirked her head. "You sure we're going to be partners?"

Rachael shrugged. "No, but my dad might be able to pull a string or two, we'll see."

"Daddy's girl" Karen teased with a laugh.

"You're not?"

"Well... I don't have a bad relationship with my father but I wish we were closer" Karen explained sheepishly.

Rachael sensed deception, but decided not to press the issue. "Ready to get behind those controls?"

Karen took the out "I better be, we start tomorrow."