Chapter 3: Keep swimming
PHASE 2, SWIM WEEK
Just another typical day in Boot Camp, the Recruits got up, made their beds and got into formation. Jamie could feel that this week is gonna be different and then the news came from the Drill Instructors.
They were led to the swimming pool from there, they were taught the safety rules and they started to train. First 4 days were not so hard, Jamie had learnt to swim very well when he was a child so it was not a problem to be qualified.
WEEK 4
Days keep passing, Jamie started thinking about how life will be after the Marine Corps and what would happen on deployment but deep down he knew that he should focus on the present and not on the future, meanwhile the Drill Instructors come in.
"HIGLAND." A Drill Instructor yelled.
"YES, SIR?" Higland responded being nervous that he was gonna flame him and everyone in the platoon was also gonna be annoyed because they would be flamed as well.
"WHAT KIND OF FUCKING LAST NAME IS THAT?" The Drill Instructor yelled infront of his face.
"THIS RECRUIT DOESN'T KNOW, SIR." Higland answered and the Drill Instructor moved on.
"GERALD, REAGAN." Another DI yelled the names, making Gerald and Jamie nervous.
"YES, SIR?" Both recruits answered.
"EXPLAIN TO ME WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU MOP THE FLOOR?" The DI yelled.
"THESE RECRUITS DID MOP THE FLOOR, SIR." Jamie answered.
"BULLSHIT, REAGAN. FOR NOW, BOTH OF YOU ARE ON MOP DUTY FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK, CLEAR?" The DI asked.
"YES, SIR." Both responded.
The week went on just like any other week. Jamie is counting the days for the recruit training to end so he can finally see his family. Throughout bootcamp, Jamie has started a mail correspondence with his father and has been kept up on what the family is doing.
WEEK 5
Nothing really of interest. Jamie has been tired because the Combat Fitness Test came up and he was exhausted but, this week was something different as they finally were allowed to do their jobs unsupervised and also interact with each other.
"Yo, Reagan." Collins holared Jamie.
"What's up?" Jamie answered back.
"Next week's gonna be hard." Collins told Jamie.
"Nah, I don't think it's gonna be harsher than this week." Jamie answered.
"I heard 2nd PFT is coming up as well, written exam an a road trip down to California for rifle qual." Gomez interrupted.
"Damn, great now we gotta read as well." Jamie said with a sigh at the end as he realized he would be flamed next week with all those things coming up.
WEEK 6
Time for the end of Phase 2 but also hell. The platoon learned to master the bayonet, finished their pugil stick training and then an inspection came up from a Commander.
The inspection thankfully went well, everyone was well prepared and then… the test came.
During the test, Jamie was trying not to have a panic attack due to the stress but he conquered that test and came on top, first place. He was very happy with his score and that put him on the short list for Honor Graduate of the platoon, if he got that it would mean instead of being a Private he would skip E1 and go to Private First Class.
Moving on to the rappelling training, they had to learn how to safely lower themselves from a 60 foot tower, some recruits are afraid of heights to they need motivation to get themselves down to the ground. For the first time, the recruits were issued new MCCUU's that had U.S. Marine Corps on the left side of the uniform. After that, the platoon arrived at Camp Pendleton, California.
Sorry for being SO LATE about Phase 2, Phase 3 & 4 in the works. I hope you all are staying healthy and I want you guys to review this story so I can improve the story itself and also my writing, thank you very very much for your patience.