Chapter 5: Boot
Juan and Jack walked to the parking garage though the walkway over the main street. After a few minutes of walking the pair got to the Puma and Jack unlocked the door and jumped in. Juan followed and soon they were parking in the enlistment parking lot or more realistically they were parking 3 kilometers away because there were so many people enlisting. Juan and Jack got out of the Puma and grabbed their weapons. Jack took the Shotgun and Desert Eagle and Juan took the Aug A1 and the machete. Jack filled a military duffle with all the ammo it would carry and Juan took one that had all the ammo he would need for the Aug.
Jack and Juan walked the now one kilometer that it took to get to the line for the enlistment line. When Jack got there he saw many men and surprisingly women that were armed the tooth with ever kind of gun you could think of. He saw military S2 Snipers, heirloom shotguns, .45 revolvers, RPGs, glocks, 30-06 and 30-30 hunting rifles, and even old military edition M16s. Many of the people looked like they were from the county and not city folk that lived near the base. Many of the teenage boys that were here were looked like they could be linebackers on a pro team and even most of the women had a good amount of muscle on them. These were the right people to defend the planet.
One of the people waiting in the line walked up to him. He was a teenage male that was small but looked scrappy. He was lugging a Military S2 Sniper Rifle and a large steel ammo case. He walked up to Jack and shook his hand.
"Hi, my name is Keith Pounds"
"Jack Connors"
Juan extended his hand and Keith shook it with a hearty shake" I'm Juan Morales nice to meet you"
"So how long have you been waiting?" said Jack.
"About four hours" said Keith "but I know people that have been waiting for days"
"Wow, this sure is a good turn out" said Juan
"Yeah, I never though so many people would come, It is expected that we have 2,000 and that's not even counting the people that are waiting out here"
"So where did you get your S2. I heard that they are really hard to lay your hands on" said Jack
"Its from my father, He was a special opps in the Brushfire Wars. He was a crack shot and I can only hope that he passed that on to me" explained Keith.
"I got these from by dad too" said Jack as he motioned to the shotgun and the Dessert Eagle.
"Wow a Dessert Eagle" exclaimed Keith "Those are really rare"
"It's been passed down from generation to generation in my family" explained Jack "It has been used in 5 or 6 wars and many hunting trips, I wouldn't trade it for anything"
"I think I have something you could use" said Keith as he rummaged through his ammo canister "Here it is" Keith pulled out a 5x scope with a sight rail that looked like it could attach to a large pistol. "I had this for a long time but I never knew what gun to put it on and now that I have seen your Dessert Eagle I think I know what gun that is"
"Thanks, I was looking for something like this for a long time but I never could find one" Jack said as he took the scope and tried to mount it on the Eagle. Jack pulled out his pocket knife and unscrewed 4 bolts on his gun, slid the scope on it and reattached the bolts. If it was possible the eagle looked even more dangerous than it did before. Jack looked down the scope and was impressed by the distance that he could see. "Wow this is great, it's got a polarized lens and adjustable scope range, and I can still use the iron sites, Thanks Keith, I should really be able to kill some Covenant bastards now"
"That's all we can hope for isn't it" said Keith
After many hours of talking and waiting Jack, Keith and Juan had finally made it to the enlistment office which was a large block-like building with small windows and large doors. Before they got to go in the office there weapons were checked to make sure that their actions were empty and their safeties were on. Keith was the first one to the Enlistment desk.
"Name" said the officer at the desk
"Keith Pounds"
"License and registration"
Keith handed a drivers license to the officer
"Good, everything seems to be in order, go through the next door to get directions to your barracks."
Both Jack and Juan went through the same process and were given A-6 as their barracks. Juan, Jack and Keith got on a drab green troop transport truck and were transported half a mile to the A-6 barracks. The barracks was a rectangular building, about 50' by 20'. It was filled with many rows of bunk beds according to what Jack saw. They were taken directly into the building and assigned their bunks alphabetically so Jack was bunked with a kid named Dexter Foley. Folly looked about 18 years old. He was tall with a slight build that did not look suitable for the military. He had flaming red hair and green eyes that contrasted oddly on his face but also gave him a look of danger.
"I am Mike Herzog, your sergeant for the duration of boot camp. I enjoy long walks on the beach and expressing my feelings"
One unfortunate person risked a chuckle
"ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME MAGGOT" yelled Herzog.
"Yes"
Herzog pushed him flag on his back and yelled "YOU WILL ALWAYS ANSWER ME WITH YES SIR, MAGGOT" ordered Herzog. "And for the rest of you maggots, these are the rules; one: you will always address a superior officer, such as myself, as Sir. DO YOU HEAR ME?"
A small sir yes sir echoed out of the congregation.
"WHAT WAS THAT? My grandma could do better than that you maggots, and guess what she has no teeth. LET'S TRY THAT AGAIN!"
"SIR YES SIR" roared through the soldiers.
"WHAT WAS THAT?"
"SIR YES SIR" again thundered through the A-6 barracks.
The usual Full Metal Jacket rant lasted for thirty minutes after that. Sergeant Herzog earned the nickname Popeye from his soldiers because of his unusual taste for spinach and his tendency to curse like a sailor. Over the course of the next month the soldiers in the A-6 barracks would be tested, trained, and strengthened by their Sergeant. A few soldiers dropped out when live rounds were used in the obstacle course. Those people became army factory workers and did other jobs that required hard labor. When they learned how to use guns for the first time they used standard issue military guns but they were beat up and most of the time they did not work. Eventually they were taught how to use their own weapons with full accuracy and precision. After two weeks of nearly constant combat and weapons training the Civilian Militia was ready to defend Jerico VII from the forces of the Covenant. It turned out that Keith was a very accurate sniper. On one drill he hit 100 of the targets in the bull's eye in 30 seconds which was 1 minute before the closest competitor. Jack was doing better at skeet and only missed 1 clay pigeon out of 50. Juan understood battle strategy better than ever. He knew how to use cover better than anyone else in A-6. He could pop out of any unexpected place like a wack-a-mole. One time he even hung upside down from the rafters in one particular mission and took out 6 enemies and swung back up before anyone knew what had happened.
Dexter Foley was a very interesting individual. His strengths were very specialized. When the platoon was introduced to the Warthog obstacle course he aced the course and beat the current record for speed. He obviously knew his way around an engine because in his spare time he fixed the brass's vehicles and earned extra food, shower time, and they even slipped him a little booze for his work. Some people had a grudge against him for this.
After over a month of training even the harsh Sergeant Herzog thought that they were ready for combat "I have spent four miserable weeks with you and in spite of every time that I cursed that you would fail, you have passed. But this is the easiest part of your life as a soldier. The next few weeks will be the hardest you have ever experienced. You will lose friends, family, and brothers, but you will live on and put that behind you. Such is the life of a soldier. Good luck and Godspeed privates." Then Herzog left and a Captain de Blanc walked in, all of A-6 snapped to attention.
"Hello I am Captain de Blanc, I have come congratulate you on your successful completion of boot camp. You have stepped up to dedicate yourselves to the defense of your home planet and your fellow humans. You will now be divided into your patrols that you will fight in. These patrols have been chosen by Sergeant Herzog and will not be changed." de Blanc read off the patrols for a few minutes until he got to Jacks. "And in Patrol number eleven is Jack Connors, Juan Morales, Keith Pounds, Dexter Foley, Greg Cambell, and Frank O'Neal." De Blanc read through a few more patrols of six soldiers. "These people are your new family, you will fight together to defend our planet. The first person I named in every patrol is the leader of that patrol. You will now go to your posts and wait for the Covent bastards to come and get whats coming to'em!"
