The night had been calm until about 1:30am when most-if not all the barrack was woken up by Hector's harsh coughing. There was only twenty-four of them in there and maybe five of them could sleep through anything and ten to one had to physically be shaken to get up at the 5am first call. They were lying awake but no one was confronting Hector about the coughing-it sounded raspy, like his throat was sore and when it had a break they could hear him shivering and groaning at the feelings. They were just about positive their friend and teammate was sick for sure and one of them was supposed to get Drill Sergeant Svendson being they said they'd report it. Problem was that after lights out was announced-no one was supposed to leave the barrack unless it was an emergency. The Drill Sergeants had their own barrack-though it was set up vastly different from their own. The Drill Sergeants stayed in a house like barrack with separated rooms-however they only slept in there, the rest of the time they were out and doing training. This particular barrack sat between barracks F and H at the end of the six barrack line.
Tallon finally kicked off his blankets and climbed down to the bottom bunk where Hector was laying down and trying to stay warm it looked like, "You good man?"
"Yeah I'm-" he started coughing again, covering his mouth with his arm, "fine," Hector finished his sentence after the coughing fit. Tallon rolled his eyes as he put a hand to Hector's forehead for only a second or two.
"You got a fever, Haddock." Tallon sighed heavily now, "I'm going to get Drill Sergeant Svendson, it's 2:30am and this started an hour ago. You're sick my friend,"
"Really, I'm okay..." Hector insisted.
"Ya are not," Tallon stated as he grabbed his phone and used the flashlight app so he'd be able to see better. "I know the rest of you assholes are awake, I'm going to get the Drill Sergeant. Keep an eyes on mister I'm Fine." Tallon stated as he opened the barrack door and walked out down the line to get to the Drill Sergeant barrack and opened the main door-once in he saw a line of three doors on each side so he located the one that said 'S. Svendson' before taking a breath and knocked twice-then stepping back as under the door, Tallon was able to see a light flip on.
"What are you doing up, private Furysen?" the Drill Sergeant said as he opened the door and Tallon lowered his phone so it wouldn't blind him.
"Haddock is sick. He's been coughing hard, shivering, and groaning for about an hour since 0130, Drill Sergeant. I checked his forehead-he's got a fever too," Tallon said firmly and clearly.
"Alright, let's move then. The on base medic will check him over-you're his battle buddy, correct?" Svendson asked.
"Yes, Drill Sergeant." Tallon answered.
"You will be coming too," the Drill Sergeant replied as he reached into his room and got his flashlight while Tallon turned his off-the two of them headed out of the DS barrack and walked towards A barrack silently until reaching the door and walking inside. Sean instantly used a keypad on the wall to override the lights off timer and then he flipped the lights on as a few people covered their eyes and groaned at the bright lights overhead that came on without warning. Tallon and the Drill Sergeant walked over to Hector's and Tallon's bunk-seeing the Drill Sergeant there, Hector reacted like always and quickly stood up to salute him, "At ease, Haddock. Private Furysen here tells me you're sick, is this true?"
Hector had two choices here: lie and say he was fine, or tell the truth and maybe get something to help him sleep the rest of the night. "Yes, Drill Sergeant."
"How long?" Sean asked firmly.
"Midnight," he replied now softly.
"Should have said something before now, Haddock. You know the rules, come along now. We're headed to the medic-everyone gets sick, nothing to be ashamed of. Currently there are about six others who reported being sick too," Svendson sighed as Hector nodded getting on his boots and getting his sweatshirt on. With the lights on now, they could see how sick he looked. Tallon moved beside him now as the two of them left the barrack.
"Feel better, Hec." a few of the men called to them before Sean shut the lights off again. The walk to the barrack was silent except for Hector's coughing and sniffling from the runny or stuffy nose-the Drill Sergeant and Tallon couldn't quite tell with the darkness. The on base medic was near the chow hall which wasn't a far walk from the barracks or main building where they'd only been once since arriving and that was when they arrived four weeks ago. Sean knocked on the medic's door and stepped back as Tallon put an arm around Hector's waist to keep him from stumbling or falling-it was easy to see that Hector was tired and weak from being sick and Tallon knew it was his job as a friend and battle buddy to help him if he couldn't stand on his own. The door to the medic office opened as it was clear to see a woman standing there.
"Another one?" she asked as Sean nodded to her, "Well, bring him inside then," she offered a small smile. Tallon helped Hector in as he was eased to sit down on one of the beds as the medic pulled on her gloves and grabbed a few tools to check Hector over with. Simple tests: checking the to see if his throat was sore and swollen, his fever, listening to his lungs and heart-it only took about five minutes to get through. "Sore-slight swollen throat but not strep, congested, stuffy-which might become runny with the medicine I give him because it loosens the mucus, and cough. Head hurting to, private?" Hector nodded to her once, "It's just a cold like the others-he should be fine in a few days or so. I'll give him some cough drops for the throat and help suppress the cough. I'll give him some medicine to keep the other symptoms down too. You can come see me in the morning before breakfast to get ya through to lunchtime, alright?"
"Yes ma'am," Hector replied. She got him a bag of about fifteen cough drops to take with him then gave him some NyQuil-only it was a smaller dose so it wouldn't keep him asleep passed the 5am wake up and first call alarm but it would be enough for him to actually get some sleep for a few hours.
"Come back if you start getting aches or vomiting-that might be the sign of a bug starting. Other than that, you're all set." the woman smiled to him.
"Thank you, Sylvia," Sean offer a light bow of his head as the Sylvia now nodded while Tallon helped Hector out of the medic office with Sean following them. "Alright, breakfast is at 0630, get back and get some sleep privates. When PT starts tomorrow, you are excused from the running like the others are. Medic doesn't think it's a good idea to let ya run if you can't breathe right-besides you're one of the most fit recruits, I think you can miss a day or two and not have it affect ya terribly."
"Thank you, Drill Sergeant." Hector stated as Tallon led him away back to the barrack-using his phone as a flashlight to help Hector to his bed. Once there, Hector got off his boots and climbed back into bed as Tallon got on the top bunk.
"Hey, Hector," Tallon mentioned now.
"Yeah?" Hector replied.
"Stop being so stubborn, will ya? We're a team-we got your back whether you're hurt or just sick. You don't gotta be afraid to tell us if something is wrong," Tallon said with a smile.
"I'll remember that from now on-guess I'm not used to having friends. Thanks for tonight, Tal," Hector yawned before rolling over and closing his eyes-he fell asleep not more than ten minutes later. With it quiet now, the rest began to fall back asleep too even though it was 3am and they had to be up in two hours for first call. It was gonna be a long day for all of them because it started the Brown Phase-weeks four and five.
(A Week Later)
Hector was glad to feel like himself again-he recovered from his cold in four days time and got out of PT for two days, well, the running portion of it at least. He still had to do push ups, sit ups, and the light jogging or walking. Most of the first week in Brown phase was pretty easy: they practiced with marksmanship-preparing for the test at the end of the second week where they would be given their shooting level and a badge to prove it too. The qualification test would decide their level to be either Expert, Sharpshooter, or Marksman. They had to qualify with both the M16A2 rifle and their hand pistol. Each level meant a certain degree of weaponry they were qualified to use. Also during this week they learned firing positions and breathing. They spent long hours on the firing range practicing. Other skills they learned were how to use machine guns, grenade launchers, and grenades themselves. That had been fun to practice with too.
Second week of Brown phase was learning how to use bayonets and running the obstacle course with their M16A2's and there was more team builder exercises as well as the qualifying test too was during this week. Hector did surprisingly well-he earned expert for hitting thirty-eight out of the forty targets ranging from stand stills to pop ups. Tallon and Thaxter made expert too while Evan, Ryan, and Viktor made sharpshooter. Others in the platoon did fairly well too, only about five of them hit marksman for their qualifying level. This included the girls too since their platoon was made up of males and females and there were forty-eight all together. Like with the Green phase, there was a final test for the end of Brown phase to make sure the knew everything they were supposed to before moving on to the final phase that lasted another three weeks. In this test they had to demonstrate everything in sections like before.
They had to show: Protecting themselves from Chemical/Biological contamination using your protective mask, react to a Chemical or Biological attack, react to nuclear hazard/attack, decontaminate themselves and equipment using chemical decontaminating kits, perform voice communications, identify terrain features on a map, determine the grid coordinates of a point on a map, measure distance on a map, determine a magnetic azimuth using a lensatic compass. identify chemical agents using M8 or M9 detector paper, perform first aid for bleeding of an extremity, perform first aid for an open chest wound, perform first aid to prevent or control shock, perform functions check on an M16/M4, recite the Army Values, challenge persons entering your area, perform first aid for heat injuries, perform first aid to clear an object stuck in the throat of a conscious casualty, load an M16/M4, unload an M16/M4, execute drill movements with arms during marching and stationary, react to an approaching officer while walking and/or seated, react to an approaching NCO while walking and/or seated, react to an inspecting officer, report to an officer indoors and outdoors, react to an officer entering a building, identify rank, and finally, demonstrate knowledge of military time/twenty-four-hour clock.
When all that completed which took about two days to do fully, they returned to their barracks after dinner and DS time of being debriefed on the the fact tomorrow they'd start the final phase of BCT-Silver Phase which lasted three weeks total then they'd be graduating Basic during week ten. After that-Hector and the others going out for Infantryman would be moving onto their AIT training for another four weeks, plus the one week to prepare for and then graduate AIT making it the end of a very long sixteen weeks of training at Fort Striker.
(Barracks; 2030 Hours)
8:30pm came around as the Strike Squadron-their squad name for A barrack were tiredly making their way back to their barrack to relax for an hour before lights out. Some of the soldiers were calling their families to update them but as usual-not Hector. He wasn't going to call home to talk to them-it would just be a fight or demand to come home right away and he wasn't going to do that. Maybe he'd see them after AIT and before stationing-they were told that they might get time to go home for a week or so but if not then it was right to their new station assignment where they'd carry out their MOS job until another order came along for them to do. Hector laid on his bed scrolling through his phone-he did have a social media page, it was called Friendspace but he hadn't updated his in months it seemed. Besides-he wasn't allowed to post anything about how his training was going, that was against the rules to do that.
"Not calling home again?" Tallon asked.
"You know I'm not gonna, Tal. What's your excuse?" Hector asked him.
"Arguments with Dad-said I made a bad choice but he said he'd let me sign up and live with it either way. Something about living with my choices, I don't see how its bad-I like it here. Happier than I was before," Tallon chuckled from the top bunk. "So can I ask ya something, Hec?"
"Sure, shoot?" Hector smiled now.
"What did ya mean two weeks ago when ya said 'it wouldn't kill them to care for once'?" Tallon inquired, Hector sighed a bit closing his eyes.
"Kind of a long story," he sighed heavily-the others now seemed to lean closer on their beds and looking at him, "What is this friggen story time in the barracks now?"
"Well we all know about our lives, nothing about you though. You're the secretive one-kind'a creepy dude," said Meyers, a nineteen year old whose first name was Nathan.
"Well my life isn't exactly all sunbeams and ice cream," Hector mumbled with a roll of his eyes.
"Try us," Ryan asked as Viktor came down and sat beside his older brother. Evan and Thaxter were leaning against Tallon's and Hector's bed frame-the others were just standing around or listening from their bunks.
"Fine," he sat up on his bed finally after putting the phone beside him. From there, Hector began to tell them everything about his life from where he could remember at least. He told them about his aunt Lilah passing in the birth of his sister cousin Heather-then his uncle Oswald dying in the car accident when Hector was about twelve years old, that his cousins became his legally adopted brother and sister. That his brother-although in the same grade as him and Heather was actually two years older than him and Heather. Hector mentioned that his parents were always wicked busy so it fell on him to cook, clean, and do anything else that needed to be done in his parent's absences. He explained that he started working at the auto shop when he was fifteen for Anthony-that he was the only sibling who had a job and car. He didn't go into great deal about the fact he was bullied by his cousin Skylar.
"Wait is this a cousin who was adopted by your parents or a different one?" asked Viktor now.
"Only Darius and Heather are my cousins-adopted siblings. Skylar is my cousin on my Dad's side from his brother and brother's wife. Skylar-he's a jerk. Been bullying me since I was in the sixth grade with all his stupid friends. At home Darius and Heather actually acted like siblings to me but in school-I'd be lucky if they noticed my existence," Hector shrugged.
"So they acted cool with you at home but in school like you didn't exist?" Tallon asked as Hector nodded, "That's sucks man,"
"Tell me about it, Darius has popular friends due to his sports so he acts like a jerk to uphold some image or whatever. I've told my parents about Skylar but they say he's family and just playing with me. I gave up after a while so it was always just kind'a me looking out for me-ya know?" Hector stated softly.
"So they pretty much act like their work is more important that any problem you're having and your siblings are only siblings at home, your cousin is a jerk all the time, and you didn't have any friends at all before joining the army?" Thaxter asked.
"That about sums it up, yeah." Hector chuckled a bit. "Told ya my life wasn't exactly a joy. Gobber is the only one who cares but he can't keep a secret to save his life,"
"Who?" Evan asked now.
"Oh, Gabriel Borksan. Nicknamed Gobber by me when I was like three I guess. He's my...unofficial uncle, best friends with my Dad since their elementary school days. Gobber has known me all my life and he cares-he was always my teacher in high school. I told him I was leaving but he doesn't know it's because of the military. If that man gets drunk-he'd spill what was going on, and he's a terrible liar when confronted about anything he's hiding." Hector smiled now.
"Man, makes sense why you never call home now." Ryan pointed out.
"Yeah-that'd be why. So like I said, it won't kill them to worry-if they even are, don't know and honestly don't care. I got sick and tired of being told I was a weak, know it all, nothing that my life would never go anywhere. Just so happened that same day I got fed up-the recruiter was at the school so I grabbed a pamphlet and researched everything I could before meeting with the recruiter the next day. Took the GED at the end of that week, started paperwork, went to MEPS a week after that-took all day too, then finally a week after that I left for Reception Week." Hector stated now.
"How'd you get out of the house and do all that without them noticing you were up to something?" asked Fowler-eighteen year old whose first name was James.
"Told them I was working or sick-they bought it without asking questions, then the night I left for Reception Battalion-left my note on the bed and went out the basement door. The recruiter drove me to the bus station and that was it, haven't been home since and as far as I know they don't know where I am or what I'm doing. Like I said-they probably don't even care so it's not skin off my back," Hector laid back with his arms behind his head-eyes closed again.
"Well you got friends now," Tallon told him with a smile.
"And I'm forever grateful for it too," Hector replied looking over at him.
"So you got a girl back in Berk?" came Troy Freeman's voice with a snicker.
"Hell no-weren't ya listening when I said I was a loser in high school because I'm apparently a know it all? Only girls looking at me were the ones who needed help with their homework," Hector laughed now.
"Any guys?" Thaxter asked.
"Not that I'm aware of," Hector stated now.
"You ride that way?" asked Darren Greene.
"Well since I've never had a girlfriend or...boyfriend-I guess I could go either way? I don't know, never been in that situation. Always focused on school. The day it happens-I suppose I'll figure out if I'm straight or gay. I don't think I'll be dating anytime soon with all the training going on," Hector replied.
"Sounds straight to me," Thaxter laughed next.
"Not necessarily-he could be Bisexual," Tallon informed.
"Can we maybe not worry about it right now? I mean seriously guys, I'm not worried about it. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. But shit, Tallon is right. Straight would imply I like only women and there are some pretty handsome guys out there so I guess that makes me Bi then. Means I be attracted to both for now at least-could change later on," Hector shook his head with a smile.
And from there the conversation went around the room of stating which of them was which sexual orientation, and then onto their ages, who had a girlfriend, or boyfriend. Hector couldn't say much since he'd had neither girlfriend or boyfriend. Turned out most in their barrack were between the ages of seventeen and twenty-three. Same with the girls-ranging between seventeen to twenty-five or so, they didn't see the girls except for during meals and training. The hour came to an end slowly as Drill Sergeant Svendsen came in to tell them they have five minutes until lights out so to quiet down, use the bathroom, change for bed, and get in bed. In that order too-they all did it. When 9:30pm hit-the lights went off and they were all asleep within a half hour, the next day would bring the start of the Silver Phase.
