Entering Silver Phase had been interesting. It seemed to be a wrap up of everything they had learned so far in the last five weeks plus some new stuff too like a crap ton of more intensified physical training, marching, and drills. They'd had already been told that the ninth week would be family day and graduation on the last two but the three days leading up to that was all marching and drills to go over the graduation ceremony. Family day was apparently the day before the graduation where families of the graduating soldier could come to Fort Striker and hang out with them-then stay until graduation and a little after before those soldiers were sent to the places they had to do their AIT or whatever their next step was after BCT if it wasn't AIT. For Hector and the A barrack at least-all of them were staying right where they were for AIT since they were all becoming Infantrymen. Hector knew the only person he might see for graduation was Cody-the recruiter who helped him when he showed an interest in the military. But there were still three weeks until 'family' day came around and then the graduation to follow.

Silver phase was a culmination of everything they learned with some bonuses like more confidence courses, the victory tower, gun practice, marching, drills, and physical training that made them so sore during personal time that they just laid on their beds hoping their bodies would stop hurting before the next day started. That was the first two of silver phase at least-the eighth week was a whole other story. One of the last things they had to complete in order to graduate was a field training exercise that lasted three days in the wilderness of Fort Striker. By three days, this meant camping out for three days and two nights in the wilderness with their gear to practice taking shots at night-they'd already worked on it but for the sake of safety they were only permitted to use the rubber simulation bullets-just in case of an accident. Getting hit with a rubber bullet didn't hurt a lot but it was enough to bruise ya at close range and leave a sting for a few hours of being hit. One recruit from each platoon was chosen as platoon leader and the others in the platoon had to follow orders. From Hector's platoon: Evan Larsden was chosen as platoon leader by luck of the draw out of the Drill Sergeant's hat.

Since it was three days during the eighth week-they spent the first four of that week preparing with map locations and making sure all their gear was in proper working order. The day they started their FTX or field training exercise-it was chaotic as hell to get everything organized and and ready for them to take into the woods, also they had to keep in contact with their Drill Sergeant at all times with the radios. Eight were issued to each platoon, one to the leader-the a second in command appointed by the leader of the platoon for the exercise. For the Dragon platoon, Evan chose Hector since he seemed to handle situations very well whether they were good or bad. The last night of this exercise was a NIC or night infiltration course and a MOUT or Military Operations Urban Terrain run through-it'd be mixed up so they had to pay attention to when things changed. In this exercise-there would be other officers and staff in the woods or different areas, teaming up against them as if they were the enemies and it was up to the recruits to get out of the woods safely and follow all procedures as if it were a real mission.

Each platoon was entering the forest from a different location so they didn't go as a major group and end up having trouble, when the horn blew they entered as it began. Three long days and two long nights of surviving the wilderness on their own but having to check in with their DS each time they hit a checkpoint.

(Two Days Later)

Evan did well for the first two days and the one night-he did everything he was supposed too but even with all the carefulness of it-they ended up pinned down against 'enemies' with no form of back up-this was something they had to figure out, part of their test to this mission. What do you do when you're under heavy fire and extraction can't get to you? Right now-they were taking cover behind trees or rocks-Hector looked over to Evan who seemed to almost be panicking. "Hey, we need a plan..." Thaxter mentioned quietly-this was the second night around 9pm, in order to pass this they had to be exiting the woods together by 9am so they had twelve hours to make it out and so far they'd been pinned down for an hour-everyone was tired or hungry since they hadn't slept yet and since it was active enemy territory-they had to be careful with what they did.

"I don't know! I'm open to suggestions," Evan said quickly-flinching as another gunshot rang out closer to them now.

"Hector, do something!" Tallon said.

"I can't. Evan is in charge-this is his mission to lead. Unless he gets hit-I can't take over," Hector retorted.

"Not unless I hand over the authority, a second in command can take control if the leader is unable to do his duties. I don't...know what to do here. I know that look on your face-you know how to get us out of here..." Evan looked at Hector now.

"Are you giving me command of the platoon, Larsden?" Hector asked.

"Yes-now get us out of here!" Evan stated firmly.

"Fine. We can't move as a platoon-it's too easy for them to start firing. We gotta split up into smaller groups and move around them. It's less noise that way and they can't possibly track us all. There's ten of them and forty-eight of us. Let's use the numbers against them," Hector ordered.

"Splitting us up when there is one map to use isn't smart," said one of the girls.

"Everyone should have a map of Fort Striker, it was in your BCT books-it's smaller than the big one but it has the same purpose. Now, there are forty-eight of us. So split up into eight groups of six-don't care if it's co-ed or not," Hector informed them. It only took about ten minutes for them to split off into groups-it was hard because they still had to stay with their battle buddy. "Listen up," Hector said now as he pulled out the map-having Evan and Tallon hold it up. "Right now, we're here: twenty miles from the exit of the forest which is just South-West of our location. We're gonna split off and go around the enemies-we'll meet up here in an hour, it will put us at fifteen miles from the exit. We're able to run two miles in about ten minutes. We can all handle five miles in an hour, each group gets a radio. When you reach the location-radio it in. The dragon platoon is currently using channel three on the radios. My group will be Inferno, the rest of you give your group a name so we can radio each other properly," Hector stated.

"We'll use Spike," said a group of the girls.

"Howler," said another group of the men this time. By the time the other five chose names, it was 9:15pm and the names chosen for them were: Blade, Sharp, Wing, Claw, and Blaster.

"Good, now...we have eleven hours and forty-five minutes to get out of the forest in order to pass the mission and exercise. When we reach the safe zone in an hour-we will sleep for five hours in shifts-then walk the remaining fifteen miles-or jog them out of the forest just before 0900, are we clear?" Hector stated.

"Yes!" they said together.

"Good, then let's move out. Use your compasses and maps. It's only five miles-use your night training. It will only take about a mile to get around these guys, after that you should be." Hector said folding the map. They nodded to one another and broke off to get around the enemies-it wasn't easy either. They had to use a lot of cover fire and distractions to help one another out so the officers acting as enemies would get confused and not know who to follow or where to go. An hour later-they reached the safe zone and Hector did a headcount and made sure no one had been hit with the rubber bullets-they had a slight release at the tip of them to mark someone with washable paint if hit-thankfully this wasn't the case for his platoon.

"Holy shit, I can't believe that worked." Thaxter said. Hector just smiled as he radioed in to DS Svendsen about them getting free from the pin down and were currently in a safe zone-which was one of the checkpoints. Since the groups were already made-that's how they did the guard shifts for sleeping. Hector and his group took the first one-then so on and so forth where everyone got a chance over the course of five hours while the others slept.

(Next Day; 8:55am)

Hector's group emerged from the forest while wiping their brows, a few drinking from their canteen, the rest smiling. They'd done it and with five minutes to spare too! As they exited-the other platoons did as well, all before 9am. This meant that they all passed the mission. "Well done! All of you! Especially impressed with you Dragon Platoon. Larsden-you recognized you didn't know what to do and knew when to give up your command to someone else. And Haddock-never a disappointment with thinking to split up your platoon into units to go around the enemies and confuse them before reaching safe zone. And you're platoon was the only one to not report any injuries, extractions, or evacuations." said Svendson now.

"Did what we had to do-Haddock should have been picked for this FTX right off the bat, Drill Sergeant. I freaked out-I was gonna run us through the enemy line as fast as we could. Hector is the one who got us out safely and calmly," Evan said now.

"You did good-all of you. You all passed and for doing so well-you can have today off to recover. Starting tomorrow though-we're working on the graduation ceremony process for three days then you get family day-then you're done. Some of you are staying here for your AIT-others are not. Go on-unpack, grab a shower, something to eat and relax." Drill Sergeant Svendson told them.

"Yes, Drill Sergeant." Dragon platoon replied as she offered a salute and headed off to their barracks which were A and C-the girls being in C. Reaching them-everyone stripped off their gear, went in sections to shower, before all of them plopped on their beds to relax-it felt so good to be able to lay down in their beds.

"Gods, I've never been happier to sleep in these bunks..." Tallon sighed out heavily.

"And here we complained the barrack beds were terrible," Thaxter chuckled now.

"Seriously, never complaining again," Hector chuckled as he cracked his neck before laying down with his eyes closed. Just as he was about to try and take a nap however, his phone began to vibrate beside him, "Really?" he asked with a sigh-the only people who had his number were Cody and the military, he lifted it and sighed. "Hello?"

"Hector, there ya are-been calling for a few hours now. How'd the three day mission go?" Hector chuckled sitting up-it was Cody.

"It went good, Cody, we're all in the barrack relaxing now. All that's left to do is the graduation of BCT next week and then AIT," Hector smiled.

"I'm so proud of you! I'm coming up for your graduation-you sure you don't want me to tell your family or nothing?" Cody asked him.

"If I wanted them to know I joined-I'd of told them, Cody...It's not like they've made any effort to find me," Hector mumbled a bit while putting it on speakerphone and setting it down on the bed.

"Hec, you've been gone two months and a week now-I'm sure they are wondering where their seventeen year old son is," Cody stated softly.

"Cody-I know you think I should tell them but it's just not worth it too. I don't need the added drama or stress it would bring when I've got a week of Basic left-then following that another five weeks til AIT graduation. If I get the chance to see them before final station assignments-I'll tell them. But if not-then they'll just have to wait until I see them again." Hector sighed heavily now.

"Aye, true. Sorry lad, just didn't want ya to have no one on your side when you graduate next week-it's a big accomplishment to of gone from civilian to soldier in only nine weeks," Cody pressed with a smile in his tone.

"I've got you, Sergeant Greysen." Hector chuckled now.

"Yeah-I am pretty awesome, aren't I?" he replied with a grin now as Hector shook his head.

"Now you're just getting cocky, so it's like 9:30am-what the hell you doing calling me? Shouldn't you be working?" Hector asked curiously.

"Office is being renovated. We got about three days off-thought I'd check on ya," Cody said now.

"I'm sure you have better things to do than call a kid who you recruited two months ago," Hector smiled.

"I recruited? You did that all your own-I just told ya to call the office if it interested you is all," Cody laughed lightly.

"You were at the school and handed me your card after telling me to look over the pamphlet," Hector countered.

"And call if you were interested after looking at it and you called me not even twenty-four hours later the next day." Cody responded casually.

"Yeah-I didn't do it on my own though. I couldn't of gotten all that paperwork done without you, or gotten to MEPS, or the bus station for Reception Week if it weren't for you driving me both times. So I owe me doing all this to you my friend," Hector chuckled.

"I'd say it was equal. You wanted it and I supplied the means to get it and now look at ya, graduatin' next week. I heard you got Expert on the gun qualifying exam and have aced all your end of phase tests. I'll be honest-I joined when I was twenty and I only made Marksman on my qualifier," Cody chuckled.

"And pray tell where you heard all that from?" Hector asked curiously.

"Uh...your Drill Sergeant-we're old friends from our BCT days. I called in when your Brown phase started and checked on ya cuz I hadn't gotten an update from you," Cody replied sheepishly as Hector face-palmed.

"Is that my old battle buddy?!" Hector turned to see that DS Svendson had come in.

"Hey! What's up, Svendson? Hope I'm not getting Haddock in trouble by callin," Cody chuckled nervously.

"Nah-he's fine. They got the day off after the mission-Haddock here did a really good job getting the platoon out when the leader that had been chosen admitted he couldn't get them out safely. Haddock's got the makings of a great leader one day," Svendson said.

"Really now? Didn't tell me that, Hector." Cody said.

"It...really wasn't that big a deal, Sergeant Greysen..." Hector rubbed the back of his head.

"Nonsense! Svendson over here almost got our whole platoon disqualified-"

"Shut it, Greysen. You didn't do much better-if I remember correctly it was Holgerson who saved our asses," Svendson stated quickly cutting Cody off as a few others chuckled at the two.

"Ah yes. Alexander Holgerson-where is he right now anyway? Still in Iraq?" Cody asked.

"I believe so, haven't heard from him in about eleven weeks actually." Sean said now.

"Well if you hear from him before I do then tell him next time we're all free that we gotta go out," Cody relaxed now.

"Will do, Cody. Good to hear from you again-I should go for now. DS meeting in about ten minutes with the higher ups," Sean stated.

"Anything serious?" Cody inquired.

"Not for the recruits to hear, will email you later on it. Talk to you soon, Cody." Sean said stepping back.

"I'll text you later, Sergeant Greysen. I was getting ready to take a nap when you called," Hector said.

"My apologies. Rest well, Hector. Talk to you later lad." with that the phone disconnected as Hector put it away. "Sorry, Drill Sergeant,"

"Sorry for what? You didn't do anything-I should apologize to you. I invaded your conversation when I heard you on the phone with him-anyway, come to let you all know that word was sent to you families about family day-unless specifically it was listed in your files not to inform anyone of anything regarding military life." Svendson stated now. Hector was grateful for this-he loved the confidentiality that the military wouldn't leave his family out of it unless he had died-those was his only circumstance to them finding out before he decided to tell them.

"So when will they be coming, Drill Sergeant?" asked Tallon.

"On Saturday-then can stay off post at a hotel or drive back for the graduation on Sunday afternoon. Don't forget starting tomorrow will be all marching, drill, and ceremony proceedings for the graduation. On Sunday-you will also receive you next stationing for AIT. A good portion of you will be staying here as part of OSUT. After AIT-then you'll be given your next station." Sean informed firmly.

"Yes, Drill Sergeant." the group replied. After that-Sean left as Hector sighed and plopped down on his bed again. It actually was going to suck a little that his family wouldn't be there but then again maybe it wouldn't because he wouldn't have to deal with being told he either made a stupid choice or being yelled at for what he did-he didn't know how the outcome would go if he told them he joined the military without saying a word to anyone. It could go various amounts of ways and he assumed all bad-no way they'd be happy about what he did. He was used to being the disappointment-and that's probably what he'd always be to them and anyone who used to know him. It didn't matter anything-this was his new life and he loved it so he didn't care what others thought about it. All three phases were over now-the last thing to do for Basic was graduate and in seven days-that's exactly what he'd be doing before moving on to AIT. Hector laid down again and closed his eyes-finally he fell to sleep after fifteen minutes.