Hunter knew this would be the reaction to a degree, he half expected to be yelled at for what he did, but it appeared that his mother was more upset with Salvatore for allowing it and never talking to her first. Sal understood Hunter's reasoning and desire to join the military, no one else did. Hunter had been told many times by his mother that it was a mistake and by everyone else that it was dangerous or he was crazy. It wasn't like they were wrong about their suspicions. Hunter was crazy and being in the army was dangerous, but Hunter didn't care, it's what he wanted to do.

"So, silence for the rest of your time here or would you like for me to show you around?" Hunter asked calmly, though, the sarcasm was quickly picked up.

"I'd like to see around; it's been some time since I was at Fort Draco," Sal informed.

"Well, it's a bit much to take in, Hunter. None of us expected something like this, at least not for a few years yet," Heather informed.

"I don't see what's so hard to take in about the fact I did what I wanted to do. Whether it was three years in the future or now, it was going to happen either way," Hunter replied.

"Because you're sixteen man. This couldn't be the only thing you have wanted to do. What about spending time with family, friends, your girlfriend? We all used to hang out during the summer, at school in lunch and now you're here and won't be coming back to school with us on Monday," Travis mentioned.

"You're making it sound like you won't ever see me again. Yeah, there's other things I want in life but the school thing, what was I gaining from spending 7 am to 2 pm being told everything I already know? What did I learn by spending three more years doing that? Yeah, we can't hang at lunch anymore or be in the same classes, but I'm still around. I won't be here at Fort Draco forever; this is just training. When I get my station assignments, I'm stopping in Berkton to get my truck, and when I get free time I'll be visiting you all," Hunter enlightened.

"I was active duty too, and though I was busy through the week, I got to come home on the weekends. Then there are always vacation leave times and off base passes for a day or more. The only time you won't see a lot of him is if he's handling a situation for the island or gets deployed," Sal interjected, attempting to help out.

"Will we get to talk to you more after your training is over?" Audrey asked softly looking at her boyfriend now.

"That's up to the officers training us. The communication is limited because they want us focusing on training," Andrew mentioned now. It was this time that Harry Andersen, Asher Holgerson, and Richard Grimborn walked in. Treyden, Andrew, Theo, and Hunter quickly stood at attention and brought their hands up for a salute to their commanding officers.

"As you were," Harry smiled, and the four soldiers relaxed a bit. "Thought we'd come by to introduce ourselves, though, I feel we walked in on something serious,"

"Not at all, Major Andersen. Just my group is learning that I joined the army and disliking it. Well, except my dad," Hunter stated motioning to his father beside him.

"Your son has done remarkable here. Some of the best scores in all areas that we haven't seen in ten years," Asher informed. "Hunter is going to just fine in the army,"

"I'm glad to hear it; I knew he would! Now maybe we can get that look around, how about it son?" Salvatore asked.

"That depends on the rest of them as I never got an answer to my question before. You can all enjoy today and tomorrow with me by accepting this is what chose to do because I wanted to or you can just turn around and go back to the parking lot and return to Berkton because I'm not having the argument again," Hunter stated firmly.

"Hunter, don't be that way. It's supposed to be a good day," Harry sighed.

"Sorry, Major Andersen. It's a personal matter that I won't have at work with me. There is only one person in this group that has supported my decision, and that man is my father. Everyone else believes I don't belong or shouldn't be here. It has been a constant argument that I am not having again. Love you all dearly, except you two," Hunter motioned to Eddie and Drew, "But I'm sick of fighting over a matter that I said I was going to do and now have done. I joined, I'm in, I'm staying. So what's it going to be?" Hunter asked firmly.

The barrack was a quiet now; Sal was standing closest to Hunter as he did support this choice. Hunter was done dealing with the arguing. After a moment, Shane stepped forward past Caitlyn and Viola then put a hand on Hunter's shoulder. "Uncle Sal is right. It's not wrong for anyone else to join, so why is it wrong for Hunter to do it? It's what he wants to do. Hunter is a soldier and wants to protect his home. How does it make him feel know he's protecting people who don't support him or what he does? Well, he's my cousin, and families stick together no matter what. I choose to support him," Shane informed. Renee, Fisher, and Travis did the same, walking over to be on Hunter's side.

"We've been friends for years; we're not walking out on that just because he's doing what he's been talking about doing since like, forever," Travis mentioned.

"It's a lot to take in knowing he's a soldier now but he always said he would be. Who cares if it's a little earlier in the original plan," Heather smiled. Drew shrugged, and Eddie gave the nod in agreement.

"Promise you'll stay in touch and visit as much as you can?" Audrey asked looking into Hunter's eyes.

"I'll do my best, Milady," Hunter offered her a smile as she walked over and hugged him tightly, Hunter returned it and wrapped his arm around her waist looking to his mother and sister now. "Well, how about you two?"

Caitlyn sighed as she walked over and hugged him tightly. "You're my only brother, Hunter and I want you to be happy, so if this does that, then I'm okay with it. But no more going behind our backs, got it?" Caitlyn looked up at him.

"Soldier's Honor, sis," Hiccup gave a half-assed salute.

"I'm not happy about it and never will be, Hunter," Viola began, "But I know I can't stop you, and if I fight about it, you won't talk to me anymore, so I'll accept it. Updates on everything, understand? When you're coming home, how long you'll be away. Any of it, I want updates. Do that, and I will give you my support,"

"I'll give you what I'm allowed to by these guys. Some stuff I can't say, security reasons," Hunter replied.

"I'll take what I can get. So, how about we start this family day over," Viola smiled as she hugged Hunter tightly. "I believe introductions are in order," she suggested.

"Should we go get the others from our squad, Hunter?" Theo asked.

"Yeah, go get them," Hunter nodded. Theo and Andrew rushed out of the barrack while four more males came over from their beds, couple extras with them. "Well, I guess we can start with our commanding officers," he added. "So, this is Major Harry Andersen, leader of Plasma Fire company," Hunter motioned to the man with light brown hair and hazel eyes. "Next to him is our platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Asher Holgerson. Our platoon name, by the way, is Alpha Hooligan," he introduced a male with dark brown hair and eyes. "And this is Sergeant First Class Richard Grimborn, drill sergeant for Striker One squadron,"

"Why so many names? Why not just stick to the company one?" Eddie asked.

"We only group up as a company if we deploy outside of Archi Island, for anything else we do as a platoon or squadron. It depends on the situation," Treyden informed.

"That seems incredibly hard to keep track of. How do you break it all down? How many soldiers were standing out there earlier?" Heather inquired.

"I'll explain after this. Oh, and answer your second question; three hundred and eighty-four not including commanding officers," Hunter replied. A minute or two had passed before four girls came in smiling. "All right, so the twelve of us make up Striker One squad. We're all between the ages of sixteen and nineteen so going down the line here. Treyden Fury, Andrew Kingston, and I know you hate it but Theodore-prefers Theo-Vollan," Theo glared at him, and Hunter chuckled a bit. "Next is Zander Radco, Nikolas Manning, Conner Hayes, Jay Michaels, Amber Young, Elizabeth Campbell, Danielle Greenhalgh, and Amanda Christy," he finished.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Sal smiled.

"So do we get to know who they are?" Danielle giggled.

"Zip it, Dani. I'm getting around to it. I know you all want to meet my Dad; this is him; former Second Lieutenant Salvatore Haddock," Hunter smiled.

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Haddock. Hunter has told us much about you and that you were his inspiration to join the army," Richard shook Sal's head.

"Oh, has he now?" Sal laughed a little. "Best introduce your mother before she gets jealous that I'm your favorite parent," he added as Viola glared at her husband.

"You are my favorite, Dad. The rest of my group is my mother, Viola Haddock and my little sister, Caitlyn Haddock. My friends; Renee and Travis Thorston, Fisher Ingerman, Heather DeRange. My cousin, Shane Jorgenson. And those two are just...add-ons; Drew Derange and Edward Eriksen. Lastly, this beautiful girl over here is my girlfriend, Audrey Hofferson," Hunter introduced.

"If those two aren't friends, why are you putting up with them?" Treyden asked curiously referring to Eddie and Drew.

"Drew is Heather's older brother and Eddie is Drew's best friend. It's not often you don't seem them together. I assume that Drew drove Heather and Fisher in while Eddie drove the twins. The rest came with my parents in their car," Hunter shrugged.

"Well, we best be going to make sure lunch arrangements are going well. See you then boys and girls. Oh! Striker One, don't forget that you're putting on the dinner show with Striker Two," Harry reminded.

"Won't forget, Major," the twelve soldiers called together as Harry, Richard, and Asher left the barrack.

"Dinner show?" Sal asked.

"Yeah, Alpha Hooligan got picked out of a hat to put on a show for the families tonight. There will be a lunch show too; I think one of the platoons from the Lavablast company has the lunch show. And tomorrow is a platoon from Spineshot and one from the Infernowing company to do lunch and dinner, not sure which order though," Hunter said.

"How do you remember all that?" Fisher asked.

"What? The different companies, platoons, and squadrons?" Hunter arched a brow, and they nodded. "It is not difficult. All the soldiers you saw on the field today make up the 117th Riddari Battalion. This is a group of troops ranging between three hundred and eight hundred. What you saw was four groups, those were companies. Four or more make up a battalion. Each company can hold eighty to one hundred and fifty people," he explained.

"Each company is made up of four platoons, what you saw on the field was ninety-six and women between each platoon which are made up of twenty-four each. Platoons break down into squadrons of twelve per." Theo explained.

"How do any of those numbers add up to three hundred and eighty-four?" Drew blinked.

"If you paid attention in math class, you would be able to figure out that number is an even number and can be divided down to something smaller," Hunter chuckled a bit.

"Don't get cocky just because you got your GED, Hunter. I ain't afraid to put you on your ass in front of everyone," Eddie remarked.

"You touch him, and you deal with all of us too," Andrew stated firmly. "You prepared to take on eleven others? Or we could call over Striker Two, another twelve soldiers to make it twenty-four total," he added. Eddie shut his mouth now.

"Each squad has twelve soldiers in it and four squads make a platoon of twenty-four because twelve plus twelve is twenty-four. If you take four platoons, you get a company of ninety-six because twenty-four multiplied by four is ninety-six. There are three hundred and eighty-four soldiers not including the drill sergeants and officers which means that there were four companies of ninety-six soldiers per standing before you today on the field since three-eighty-four divided by four is ninety-six." Hunter informed calmly.

"Well, at least that is how our battalion is broken down. The numbers base on how many soldiers come in for training, this group happened to have three-eighty-four," Conner mentioned.

"So how is your company broken down, Hunter? Like, by names as you were using before?" Audrey questioned.

"Plasma Fire company is made up from Alpha Hooligan, Bravo Berserker, Charlie Conqueror, and Delta Nightmare platoons. Hooligan breaks down between Striker One and Two squads. Oh, and fun fact; Striker Two got trained by Sergeant First Class Richard Grimborn's younger brother, Staff Sergeant Victor Grimborn," Hunter chuckled a bit.

"So this barrack is for Striker One?" Viola asked.

"No. Striker One and two males reside in this barrack, A-One. The girls of Striker One and Two stay across the road there in barrack A-Two. There's no co-ed here, we only mix for training. Never sleeping or showering," Treyden stated.

"And it would stay that way for a deployment too, right?" Heather inquired as Hunter nodded.

"I take it we're not practicing our routine for tonight?" Amanda asked curiously.

"Nah, we're okay. All right, I'm gonna show my group around. You can continue doing whatever it was you were doing," Hunter told the twelve people around him.

"Roger that," four of the boys said before returning to their bunks.

"Aye aye!" the girls smiled and headed out of the barrack. Hunter faced Treyden, Theo, and Andrew.

"You wanna tag along with me, don't you?" Hunter asked as they nodded, "Very well," he sighed heavily.

"I'm your battle buddy; it's my job to keep you out of trouble," Treyden chuckled.

"I think you have it backward there bud. It was me keeping all three of you out of trouble. Andrew with his cell phone, Theo with the gun training, and you, Trey with the marching fiasco," Hunter reminded.

"How did you keep them out of trouble?" Caitlyn questioned.

"Andrew was on his phone when he wasn't allowed to be when we had surprise barrack inspection, I took his phone from him but got caught and said it was mine so he wouldn't get scolded for it. It landed me fifty pushups and half a mile jog in the pouring rain. Theo got frustrated during gun practice, threw his weapon down and it fired a blank. I shoved my gun into his arms and moved him to my spot. I stood next to his tossed gun, got smoked for that and had to do thirty pushups, two-mile run, and then clean every single gun in the platoon to make sure they were ready for next use," Hunter explained.

"And Treyden's marching fiasco?" Audrey inquired.

"Trey got distracted and stepped out of sync during marching practice, he tripped and fell and caused others to do the same. When drill sergeant came down and asked who did it, the rest of the platoon blamed Treyden, but I stepped in and said it was me and Trey only fell to help me," Hunter said.

"What was your punishment for that?" Sal asked.

"A workout I never want to repeat. Pushups, situps, pullups, planking, and running. Ask any one of these three how fast I crashed on my bed after all that," Hunter replied.

"Soon as dinner ended, he knocked out on my bed all through drill sergeant and personal time," Andrew stated.

"Why did you take the fall for them?" Fisher inquired.

"Because the first day of Basic we got told that the people in our platoon are family, brothers, and sisters who not only protect our homes but each other too. We always have each other's backs. The day I took Andrew's would be punishment was because he had been sick earlier and I didn't want it to get worse if he had to do all the extra work. Theo hadn't gotten a lot of sleep due to an argument with his father, and lack of sleep can cause someone to be a little moody without meaning to so I took the fall for him because it had been an accident. And for Trey, well, he's my battle buddy, and it's my job to look out for him as he does for me like earlier when he reminded the girls who the squad leader is when the others aren't around," Hunter shrugged.

"Good man, son. Now, how about that tour?" Sal smiled wide after patting Hunter on the back.

"I suppose we can start that in here. Welcome to the A barrack, home of Striker One and Two squadron males. This is mine, and Treyden's bunk, next to us is Theo and Andrew's. Behind you is Zander and Jay's, and after them is Conner and Nikolas's. The pairings are battle buddies, it makes it easier for them to keep track of us," Hunter began and from there went on to show them their lockers, where the restrooms were without going in them, and then he moved the group outside to show them where everything else was. Hunter also told them how his schedule every day for the last ten weeks had been, today hadn't started great with how everyone got when they learned the truth, but it was sure turning out okay now.