Wow, I have no time here. Sorry for all of you who read (and I know that I got more hits than reviews, so you're out there!) and I've been holding out. I just haven't had time! But here we go.

They were out to get her. She was sure of it. Like lions going for the weak zebra in a herd, they attacked her. She wasn't fast enough, she broke on pushups too quickly, she was deemed an idiot for forgetting one word in the Code of Conduct and throwing people off, or accidentally greeting a cadet master sergeant as technical sergeant. These last discrepancies, however, are common among basics. It was simply the fact her voice stood out so much which got her in trouble, because all the guys sound alike whether or not they make a mistake, and girls generally don't sound off that well. Poor Jennifer had the misfortune of having a distinct, loud voice.

During first beast, she had been a great basic; one of the best in her flight: knew her knowledge, shit hot uniforms, a good element chief, even though she was too short to be the best marcher. Her status was a lot like it was in high school. People didn't give her shit.

But now, she didn't really know what to do. She had made the decision to be the best she could but something inside her also needed not only to do her best, but the best.

This is quite a feat as far as second beast goes, especially because it's all physical. When you're 5'3", 120 pounds, it's hard to accomplish a lot of beast. The assault course, which includes a lot of frightening upperclassmen you've never met yelling at you, ten pound "rubber duckies" (hard rubber, fake M-16s), and combat helmets that never stay on, was her first real task. Their first time through was in their respective elements of about nine people.

The sign out front, before one starts the actual course, says, "Only the Strong Survive."

"Oh, boy," Basic Hailey muttered as they marched onto the open field on which the course started. They were instructed to un-blouse their pants, button their top button on the collar, and take everything out of their pockets and put it in their stupid red hats. They took one last sip from their canteens.

It began.

Yelling, screaming, low crawling, high scrawling, running, more low crawling, running, high knees, high crawling, and even more high knees. While it only lasted about five minutes, it felt like much longer. Five minutes of aerobic activity followed by running to go pick up rubber duckies and helmets, and frantically trying to fit the helmet to your head before being yelled at to get in place. They learned moves with the fake weapons: butt smash, parries, stabbing movements… then they were yelled at to go back and were sorted into actual lines.

It was horrible, as far as Jennifer was concerned. More of this ensued.

The assault course, the actual one, not this fun little warm up, takes forever to get through the first time around. They make you do things over and over until you get it right (right being perfect, or as close to perfect as possible). This happens for fourteen (give or take a few) events, and for some reason, they assume this is what modern day combat is actually like.

Who knows.

Jennifer soon learned that much of what the Air Force told her did not make sense, and it was better to just stop asking questions all together, else she become even more confused than she already was. For instance: For the entirety of basic, Jennifer only saw the sprinklers on once out on the terrazzo, and it was raining; perfect example of Air Force common sense.

But as we return to the assault course, an executive decision has been made; Jennifer would rather not relive that, and so we only have the beginning. What she does remember, and hasn't blocked out, includes a lot of low crawling, three-point rolls, and at the top of the hill the assault course had been built on, a one or two foot deep puddle of water she had to swim through (God knows what was in that water) without getting her rubber duckie wet. The only thing the remembers about that one was that it was oh so nice and refreshing, even though she had probably five cadre screaming at her the entire time.

Oh well.

The rest of the courses during Basic were a piece of .. well, cake, for Jennifer. They didn't involve as much physical activity (except the O-course, but that one is much more fun).

The Leadership Reaction Course, or LRC (Safety First!), tests the problem solving abilities of an element by giving them half an hour to come up with a solution to a random problem, like Dr. No's Fortress, which involves having to take a barrel over two metal fences without it touching the ground, and get everyone else over as well with only two wooden poles and a wooden plank. It's a lot harder than it sounds.

SABC, Self-Aid and Buddy Care (or the Severe Ass-Beating Course) teaches basic combat first aid while at the same time getting beaten and yelled at.

The Confidence Course didn't really do much to boost Jen's confidence, but it's a good afternoon you don't get beaten for.

Jennifer thinks, however, that the Obstacle Course was probably her favorite. She had a giant football player as her partner, and he helped her a lot when something was a little too tall, but it was fun because they played Ping-Pong with upperclassmen he knew for a little over twenty minutes. Ping-Pong is a game cadre like to play during the O-Course to make the basics run a little. A cadre will say, "Go tell Cadet Smith ping." Cadet Smith will in turn say, "Pong." Sometimes they get creative and say other things, but generally this goes on as such for a while. The O-Course was good for Jen because they got to skip a lot of the beatings because they ran so much. It was a lot more fun than the others (though she did like LRC- Safety First!) and much more desirable than the A-Course, which she had yet to run through a second time.

Again, we won't relive.

One of her flight-mates had his birthday near the end of July while they were still out in Jack's. The cadre made everybody do 18 of nearly everything in honor of Basic Logan's new age: pushups, situps, crunches, 8-count body builders, pullups, flutter kicks- you name it, they did it. They got taken out to the beating fields. They feared for their lives… but the cadre have a sick sense of humor.

They made everyone down their canteens- the whole thing- then stick it over their heads. This was done in place of more interesting things to drink.

Cadet Logan was offered a water buffalo stand, but he kindly refused for fear of his personal safety.

That night, they probably had a week or so left in Jack's, and Jennifer was feeling down. It happens a lot to cadets when they realize that sometimes something isn't all it's cracked up to be. It was almost taps and her hair was still wet from a shower and she turned to the girl who was her roommate during first beast. "Hey Laura?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you come here? I mean really… why?"

She gave a short laugh. "I guess I'm already getting cynical, but I really don't know. I wanted to come to be a doctor, be an officer, but from what I hear from the upperclassmen, sometimes it doesn't seem worth it."

"I know how you feel.." Jennifer sighed. "Nothing is ever good enough for them. I can't be good enough. If I can't be good enough for them, how will I be good enough for a captain? A colonel? Hell, a general or the commander in chief himself! I don't know if I'll make it, Laura…" She looked down from her folding of socks into her footlocker.

"Look, Jennifer, if any of us can make it, it's you. You may be small, but I listen to you talk about all your physics and stuff! You're smart- real smart. You'll get through here no problem. All you have to do is have the drive. Me? I had a dream of becoming a doctor. Now I realize I'll probably get stuck in intel, maybe drive heavies. You? You came here as a physicist, hoping for the Air Force to make you better. I see the way you drive through the courses. You have the will… me? Maybe not. I fell out of the A-course…"

"Laura, you had a respiratory infection and it was dustier than the desert! You can't say you won't make a good officer because of the A-course. Don't get too down on yourself.. and I won't get too down on myself. Deal?"

They stuck out their hands and shook, smiling at one another. "Off we go.." Laura quipped.

"Indeed," Jennifer replied, chuckling, "Indeed."

The next day there was a major beat down session. One of the kids from B-flight had stolen a cup of pudding from the Mitchell hall tent and the whole squadron was being punished for it. There were endless pushups and flutter kicks, and no end to bodybuilders and ranger claps. They were miserable. Once, while they were being beat, they had done so many pushups she had lost count, and suddenly felt as though she couldn't do anymore. She muffled a cry of pain as she attempted another one, and the squad comm came up in front of her and yelled, "ARE YOU GOING TO QUIT ON ME, HAILEY?!"

That was her breaking point.

"NO SIR!!"

"Good."

She really did have the drive.

The rest of Jack's went by pretty quickly. By the end, Jennifer was only struggling a little physically, but she was much better than she was. The last day approached and they took down the tents, practically at rest around the compound. It was a lot of fun as far as they were concerned. They had a rifle manual competition between the flights, and a kid in her flight named Charlie who had gone to the prep school kicked serious butt. There was much rejoicing.

After all was said, done, packed and folded, it was time to head back. They all ran back to the hill on what they call the "Warrior Run," again, rifle in hand, instead of marching back like they did on the way down. The upperclassmen make it extra fun, because you get back, unpack stuff, lock up your rifles, and the next day they take you to run the steepest hill they can find, dropping you and beating you as often as humanly possible. It's miserable, but it could be worse. Then, they move into their new squadrons. Because they were Jaguars A-Flight, they would become members of Squadron 37- Animalistic Skyraiders.

Who knows, don't ask the mun.

They had to haul all their stuff across the terrazzo, from one corner of the dorms to the extreme other corner. It was far, and it was raining. Jen sighed as she lugged everything she owned in two trips… ripping a good sized hole in the bottom of her big white bag as a consequence. A few of her socks would never get clean. They got to their new squad, and none of the upperclassmen who had moved in were allowed to talk to them. It was depressing as anything. But no matter.

Tomorrow was Acceptance Day.

She would finally be a cadet.

Next time: Acceptance and some new and familiar faces. It will probably be the last one (this really was only supposed to encompass Basic).