Disclaimer: I do not own Haruka Ten'ou or the US military, though I think that should go with out saying. I am making no money from this story. It should be noted that the US military has nothing to do with this story and that this does not reflect the views of the US Army.
Chapter 4: Victory Tower
Somewhere overhead large speakers blared to life and a prerecorded bugle trumpeted the start of a new day. With the sun yet to peak over the horizon the lights in the large bay room snapped on and a drill sargeant entered, yelling out comments in his usual barking tone. Female recruits began their morning routines with quick movements. One short hair blonde woman peeked over the edge of her bunk before rolling off it and onto the floor. She made quick work of unlocking her wall locker and grabing what she needed to get ready for the morning. A quick jog to the latrine, more like a larger version of a high school bathroom, and she stood before one of the eight sinks combing out her hair with fast strokes.
Clad in white sneakers, black shorts and gray t-shirts, which read 'ARMY' across their chests the recruits of her platoon assembled out side. Forty-eight young men and women stood in Haruka's formation, about one hundred and fifty made three more small formations as the drill sergeants came outside. As they did each morning they marched down to the grassy field near their barracks and spread out their lines. Two drill sergeants stood on an old wooden platform while others wandered around the recruits correcting any mistakes.
"Front leaning rest posistion!" Yelled Drill Sergeant Winge. He waited for each recruit to perform the quarter turn required. "MOVE!" And two hundred young man and women practically fell on their faces as they came into a push-up posistion. So the day started. The recruits went through the exercises as Winge called them out, performing each one with out complaint. As the sun came up all were sweating and the vast majority were sorely wishing for breakfast.
"Get those arms up, Private!" Drill sargeant Kelly yelled to another private as they did the 'military press'. The exercises were not the hardest Haruka had ever seen, however the amount of time and speed they wanted them at pushed all the recruits to their limits and still the Drill Sergeants wanted more. Finally at 0700 DS Winge decided to start cool down stretches. By 0730 Haruka found herself with a washcloth in front of a sink again. She wiped the sweat off as best she could, going through the routine of brushing her teeth and putting on deodorant quickly.
"Man this is killer." Someone said as they entered the latrine. She came to the sink next to Haruka's, as she got ready for breakfast. "Morning Ten'ou."
"Morning Reed, this isn't so bad. They haven't asked for anything we can't do yet." Haruka replied with a cocky grin as she walked toward the main bay room.
"Yeah, just the stuff that makes us too tired to move!" Reed called out to the retreating form. Haruka stifled a laugh as she entered the bay room in her combat uniform. She quickly locked her hygiene kit in her wall locker and grabber a pair of combat boots from beneath her rack. She was finishing lacing them up as DS Beck entered the room. He was an older man with an almost kind look to him, until you pissed him off. The former Army Ranger seemed to be in an okay mood today however, calling out a reminder to be outside in three minutes as he walked into the Drill sergeants' office. Haruka shook her head as she heard scampering feet running across the floor.
She stepped out into the daylight, quickly positioning her forest camouflage cap on top of her short blonde hair and making sure the bill of it was two fingers above her nose. A few of the males and considerably less of the females already waited in their squads. As Haruka was walking over to her formation a hurried brunette, private DeMarco, jogged past and handed her a bright orange vest. With a sigh she pulled the vest over her head and took a corner spot in the formation. DeMarco always had a hard time finding volunteers to be road guards.
"Fall in!" The platoon guide started yelling, hoping to be first in line to the dining facility this morning. Most of the platoon was now running out of the bay, racing other platoons hoping to get to eat first. The life of a BASIC training private revolved around work, food and letters from home. Haruka only received mail from two people, her grandparents, so she had one less thing to worry about most of the time.
Finally assembled the privates made a somewhat intimidating appearance. Forty-eight people, all in forest combat uniforms with hats covering their eyes and heavy black combat boots strapped to their feet. Drill sargeant Kelly, a tall white man with a shaven head and an often-angered look, stood before them all counting each private. He paused, glanced at the other three platoons that were not his, then shrugged and called out for them to move out. March to breakfast was just long enough for a cadence, and so DS Kelly made them sing. (AN: Yes, they do sing while marching to breakfast, and yes this is a real cadence. If you want to know about cadence feel free to email me and I'll give you what information I can.)
"The Army Colors!" He called out, and the platoon mimicked him in a loud unison shout like a collection of singing voices. "The army colors!" " The colors are RED." "The colors are red." "To show the world." "To show the world." "The blood we've shed." "The blood we've shed!" "Left your left right!" "Left your left right!" "Left right your left." "Left right your left." "Left your left your right, now get in step!" "Left your left your right, now get in step!"
"The Army Colors!" "The Army Colors!" "The colors are white." "The colors are white." "The colors are white." "The colors are white." "We're fit to fight." "We're fit to fight!" "Left your left right!" "Left your left right!" "Left right your left." "Left right your left." "Left your left your right, your out of sight!" "Left your left your right, your out of sight!"
"The Army Colors!" "The Army Colors!" "The colors are blue!" "The colors are blue!" "To show the world." "To show the world." "That we are true!" "That we are true!" "Left right oh left, right oh left right left." At this point, the cadence over, the platoon fell silent as DS Kelly brought them up to the entrance of the hallway. "Platoon, HALT!"
DS Kelly gave responsibility over to the platoon guide who quickly had them all filing into a line to wait for the doors to open. Haruka and the four other road guards removed their vests and folded them until they into a side pocket, only showing a small tab of bright orange. The line was some times mind numbing. You would stand at the posistion of parade rest with out speaking. When the line would move, you would come to attention, then move a few steps, and then assume parade rest again. Parade Rest meant your arms were behind your back; your legs shoulder length apart and your head and eyes trained forward with out moving.
Meals were nothing like school. Most schools you hardly saw the teachers at lunch and they didn't want to deal with you. Drill sergeants however were always present. At meals they would observe you, make sure you stayed silent. When the final platoon member sat down you were given three minutes to finish and be out the door. Haruka had also noticed the first day that throwing away food was not an option. The Drill sergeants had mad ea private push for trying to throw away an uneaten apple. Yes this was a whole world apart.
The Carolinian sun blazed overhead as the privates lined up in the dirt near Victory Tower. Over one hundred and sixty young recruits took off their hats tossing the contents of their pockets in, followed by their dog tags. Haruka stood in her row tucking her BDU (Battler Dress Uniform) top into her pants as a drill sergeant yelled out names and sent privates off to start the course. Finally her turn Haruka walked in a group of six recruits over to the first area.
"Here you will learn to properly make a rope harness, do it right and you will go onto the mini wall, do it wrong and you will do it again." Said a Drill Sargeant who rubbed at his temple as if having a perpetual headache. He called out instructions at a stead pace and Haruka and most of her companions kept up well. They were sent off to the mini wall, a wall only as tall as a house that was a scaled down version of the repelling wall. A drill sergeant stood atop this wall instructing privates in how to properly walk down the wall. As they went through most were bored and now just wanted to get the day over with.
Haruka grinned as she finally reached the tower itself. Victory Tower was easily as tall as a four-story building, maybe higher, and was constructed as one large obstacle course. First Haruka jogged over to a knotted rope that hung against one wall of the structure. Like all the other privates she braced her combat boots against the wall and held the rope tight. With the support of the rope she walked up the wall, dropping to her hands and knees at the top as instructed. She crawled in a long line of privates toward the actually repelling wall. Finally reaching it Haruka had to smile.
"Looking forward to this part, were you private?" Asked the Drill Sergeant that was hooking a line to her harness and helping her onto the ledge.
"Yes Drill Sargeant!" Haruka responded, half from eagerness and half because it was expected of her. The Drill Sargeant just grinned evilly at her.
"L-shape, Ten'ou." She eased into the 'L-shape' they were instructed to use. This put Haruka's boot soles against the wall while she bent forward with her face staring at the wall. She felt as if she were sitting on a very odd swing. "Now you have two ways you can do this private. First, you can walk backward all the way down, or option two, you push off from the wall and give your rope a little slack, then lock breaking hand. Two or three of those will get you down."
Haruka braced herself as she stepped back from the edge, looked once at the safety person holding the end of her line, then pushed off from the wall. She swung out, arching back toward the wall and impacting with the bottoms her combat boots. Letting her knees bend a bit she got ready to do it again, people on the ground were yelling for her to more careful but one look at that Drill Sergeant showed a huge grin plastered on the man's face. In three short bounds Haruka was down the wall and disconnecting her line. After quickly untying the rope harness she jogged toward the small tower, which was next in line on the course.
This tower was half the height of Victory Tower with no repelling wall. Climbing up onto the platform one could see three different types of ropes running from one side to the other. The first was a rope bridge consisting of three thin taught cords and a few lines, which connected those into a triangle. Haruka waited her turn and stepped out onto the first rope bridge. One hand held onto each upper rope while her feet were careful laid one before the other on the third. Walking along this bridge on its incline and coming toward a level on Victory Tower just below the repelling wall Haruka could make out another drill sergeant. He was sitting next to the next rope, a thick strong cord large enough to wrap both hands around, and shaking it mercilessly until privates feel into the safety net ten feet below. Warnings were called out to hit the net in an L shape again.
The Drill Sergeant smiled as Haruka approached him and gestured toward the rope. With only a little caution Haruka quickly got onto the rope, hanging upside down in a "commando crawl" posistion and locked her legs at the ankle. With her head pointed toward the lower side she quickly began to pull herself along the rope hoping to catch the DS off guard. It seemed to work because the rope didn't shake until was half way along, but unlike her fellow soldier she'd watch stop and clutch the rope tightly Haruka only increased her speed. Ignoring the "wind" which made the rope swing increasingly strong she kept pulling toward the shorter tower. A female Drill Sergeant on the lower tower began to yell something but Haruka was far to concentrated on her hands to think about what. Just as her hand contacted the wood of the platform a final strong jerk sent Haruka falling into the netting below.
"Grab my hand Ten'ou. Come on privates lets pull her up." Came the voice of the female DS and Haruka grabbed the hand, which was held out to her. With the help of the DS and two privates they pulled her back out of the net Haruka was ready to repeat it like everyone who fell had done. She was stopped by the DS grabbing her shoulder and pointing instead to the third bridge. "You touched the tower before you fell, go do that one now Ten'ou."
Haruka walked over and regarded the third bridge while she waited in line. It looked a lot like the first one, but cut in half. What this meant was that this bridge consisted of only two thin ropes with a few extremely thin support lines holding them four feet apart. It was slanted a little to one side but shifted back and fourth with weight. A number of privates fell off while trying to move a foot or out surprise when it shifted suddenly in their hands. Haruka's turn came and she stepped out placing her booted feet on one line and her leather-gloved hands on the other. She stopped a moment as it shifted under her weight and slanted her backward so that if she let go she fall again into the netting. With a confident grin Haruka began to walk sideways along the rope bridge, again coming up to that second level of Victory Tower and getting back onto the solid wood surface. Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her down to all four again before having her peak over the nearest wall. A cargo netting, similar to something you'd see on an extremely old pirate ship ran half way down this wall, then stopped. Placed below the netting was a large padding colored a bright blue, it looked like what stun men jumped to for movie scenes.
"You climb down until there's no more netting, then you yell your platoon name and let go. Fall backward and that guy back there will make sure you don't roll off the padding onto your head. Got it?"
Haruka nodded and climbed out onto the netting. Realizing this was the last part of the tower she almost wanted to slow down and enjoy it more. Haruka had to admit that the whole tower felt like the worlds best playground to her, even if her platoon mates were mostly screaming in fear of falling all over. She reached the bottom and yelled out in loudest voice before releasing her grip on the cargo net. Falling backward flat on her back into the padding she nearly flipped off of it until two hands got her by the shoulders.
"Okay there?" Asked the private who'd stopped her from meeting the asphalt, which sat beneath the padding. She nodded and he pointed over toward an area with a wooden roof and a food line going. "Lunch is here, good over to the line and get something to eat, then fall in on your gear."
Author's Note:
Its done! That chapter gave me more problems than I can explain, and it was originall going to be the only BASIC training chapter but now I think there will be roughly three BCT chapters. (BCT is BASIC combat training) It took a while before I could decide how much of BASIC I wanted to explain for a number of reasons. The first of these reasons is, if you ever join, I don't think BASIC has the same effect if you know what to expect and I don't want to be at fault for someone not getting a full benefit from BCT. Other things were the fact that I also think a play by play of everything in BCT while interesting to me would be boring to a fair amount of readers. And of course the final, and possibly most important, I do NOT wish to release any information about military training which you could not receive from a local recruiter.
The realism in here should be as correct as I can make it, but I apoligize for leaving out some of the details I would normally put into my stories. For specific reasons I will not even give names to most Drill Sargeants, will make fake names for the others, and will not mention details about where the parts of the training take place. For instance mentioning Victory Tower but not where the Tower is located or what is or is not around it. I actually am somewhat tempted to skip BCT all together but the parts I have chosen to explain are often shown in recruitment videos or discussed by privates on their first leave with family. If you notice anything where you think I am giving too much detail, or that you think is in someway a glaring error, please point it out in the review box and I will fix it.