Democracy vs Corporatocracy

Chapter Forty Eight: Military Training

June 27th 2061

It had been two days since the Freedom Democracy League asserted full control of New England and already the whole nation was in even more chaos. The League was launching a massive offensive into New York. The Army of Freedom, who now had over 300,000 soldiers, were marching through Upstate New York. Liberating city after city and fighting against Corporate forces. The Corpos were trying to take control of America by any means necessary and were in direct combat with both the Army of Freedom and the United States Army. California's Governor, Huntress Mile, had declared secession from America. Taking Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Idaho with her, all declaring Themselves the "Free States of America" and allying with the League. This gave the Corpos and the Government a second front out west to contend with, which would end the war sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, believing that the Corporations and government had ruined the people's right to the American Dream, the States of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina declared secession. Forming the "Confederacy of American States" and declaring war on the Union. The League had hoped that the Confederacy would become a new ally, but the C.A.S declared the F.D.L "traitors to the American Dream" and declared war on them. Their reason for this was because of the F.D.L's "Dream of Freedom and Democracy" and because the F.D.L promoted workplace Democracy and Direct Democracy. What remained of the Federal Government continually promoted Representative Democracy, which had failed America again and again. The C.A.S meanwhile, were an Authoritarian Democracy. While the people did vote on who represented them, the government had a level of power over the nation comparable to many dictatorships. Hawaii had seceded and formed the Independent Commonwealth of Hawaii, while Alaska had joined Canada to spare itself from the fighting. Early that morning President Ditio Blithering had announced that it was official, the Second American Civil War had begun almost 200 years after the first one began.

The shield around New Boston had been deactivated and now the whole world could see the capital of the Freedom Democracy League. The League had gone into full blown war mode, nationalising the manufacturing industry to make weapons for the war and asking for regular citizens to volunteer and fight back against the Corpos. In Hartford Connecticut, civilians were being pulled out of poverty thanks to the nationalisation of countless industries. People were getting to work in the factories, making weapons for the Army of Freedom and many others were enlisting. Julia Libertad and Lucas Jameson were with their regiment in a massive stadium. Twenty thousand new soldiers had been enlisted and were all gathered on the pitch. Major Berkley and Lieutenant Carl Lau were in the announcers booth high up the stairs of the stadium. Carl tapped on the microphone and said "Alright new bloods, listen up!" They all turned to look up at Carl as he said "Now since your all new here and we have a shortage of troops on the frontline, we're going to give you all training over the course of two weeks. Private Julia Libertad and Sergeant Lucas Jameson will give you a quick run down of how a basic rifle works". A small stage was set up directly below them and at the bottom of the thousands of chairs. Julia and Lucas were at the stage and Lucas had a rifle in his hand. Major Berkley then said through the microphone "Alright people, listen up! Sergeant Jameson has a type of rifle that is standard issue in the Army of Freedom, it is called the AK-470. Its based off the AK-47, but it can hold five extra rounds, has a higher rate of firepower and greater stability". All of the troops had an AK-470 by their feet, but they were in pieces. The muzzle, cartridge, receiver, grip, buttstock and all the other parts were unassembled and the soldiers all knew what this meant. Lucas then placed his AK-470 on the table at the end of the stage and bought a table with wheels at the bottom the the centre of the stage. Major Berkley then explained "Sergeant Jameson will walk you all through how to put your AK-470 together, he'll tell you how the first time, but the second time you have to do it by yourselves. After that, we'll get you on to target practice. Understand we will be using dummy rounds, but then we'll start using live rounds when we get to the front. You will also be taught basic army tactics and you're expected to show you best efficiency".

The soldiers were all silent, but then Julia asked "Now then, any questions?" A lot of soldiers immediately put their hands in the air to ask their question. Julia pointed at a woman with her hair in a bun and asked "You, what's your question?" The woman then asked "Why do we have to do two weeks of training? Why not more?" Julia answered with "We need troops on the frontlines and we have barely enough over there as it is. we'll teach you the basics, but the rest you'll have to learn from experience on the front lines". The recruits were a bit worried about this. They understood the need for new troops, but they knew full well that they needed the training and two weeks was barely enough. Regardless, they all got on their knees and assembled their AK-470s in the exact way Lucas showed them. They then took them apart and tried to put them back together themselves. Most succeeded, others had trouble and were a bit behind. After they took their rifles apart and put them back together about five times, Major Berkley said through the speaker "Alright then, now lets move on to target practice". Major Berkley then pressed a button on the control pad and targets popped up on the seats one of the sections behind them. The soldiers all turned around to see over 15,000 seats with targets that had Corporate logos on them. They were the logos of McDonalds, Uber, ArmTech and MegaCorp. Above the targets, sitting in a chair and drinking a can of beer was Matthew King. Matthew finished his drink, picked up a megaphone and said through it "You've all been split up into groups that are numbered one through four. We will begin target practice in that order". Matthew then got up and started walking down the stairs between the chairs. He walked through the small gate in the fence and positioned himself on the left hand side of the troops. With his megaphone, he yelled "Group one, take position!" Group one then took position at the targets and Matthew started explaining the firing positions. Group one had about five thousand soldiers and there were ten rows on one hundred soldiers. After a row had their shots at the targets, another row would and another after that one. After about an hour, all of the troops had done their target practice.

Lieutenant Carl Lau said through the speakers in a satisfied tone "Nice job, most of you successfully hit the targets, while others hit the chairs". While the targets all had bullet holes in them, so did the chairs. Many of the chairs now had bullets galore throughout them and were badly damaged. Many of the soldiers were a bit disappointed, but then Julia said through her megaphone "It's alright fellas, everyone makes mistakes. Now lets move on to troop formations". What followed was about two hours of the recruits learning basic troop formations and marching positions. They were also taught how to enact a pincer movement and how to safely hold their weapons while marching. The recruits were also taught how to properly reload their rifles and were told to do basic exercises. The training was gruelling yes, but it was needed so that the Army of Freedom could have the troops they needed to defeat the Corpos in the Second American Civil War.