First Sergeant Lovato

Chapter One

"Sel, you need to get up."

I felt her jostle me. I opened my eyes and yawned and smiled at the same time. "Good morning to you too."

I could see now that Devonne was walking around in the tent with just a bra and the uniform pants on with boots. I turned on my side and propped my head up with my arm and admired her.

"Wait..." I looked at the top of the tent, which would have a sort of yellowish glow to it if the sun was out. "What time is it?"

"6:30." She said, walking to an obviously man made set of wooden shelves. She had several sets of uniforms and clothes laid out among them. She grabbed a tan shirt and pulled it on. "Can you hand me my dog tags? They are under my pillow."

"Why am I waking up at 6:30? I told my soldiers to meet me at 1300." I groaned, lifting her pillow and retrieving the tags for her. I tossed them to her and she put them around her neck.

She walked over to me. "Well, I know you probably thought you could just sleep in here since YOU don't have to work until later, but that's not the case." She cupped her hands on my cheeks and gave me a quick kiss. "Now, up!"

"Aww... but I don't wanna go to school, mommy..." I complained.

"Rough life." She bent over and picked up my uniform from the floor on the side of the bed and threw it at me. "Now put some clothes on, what was it again..? Fineass?" She laughed.

"I will never forget the night you called me that, I almost didn't make it to my bunk I was so shocked." I reminisced back to basic training.

"It just slipped out. Not my finest moment."

"Where are you going at 6:30 anyway?" I wondered.

"I dunno, Sel... Breakfast? I usually get to the TOC around 8. And the chow line is really long after 7 so I like to go early."

I started to put on my uniform. "I usually go to breakfast AT 8."

"Welp, this isn't Burger King you don't get to have it your way here. Especially if you want to sleep in the first sergeant's tent."

"I bet a LOT of your company would like to sleep with you..." I laced up my boots and sat on the side of the bed now.

"Who said anything remotely related to that?" She put on her jacket.

"I did. Just now."

She shook her head. "I doubt it, I run a pretty tight ship around here. I'll prove it to you, if I see any soldier from my company on the way to breakfast, I'll let you see how they react to me."

"You know, I always wondered if first sergeants did that on purpose, now I know." I shook my head back at her.

She shrugged. "Of course, what's the point of having the rank if you don't?"

Sure enough, on our way to the DFAC to eat, she spotted one of her soldiers. Well, a couple of them, smoking by one of the barriers that sectioned the tents off from the main pathway of the base.

"Watch this." She leaned in to whisper to me.

I tried to keep my expression normal, in case anyone saw her coming. I didn't walk up to them with her, I just stayed back to observe.

I noticed her walk stiffened as she got closer. "I have a question for you." She said, not too loud but loud enough for them to all snap their arms behind their back. I noticed one had a cigarette in his mouth still, even though his arms were behind his back now.

"When did the smoking area move outside of my walls here?"

I recognized the fear in their eyes immediately. It reminded me of how people had looked back in basic when they got yelled at by a drill sergeant. Well, Devonne did have the patch on her uniform signifying she had been a drill sergeant once, that might have done it too.