Upside-Down

Chapter 1: A New Life

         This is it. The day Brett Thompson has been waiting for his entire life. The day, he joins the military. Brett is a shorter man, just out of college. He has blonde hair, shaved for the military, just like every other active soldier. As a kid he went from nerf guns, to airsoft guns, to paintball guns and now to real guns. He was a fighter, a warrior at heart. He grew up being fascinated by war movies. However, in movies you don't see the thoughts running through these people's minds, you don't see the reality in the fighting. Brett, as many other kids who watch these movies, was amazed at the bravery he saw and blindly stepped into the thought process that he wants to do this.

           Almost 3 months ago he took on the challenge of the longest, hardest, and most laborious 12 weeks of his life, Marine Corps basic training. He has finally earned a spot among America's best.

          His first day begins with him pulling up in his white Mazda to the Marine Corps base in Camp Pendleton, California. It's 6 in the morning. The ground is still wet from last night's storm; the dew fresh on the grass, and the sky is now clear as could be. He steps out of the car and instantly feels the hot, dry sun hitting his skin. Brett knows right at that moment he made the right decision. He finally finds his way around to the training ground where he meets Cpt. John Austin. John is a tall man, maybe in his 30's. He has black hair and a strong build. This obviously came from his countless years in the military.

         "Cadet over here!" Shouts the captain.

        "Sorry sir!" Brett replies as he quickly walks over to John.

        "What's your name cadet?"

       "Umm... It's Br-Brett Thompson SIR!!"

A warm beady sweat falls down his face. Over all of his excitement he almost didn't realize the temperature had increased a lot in the past few minutes.

      "Alright cadet good to see a new face around here.

Now get you're run started in, "The Pit". The pit is what they call their combat training course. Before Brett has the chance to respond a black M16 is thrown into his hands. He's been anxiously waiting years for this moment. The moment he can prove himself as a U.S. Marine. He takes a few steps into the course, the dirt crunching below his black combat boots when he hears a loud buzzer go off. It startles him for a few seconds but then he realizes the clock is ticking! He starts out at full sprint to make up for the time he lost. He takes a right turn and the first metal soldier cut out pops up... he instantly shoots it down. An unforeseen thought hits him like a speeding train. The gun is real, the bullets are real, and looking forward to this moment in the past he thought he would be confident and ready to use a military issued weapon in a combat situation. Even though the people in this training course aren't real he still felt something, something inside him gave him doubts that when it came the time to use his gun in a real combat situation he wouldn't be able to. He begins to realize through his thinking that THE CLOCK IS STILL RUNNING! Brett pushes that thought aside, starts up a full sprint again and shoots the remaining targets. He exits the course feeling like the air was sucked out of him. The adrenaline rush was over. He begins to breathe heavily trying to regain his breath. The thought comes to Brett's mind that he might have put up a really good time. He looks over to see a man walking up to him. He reads the man's name off of his uniform and also checks for the mans rank. His name is Samuel Stevens. He sees that he is a staff sergeant. This man instantly earns Brett's respect.

        "Cadet do you know the time you ran that course in?" Shouts Samuel.

Brett instantly begins to have feelings of disappointment as he thinks that Sgt. Stevens is about to tell him about his horrible run.

       "Brett, I see your name is. You ran that course in the second best time ever. I see a lot of great potential in you cadet."

Brett can hardly keep himself from screaming out in excitement as he replies,

      "Thank you sir, I will not disappoint you."

       "Alright that's enough chit chat for now cadet. Since you had such a great run I'll let you skip the conditioning portion on your first day, but I want to see you there tomorrow at 6:30 A.M. sharp."

      "Yes sir!"

The rest of Brett's day, after the short break, consists of a visit to the shooting range, a team building drill, a long workout, and a basic rundown of what each day will look like at Camp Pendleton. After a long day he begins to walk back to where he is staying. After what feels like miles to him the new cadet finally makes his way to his sleeping quarters. The first thing he thinks to do once he gets to his room is to call his dad and tell him about his first run in "the pit". His dad, Roger, has always been his biggest inspiration in life. Roger was a police chief in Chicago. His dad picks up the phone and says hello. Brett goes on to tell his dad about his great time on the course. After the phone call Brett stays in his room all day thinking about how great the first day of his new life as a marine was. The people he met, the things he felt, and the thoughts he had. He still couldn't shake the uncertainness he had about handling a weapon in active combat. He begins to reassure himself by telling himself that confidence will come with practice. He then, nods off and goes to sleep.