Army Strong

Chapter 4

She made her way through the airport until she saw the mass of people in the middle. A rush of nervousness flooded over her. Not only was the fact she could die at any point scary, but she also had to worry about the typical problems. She didn't know anyone. She found the person who looked to be in charge, and checked in. They handed her the ticket and told her to just hang tight. She saw lots of tough looking people, and at first she was intimidated by them. That was until she realized she was tough too, maybe they should be scared of her instead. Then the group began to move toward the front. It must be time to board, she thought.

As she was making her way down the aisle she checked her ticket for where she was to sit. 19B it read. Looking up it was directly in front of her. Her first thought was who am I sitting next to. There was one person on the left. He looked pretty cute. He didn't seem like the other guys that were there. There was something different about him, but she couldn't put it together. After all, she didn't know the guy yet. She took her seat belt and clipped it together. About that same time some other girl sat down in the seat to the right of hers.

"Madison," the girl said, extending her hand toward Nikita. She had brown hair and brown eyes. There was something about her too. She seemed fearless. It was as though nothing could faze her.

"Nikita," she responded.

"How many times you been deployed?" Madison asked

"This is my second," Nikita responded

"Mine too," Madison stated.

They began to take off into various conversations. They talked about back home, and what inspired them to enter the army. For Nikita it was her sense of duty, and the need to feel strong, independent, and like she can handle herself. For Madison, it was the need to get away from the petty problems that people worry about on a daily basis. To get away from that one side of her that seemed to just take over sometimes..

The plane ride went by fast. When they touched down, it seemed like they had just taken off. They had finally reached South Carolina. It was time to start training. She chose not to tell her family or friends about the training aspect of the army, because the training was hard. When training is hard, her parents begin to feel sympathy for her. She hated sympathy. When they reached Fort Jackson, they were taken to begin reception. This was the beginning of their transfer from a civilian to a soldier.