"Not much further, soldiers," The Lieutenant said.Like the rest of the six man "element" he was staggering from exhaustion. His uniform had torn during his descent from a cliff face, under the supervision of several enlisted who had Air Assault training but at least his pant's legs had dried after he'd helped row the rubber raft across the wide shallow but cold creek. Lewis felt the exhaustion, the burning in her legs and the soreness of her feet, but like the Lieutenant and everyone else, she kept moving.
"Less than a mile," The LT said, obviously trying to keep everyone's spirits up.
Lewis appreciated the effort, but actually was having a good time. She was thrilled with how much she'd learned the basics of, or at least got to see. She'd learned to create a climbing harness from 550 cord, learned to cross a river with a boat, learned to do obstacle maneuvering during land-navigation, how to properly cross a road in a threat zone, and even how to create and use a zipline for rapid descent.
To be perfectly honest, even with the muscle fatigue and slight injuries she was having the time of her life during this training.
"Looks like a clearing up ahead, Lieutenant," PFC Gordon called out. He was one of the simulated injured, not able to really contribute to the efforts by the parameters of the exercise, but Lewis had noticed that he was carrying live ammunition. Lewis had heard it mentioned that he'd been in the unit for over a year and had gotten busted from Sergeant to E-2 last fall.
"Slow down, spread out, get ready," the Lieutenant said. "Based on our data, we can expect to get ambushed, artillery fire, or run into an enemy encampment. I want five meter intervals. Lewis, you're with me. Crack a box."
"Yes, sir," Lewis said, dropping back. She'd learned to make a harness of sort out of 550 cord to carry a readied box of 7.62mm ammunition. She reached back, popping the lid, and pulled out about a dozen rounds from the box. It seemed odd, but it really did make it easier to have a box hanging from her ruck than carry it in her hand.
The sound of everyone taking their weapons off of safe, the LT racking the charging handle of the M-60, was loud in the quiet woods as they moved forward, the brush and trees thinning.
The woodline suddenly ended, revealing the cut grass of a football field.
"You have to be kidding me," Pv2 Marks laughed, staring at the scene in front of them.
There were three BBQ pits going, kegs of beer stacked up, kids shrieking as they ran around playing, and people playing frisbee and football. Some people saw the six person group leave the treeline and waved. Lewis could see where the weapons were stacked up, along with stacks of rucksacks, radios, and the other equipment that people during the training had been carrying.
Lewis could see Colonel Henry standing at one of the BBQ's, talking to Sergeant Stillwater. They were both laughing.
"This was... unexpected," The LT said. He sounded less exhausted than he had a few moments prior.
"God, it smells delicious," Gordon said. Like the others, he was moving faster, heading for the grouped people.
Lewis saw Sergeant Miranda Stokes walking toward them, waving, and picked up the pace a little bit to meet up with her.
"Good to see you guys made it," Stokes said, reaching out and slapping Lewis's shoulder. "You're the third group in, not bad since you left second to last."
"The LT's an expert at Land Nav," Lewis said, nodding.
Stokes laughed. "Hell, sir, if you know how to use a map and a compass I'm going to have to petition the CO to promote you early," she said.
YOU ARE READING
Third Person - Complete
Historical FictionPFC James Roberts just wanted to serve his country, like his father and grandfather. He left his middle class life to join the military with the hope of making his family proud. Graduating top of his class in Basic Training, attending Advanced Indiv...
