Always Army Strong

Chapter 8

They headed into the building and were shocked at just how packed it was. It all appeared to be neat, organized, and efficient. Nicole was smart enough to look for signs detailing where they were to go. She assumed that the sign reading "Start Here", was a good place to start, so she headed toward that sign. Then it made sense, she was just going to follow the "assembly line".

Reagan and Hannah followed Nicole's lead, as did the rest of the men that were in the van. The first thing they came up to was some basic paperwork. As though they hadn't already done enough paperwork. Upon completion they headed for hair cuts. Nicole didn't care what they did to her hair, she wasn't much of a hair person anyway. She had just planned on keeping her hair in a braid.

"Ok, how do you want your hair?" the woman asked her.

"Anything is fine as long as it is in regulation," Nicole allowed

The woman took off about an inch of Nicole's medium length blond hair. Nicole could now wear her hair in a braid. Reagan's hair was already in regulation, so she did not need a hair cut. Hannah, but, was much more relecutant and demanding when it came to her hair cut. Her hair had to be a specific length and cut a specific way. The grimace that came on her face when the woman cut the first bit off was comical.

At the completion of the haircuts, they headed to get their uniforms and bags. The realization that this was all true hit Nicole when she saw the uniform. Her dream was finally coming true. She never thought that she would actually do it, but she did.

She grabbed her stuff and moved on to the next section. They took her bag and made sure that everything she was bringing in fit the rules. They went through her bag in a breeze, but when they got to Hannah's the men looked at each other and groaned. One of them went to grab a trash can. As they went through her bag, they were throwing so many things into the trash. Hannah was just in awe.

After what seemed like a millennium, the men finally finished checking Hannah's bag. The whole team could finally move on. A rule was that the people in Nicole's van must stick together. Without Hannah's placement in the ground, there would be no issue.

Following the bag checks, everyone filed into one big room. An important appearing speaker went up to talk.

"Welcome to the United States Army! My name is Admiral Beurgett and I will be overseeing your training and selection. It takes the most dedicated, hard-working, and driven men and women to devote their lives to protecting our country. However, the United States Army is the most high end, elite army in the world. Therefore, not all of you will be able to serve this country in the way that you prefer. We only accept those who will never accept mediocrity as being good enough. Those who always to strive to be better than their best. Those who will give relentless effort. Those who are able to preserve through the worst of times. Those, are the people we are looking for. If you do not believe yourself to be one of those people, then the doors are right over there. Get out now and don't waste any more of my time." Admiral Beurgett commanded.

The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. No one dared leave and face the judgment of the hundreds of people in the building. Nicole figured that if anyone was going to quit because of that speech it wouldn't be now.

"Admiral Beurgett is here every year giving the same old speech. Don't sweat it. The army is definitely elite, but I have no doubt that you'll be just fine," Reagan whispered.

"Oh, me? Worried? Never!" Nicole responded with words drenched in sarcasm. "Any idea what we do next?" she asked with nerves.

"We get our room and platoon assignments. This part will either make or break your training experience," Reagan responded with certainty.