Soldiers in Heat: Training Session (2 page)

They snapped to attention.

“
Parade…rest.”

They placed their arms at a forty-five degree
angle behind their backs.

“
Today we’ll be getting our
welcome briefing from the Battalion Commander. If you get tired,
make sure you stand up. The Battalion Commander is known to be long
winded,” he said.

It had to be a sick joke of the Army to put
people in class rooms after going all out during physical training.
Jonathan laughed to himself at being on the receiving end. As a
drill instructor, he’d done it and placed bets on which private
would nod off first.

The Student Sergeant Major called all platoons
to attention, and they marched across their section of the base to
another building. With precision, they filed in and took their
positon in front of their seats.

As he stood waiting on permission to take his
seat, he noticed the same female next to him and took in her
vanilla sent. He wasn’t sure if it was her body spray or lotion,
but it smelled good. It was much better than the musty smell coming
off most of the other males’ uniforms. Uniforms were not designed
to handle a bunch of washing. Five to seven uniforms every three
months would get expensive, so he’d learned to use fabric spray
years prior.

He and the other candidates remained at the
position of attention until the Battalion Commander came
in.

“
At ease. Take a seat,” he
said.

The Battalion Commander had deep age lines
with grayish teeth, and his entire head was silver. From the looks
of him, Jonathan knew for sure he was a Vietnam Vet, maybe even the
Korean War as well. The years hadn’t been good to him. That wasn’t
to say he wasn’t in tip top shape though.

As soon as the Battalion Commander started
talking, Jonathan zoned out. From his twelve years of service, he
knew there was nothing he’d be missing. He occupied his mind by
doodling on a page in his pocket-sized notebook. He noticed the
female next to him looking. Jonathan read her name tag. Writing,
“great job, Woodson” on the paper, he slid it towards her. The
corner of her lip turned up. He knew it was the best he’d get while
they were in the company of others. She held her military
bearing.

An hour later, they were given a fifteen
minute break before the Chaplin had his moment to speak. He
followed Woodson outside for some fresh air. At 0900 hours, the
temperature at Fort Benning, Georgia was already starting to heat
up. They moved along with the others to the shade of the
building.

“
What’s your story, Woodson?” he
asked.

“
Staff Sergeant. Personnel. Ten
years.”

“
Oh, so you’re not a newbie.” He
smiled.

“
Nope. Your turn.” She leaned up
against the wall, propping her foot up for support.

“
Drill Sergeant. Sergeant First
Class. Twelve years.”

“
Drill Sergeant?” She laughed.
“How does that work? This must really suck for you.”

“
Ironic. It could be worse though.
I could be like Fortier over there.” He pointed to a tall
dark-haired male. “He’s here with someone he just trained in
bootcamp.”

“
Ouch.”

“
Yeah, so I’m okay. Another day in
the life of a soldier for me. Our times up.” He held out his hand
for her to walk ahead of him, and they headed back in the
building.

Jonathan enjoyed speaking with her. She smiled
when she spoke and didn’t seem standoffish like the rest of the
females. He’d noticed the other black candidates had grouped off
and stood away from everyone else talking and was glad she didn’t
join them. Grouping off by race was something he never
understood.

The rest of the day was more of the same. They
listened to all the battalion leadership speak. By the end, he
wanted to take toothpicks and prop his eyelids open.

Chapter Three

Kimberly’s arms shook as she climbed the
inverted tower. Her body was going into muscle fatigue. Had she not
just finished the fifty-foot tower with the descending rope,
buddy-assisted rope, and tower, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt as bad.
She wrapped her arms around the wood and pulled herself up to the
last rung.

“
Head to the red, Candidate
Woodson!” one of the instructors screamed.

Crap!
She was facing the wrong way. The
thought of having to go back down a level and up again was enough
to make her want to let go and fall to the mats below. She took a
deep breath and listened to the others in her squad cheering her
on. Giving up was not an option.

Kimberly went back down and came up the right
way. Using all her might, she lay flat at the top and flipped
herself over to the other side.

“
Good job, Candidate,” Captain
Brown said.

“
Thank you, sir.”

She bent over, placing her hands on her thighs
in an effort to catch her breath as the rest of her squad made it
over. Several of the candidates were trying and failing at the
obstacle course. If you didn’t make it after a third attempt, the
instructors stopped you and made you wait on the side. Though this
wasn’t a pass or fail portion that would get you removed from the
class, it was one that would affect your rankings in the class.
Everything they did earned points.

“
You’re kicking butt out here,”
Zimmerman, one of the other females in her platoon, said. She
failed the obstacle and was waiting on the side for her squad to
start the next one.

“
It ain’t easy. My arms feel like
they are about to fall off.”

“
Yours and everyone
else.”

Her squad finished up the obstacle, and they
jogged as a unit to the last station, this one about balance, not
strength. All she and her squad had to do was roll their way over
logs. The trick was to work together. If not, someone would fall
off and the logs would separate. When it was her turn, she,
Carlson, and another male in their squad went.

She was glad Carlson got on the logs next to
her. He’d been cheering her on the entire time and it motivated
her. He was friendly and easy to talk to—quite the opposite of how
drill sergeants are normally perceived.

His body brushed against hers as they worked
their way across. Their connection caused her heart rate to
increase. Kimberly lost focus and she almost fell off. Carlson
wrapped his arm around her, adjusting her.

She nodded, letting him know she was okay to
continue.

The logs hurt like hell against her body. They
mashed against her from one end to the other. When she reached the
finish, she was thankful Carlson reached back, pulling her over.
She had no more energy. All she wanted to do was to take the Army
cure for everything—Motrin—and lay down. No chance in that. They
still had to form up and run, in boots and gear, back to the
barracks.

She turned around and cheered on the rest of
her platoon until they made it across. It was the end to a long
morning of pain.

When they returned to the battalion area, they
ate chow and then had to sit in another class, Call for Fire.
Kimberly fought hard not to fall asleep. She felt herself leaning
forward and her mouth falling open a few times. The instructor
announcing break time was music to her ears.

“
Looks like you need this.”
Carlson handed her a five-hour energy drink as they stood outside
the classroom.

She wasn’t a fan of energy drinks but didn’t
drink coffee. “Bottoms up.”

It didn’t taste as bad as she expected, but
she didn’t feel any different. The rest of the break she spent
mingling with her squad members before returning to the class room.
She took a seat and had to resist the urge from jumping up and
running around the room. Her heart rate was up, and she felt
jittery. The drink had kicked in. She looked at Carlson and didn’t
know whether to thank him or curse him out. Her body and mind were
awake all right, but going a mile a minute. Instead of paying
attention to the instructor, she took notice of almost everyone in
the course with her.

No different from society, her class was
comprised of majority white males, sprinkled with a few females,
blacks, two Hispanics, and one Asian guy. They all had one thing in
common and that was to pass OCS, earning the honor of
Lieutenant.

Prior to that moment, she really didn’t care
about anyone else. Her focus was on her problems back home. She had
gotten legally separated from her husband five weeks before
attending the course. For a full year, he fought against her going
while he received his promotion to Sergeant First Class. She
supported him with each milestone he made, even if it meant going
away to school. His argument against OCS was it being a twelve-week
course.

“
So what,” she’d said. “You were
deployed and gone for twelve months less than two years
ago.”

“
I’m not sure I want to be married
to an officer. How would that look?” he asked, half participating
in the conversation as he looked past her at his favorite team
playing basketball.

“
It would look like a husband
supporting his wife.” She stopped talking It went on like that for
months until she went to use the computer and saw orders on the
screen for him to attend the Sergeant Major’s Course.

“
So you can attend another school
and I can’t? What’s the real problem?” She waved the printed set of
orders at him.

“
A wife’s place is to support her
husband.”

Her mouth flew open. “I support you at all
times.”

“
If you’re not here, then you’re
not providing much support then are you?” He glared at
her.

“
If you’re never home, then
there’s no one to support.” She threw her hands up in the air and
walked out the room.

The next week, he went to training, and she
was left in an empty house. While he was gone, she filled out her
OCS packet. She debated turning it in to her supervisor or not.
Feeling bad, she called her husband. The phone went straight to
voicemail, and it was full. He had a bad habit of leaving old
messages on his phone for weeks. She put in his code and went
through his inbox deleting messages so she could leave
one.

Just as she was getting ready to hit the
number seven button to delete the next message, she heard, “I had
such a great time last night. Can’t wait to see you
again.”

She hung up the phone. The night before
Charles was supposed to be studying. It was the reason he didn’t
stay on the phone long. Picking the phone back up, Kimberly called
him again. After two rings, she hung up. In her heart, she knew
he’d deny it. Instead she said nothing. She submitted her OCS
packet and filed for divorce.

“
You coming out for break?”
Carlson stood in front of her.

She glanced around and noticed the room was
nearly clear. Time slipped away while she was thinking about her
home life. “I’m good. I’d rather stay in the cool air for
now.”

He sat back in his seat. “How are you enjoying
OCS so far, Candidate Woodson?”

“
About as much as any other
candidate. Maybe more than First Platoon though.”

Carlson’s green eyes were on her as she spoke.
Kimberly had to admit he wasn’t bad looking. He had brownish-blond
hair, strong jaw line, and without his top on, she’d noticed he was
very much in shape. When they were down in the dirt doing push-ups,
she couldn’t take her eyes off his biceps.

“
They do walk around as if they
lost their best friend,” he said.

“
Wouldn’t you? They’ve yet to have
any moment of peace. Right before lights out, Staff Sergeant Isome
had them in the hallway doing flutter kicks.”

“
Do those hurt?” He pointed to the
bruises on her arm.

From holding onto the wooden planks and ropes
on the obstacle course, her biceps and forearms had turned purple
along with signs of broken blood vessels. She had no doubt her legs
were showing the same markings.

“
Not as long as I keep popping
Motrin and don’t touch them. They do look pretty bad, don’t
they?”

“
Maybe you should’ve fallen a few
times like the others and it wouldn’t be so bad.” He
laughed.

Their conversation was interrupted by the rest
of the class piling back in the room. She focused her attention
back on the class, but every so often, her gaze drifted to the left
to catch glimpses of Carlson.

Chapter Four

Jonathan flinched from the spray of freezing
water. Later in the day, the water would have been a welcomed
refreshment, but as the cool morning air hit him, it sent a chill
down his spine. The instructor turned off the hose, and Jonathan
moved into the line of the first station for Water
Survival.

When he woke up that morning, his body
screamed out with pain. He had to do stretching exercises in order
to get out his bed.

“
Ah!” a female candidate screamed
out after being pushed in the water.

Jonathan watched her struggle.