Soldiers in Heat: Training Session (3 page)

“
Candidate, stop splashing and get
moving!” The First Platoon cadre, Staff Sergeant Isome stood on the
side of the pool.

Her head went underwater. Staff Sergeant Isome
and the cadre from Forth Platoon grabbed her out the
pool.

“
You’re done. Off to the side and
out the way,” Staff Sergeant Isome said.

The female was in the group with the no
swimmers. One by one, they were pushed in and pulled out the pool.
It surprised him when Woodson didn’t join the group. She was the
only black female out of the five in the company who stayed
behind.

“
Next!” Staff Sergeant Isome
said.

The male in front of Jonathan went. He made it
across the pool but failed to retrieve his weapon when pushed off
the high dive.

Jonathan was next. He wasn’t prepared for the
shove he got from behind which knocked him into the water. The
water he swallowed tasted awful.

Don’t you dare quit
. Spitting it out,
he recovered and worked his way across the pool.

The dummy M16 felt like dead weight in his
arms. His boots were heavy with water and hindered him. He had no
choice but to dog paddle the last five feet. His body burned from
muscle fatigue, but he made it across.

Splash! The next candidate was in the pool,
working their way across. Jonathan made his way out and walked over
to the high dive. He saw Woodson swimming across the pool. She held
the weapon out front with both hands and paddled with her feet,
making it look easy.

“
Any day now, candidate,” Captain
Brown said.

Jonathan took his gaze from Woodson and began
climbing the ladder. When he reached the top, another instructor
was waiting.

“
Hold your weapon above your head.
You don’t want to be the one who loses a tooth from getting hit in
the mouth.”

He pulled Jonathan’s wool cap over his head
and ushered him down the platform.

“
Oh, shit!” he screamed as he fell
off the edge. There was no warning. He thought the instructor would
let him know when he got close. Jonathan hit the water hard and
sank. Estimating the impact of the pool bottom, he used it to push
off and swam back to the top. He removed the wool cap and swam to
the edge.

“
Nice job, but you forgot
something,” Captain Brown pointed in the pool.

His weapon. He turned around and went to
retrieve it. He’d failed. He, along with anyone else, would receive
a negative mark. Because of the no swimmers, it would be over a
third of the class.

“
Go dry off,” Captain Brown
said.

“
Yes, sir.” Jonathan handed him
the weapon and web belt for the next person.

As he walked away, he noticed Woodson going
into the building as well. He sped up to catch up to
her.

“
What happened?” he asked. “You
were doing great.”

“
So great I got to the end and
dropped my weapon while trying to pull myself out,” she said with a
smile.

“
What are you happy
for?”

“
I didn’t want to do the high
dive. That’s some Fear Factor type stuff. I place that in the same
category as to why I won’t go to Airborne School.” She pointed to
his Airborne Patch on his uniform. “I like my feet on the ground.
What happened to you?”

“
My weapon didn’t make it back
with me.”

“
See, that’s why I didn’t even
waste my time with it.” Her smile grew bigger.

“
Woodson? You dropped your weapon
on purpose?” He looked into her brown eyes.

“
Damn right. The athlete in me
pushed me across the water, but my common sense kicked in before I
got out the pool. All we are required to do was put in an effort. I
swam. That was my effort.”

She left him standing there and headed into
the female locker room. He shook his head at her and went into the
males. He had to admit she was right. She did put in effort.
Woodson had a fighter spirit, and he liked it. She didn’t just give
up when pushed in the pool. She completed the task but knew her
limitations and came out with the same result as he did. The
negative mark for Water Survival didn’t mean much unless he was
trying to go for Distinguished Honor Graduate. It wasn’t a big deal
to him. The newbies could fight it out for the top. All that
matters was passing the class.

Chapter Five

“
I can’t talk right
now.”

“
You can’t or you won’t,”
Kimberly’s husband, Charles said.

She knew she shouldn’t have answered the call,
having minutes before she needed to be in formation, but the
insistent vibrating was driving her insane.

“
Can’t. We’re not allowed to talk
during the day.”

“
You better call me tonight.” He
hung up on her.

Kimberly put the phone on silent and put it
away. Now she had a headache to go along with her sore body.
Between the Bolton Obstacle Course, Water Survival, combatives, and
marching or running everywhere, her body was taking a pounding. She
and her roommates’ resembled women in an abuse shelter, only they
all asked for the abuse by daring to be officers for the
Army.

“
You okay?” her roommate, Craig,
asked.

“
I’m good.”

“
I’m not stupid. Every time you
talk to him, you have a pissed off look on your face when you hang
up. Tell him to go to hell.”

“
Then he’d be here with
us.”

They burst out laughing.

“
Come on before we’re late,”
Stevens, her other roommate, said.

Kimberly flicked the light switch, and they
took off down the hall, the three flights of stairs, around the
building, and on to their platoon. Seeing Carlson caused her to
forget about her soon to be ex-husband. Her mind flashed back to
the morning combatives:

“
All right, candidates, when your
opponent has you penned down, you need to flip them off. You prop
your leg up, and thrust their body with your hips. At the same
time, you do a reverse arm bar,” Captain Brown said.

He and Sergeant First Class Lopez demonstrated
the move. They looked like trained WWE wrestlers.

“
Now, don’t be getting all fancy
trying to do other stuff. Practice the moves we showed you,”
Sergeant First Class Lopez instructed. “Break off in
pairs.”

Kimberly looked around for the other females
in her platoon. They had already paired up. With an odd number, she
had to go with a male.

“
I guess that leaves you and me,”
Carlson said, tapping her on the shoulder.

“
I’ll take it easy on
you.”

Kimberly started out on top. She tried to bear
down all her weight, but with her one hundred and twenty pounds to
his one ninety-five, he flipped her over with ease. They switched,
and she lay on the ground. It wasn’t easy, but she was able to get
her hips up and began rolling him to the side. He looked into her
eyes and resisted.

Carlson smiled at her as she struggled against
him. It wasn’t mocking, but she could tell he was enjoying himself.
She fell back flat.

“
It’s not that easy,” he
said.

“
Nothing in life worth having ever
is.” Raising her hips, she worked her body against his trying the
maneuver again.

Hardness pressed against her stomach.
Carlson’s eyes grew big. She took advantage and flipped him. They
faced each other and said nothing. Her breathing increased.
Kimberly was shocked and intrigued at the same time.
Why is this
white man getting turned on by me?

As she walked up to the formation, she was
confused on if she should bring it up or not.

“
Carlson, use your drill sergeant
skills and call cadence,” the Student Platoon Sergeant
said.

Carlson stepped out the formation and stood in
front of the platoon.

Her problem was solved. She sighed a bit of
relief. It was best to leave it alone.

“
I’m a steam roller, baby!”
Carlson called.

“
I’m a steam roller, baby!” she
sounded off with the rest of her platoon.

“
And I’m rolling down the line,”
he continued on.

Kimberly loved marching cadence, especially
when the person calling them had a great voice and soul. Carlson
had both. She focused on his voice and not her aching
body.

When they reached the building and he stopped
calling cadence, she was a little disappointed. She’d rather listen
to him motivate their platoon for another hour than sit in history
class.

He turned the platoon over and stepped back
into his spot in the formation. As they filed into the classroom,
she noticed the spark in his eyes.

“
Back in your element, I see,” she
said.

“
Nothing better than leading
troops.”

“
You won’t get to do that too
often once we graduate. I hardly ever see an officer call
cadence.”

“
OCS wasn’t my first choice, but
I’m here now. I’ll be the exception.” He followed behind the other
candidates and filled in the row.

Although curious as to why OCS wasn’t his
first choice, she left it alone. She had her own reasons in being
there and didn’t want to get into it with him. They took their
seats in the auditorium-sized class room. It reminded Kimberly of
her Criminal Justice classes in college.

For the rest of the afternoon, her ears were
subjected to more of history of the Army and wars than she ever
wanted to know. Knowing history was one of the most failed portions
of OCS, she paid attention and took notes.

On the breaks, she mingled with the other
candidates in the hallway. Everyone seemed more relaxed at the
school house than around the company area. The OCS Cadre was no
longer around. They got them to and from the schoolhouse. Once
there, the candidates were under the charge of the instructors, and
unlike the cadre, they were laid back.

“
You’ve been in the military for
ten years?” Craig asked.

“
Yes,” Kimberly
answered.

“
Well, I can see why you decided
to switch over. You still have a lot of years left. I want to know
why some of the others are here, like Henderson in first platoon.
He was a Master Sergeant. I heard he only had two years before he
reaches his twenty.” Craig lowered her voice as she
spoke.

“
After you’ve been in a while,
you’ll understand more. Some people want a change. Henderson may
have been a Master Sergeant and close to retirement, but I bet he
still has another ten years in him. As an officer, he’ll more than
likely get more time.” Seeing the signal to return to class,
Kimberly started heading back in the classroom.

“
Just so you know, I think you
have and admirer,” Craig said, taking her seat. She shifted her
gaze to the right.

Kimberly caught Carlson looking in her
direction. Her cheeks warmed. She hoped no one could see their
rosiness as she took her own seat.

The rest of the class, her focus was off.
Jonathan wasn’t just looking at her; there was something more
behind his eyes—yearning and she was drawn to them. She had to
fight blushing every time she caught him. He looked at her the way
Charles used to when they first met. It caused her heart to
flutter.

He needs to take notes instead of
watching me.

During their final break, before being
dismissed to head to chow, she stopped and asked, “Can I help you
with something?”

“
I’m not sure what you mean.” He
smiled.

His smile made her smile. It was infectious
and inviting. She tried to resist smiling back and put on a serious
face.

“
Why do you keep looking at
me?”

“
How would you know unless you’re
looking back?”

He had a point. She left him standing in the
hall and went out to the formation area. When everyone was outside,
the Student Platoon Sergeant had Carlson call cadence again. A
smile crept on her face. This time she allowed it to stay there as
she repeated his words.

________

“
So, how’s the class going?”
Charles asked.

“
Since when do you care? You never
wanted me here.” She turned her back away from the other candidates
lounging in the day room. Her plan had been to go outside and call
him, but the rain prevented her.

“
I do care about you. I want you
home.”

“
Home? That’s no longer my home,
remember. You wouldn’t leave so I did.”

“
A hotel isn’t your
home.”

She glanced back at the other candidates to
make sure they weren’t paying attention. “Neither is the place you
decided to bring another woman to. Did you honestly think I
wouldn’t find out? Her weave was on my pillow case.”

Kimberly fought back the memories of her
crying all night over his infidelity. This was not the place for
her to feel sorry for herself. Her basic training instructor’s
words came to her, “If the Army wanted you to cry, they’d issue you
tears.”