Everybody lined up in straight vertical lines at the center of the room.
Some of the men had only 1 leg of boots on, while others didn't even have their shirts on, just their pants.
Over the past 2 weeks, the new recruits had learned that if anyone was even a second late to line up, the entire group would face punishment.
For example if someone from the left corner of the room lined up late, all those who slept in that corner would have to do pushups and frog jumps as punishment.
Landon did this to encourage team work.
If you get up and see the person next to you sleeping, wake their ass up!
No one could win a fight or a battle alone. Afterall, the slogan of the fort is 'All for one, one for all'.
"What did I tell you all about looking forward?... keep your heads straight!!"
Karsten's heart started beating faster.... he knew that he had f**ked up today.
Warrant officer Justin came so close to him, that if someone accidentally pushed him forward, they would definitely kiss each other.
But he couldn't be fooled.. he had been here long enough to know that when the Warrant officers got close to anyone like this, it was nothing good to write about.
'Sh**!!!', he thought.
"Private!! Where's your shirt?... Do you think that you look sexy?.... Do you want us to admire you? Is that it?!!"
"No sir!!"
"Then why is your shirt not on your body?"
Kersten felt like crying... why did he lock his locker last night?.... He usually kept it open, so as not to slow down his pace in the mornings.
Luckily, Warrant officer Justin quickly left him and picked on the guy who had only his left boot on.
2 minutes of Warrant officer Justin's yells passed, and it was now 6:10 A.M.
"Everone, it's time to head on out. By 6:20, you should all be in the fields.
Those who aren't fully dressed, should get dressed, and meet us on the field.
From there, You will receive your punishments!
Now, everybody else... Move Out!!."
Kersten's heart sank even further.... Damn his forgetfulness.
He had been doing good since he got here... And now, this one slip-up caused him punishment. ..he truly felt like crying, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do about it.
It was indeed his slip-up, and he had to take full responsibility for his actions.
As everyone else left, Kersten wore his shirt and dashed out like lightning towards the field..... He quickly arrived a few seconds before go time, and stood in line.
'Safe', he thought.
All the recruits trained together, hence all the Warrant officers in charge of them were on the field too.
"Everybody drop down and give me 20."
Kersten immediately dropped down and started doing his pushup's...
As he continued on, another warrant officer came over and inspected his form.
"Arms apart Private, you will not get results by doing it that way"
He immediately adjusted his stance and persisted on.
.
"Listen up!!... it's time to begin the 'Jog'...You will all follow the person in front of you!!.... you will all keep up and not slack off.....Now everyone, begin the 'Jog'!!"
Kersten followed the recruit in front of him, and jogged around the field 6 times.
As they jogged, they also sang number songs, that surprisingly keep them motivated.. plus it was kinda like they were doing math at the same time.
Although they didn't know intense math, they had all dealt with money before so it wasn't that hard to count... 3 silver coins plus 10 silver coins.. gave 13 silver coins.. duhhh.
"1,2,3"
"10"
"1,2,3"
"11"
"1,2,3"
"12"
That kept them moving forward, and they finally ended up jogging back to their original positions.
From there they did pull ups, sit-ups, leg lounges, high kicks, squats, frog walks and finally frog jumps.
By 7:30 A.M, they were done.
Off course those who previously didn't completely dress up, or came late to the general assembly on the fields or in their dormitories, stayed back to receive their punishments.
Kersten ran another 2 runs rounds around the field, and did 10 more push-ups.
"No slacking off Private!.. Keep up!!"
He was worn out as hell.
The pain he felt through out his body was really exhausting... He swore to never do the same mistake he did again.... Never!!
By 7:50 A.M, he was done and quickly dashed away to get his bath.
Bath time was from 7:40 - 8:20 A.M, so he was already 10 minutes late.
He quickly freshened up and still came 5 minutes late for breakfast.
Breakfast was also from 8:30-9:10 A.M, while classes started at 9:30 A.M.
He first attended his military lectures on strategies, cannon operations and safety measures, as well as a device called a 'gun'.
And after his 12:30 Lunch, he made his way at 1:20 P.M to the Baymard public school.
Today he just had Math 1 and Pyno 1 in his schedule, while tomorrow he had only math 2.
At 3:50, he was back to the military fort, and had 1 hour and 10 minutes to rest before going for his gun firing session.
In May, Landon had asked Tim to create the semi-automatic pistols for the military... And in June, only the Warrant officers, the Captains, Major generals and of course Lucius practiced with them.
Now that the older soldiers understood how to use them, this July, Landon had the officers train and teach these new recruits how to fire the weapons.
Of course Landon labeled the guns as well. This first gun was called a Baymard M.A 1.
In Kersten's schedule, he had gun firing practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. As well as his obstacle courses.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he also had classes, sword fighting sessions and close combat sessions.
On Saturdays, he only had rock climbing lessons in the lower region... while on Sundays, he had nothing at all, and was basically free as a bird.
Of course everyday, he would have morning training routines with the warrant officers, just as he did today.
He rested, chatted with his friends and when it was 5 PM, he got to the field and held his gun, like he had been doing for the past few days.
So far, no one was allowed to keep the guns. After training, all the guns were counted, collected, and stored back in the fort.
"Aim for the eyes... Go!!!"
Kersten looked at the large pieces of paper 50 feet away and fired his shots.
The paper had an outline of a man drawn on it.... There were also several marked lines within the image.
Their task was to aim for the inner outline on the man drawn on the paper.
'Paow! Paow! Paow!'
When all the recruits had finished shooting, they unarmed themselves by placing the guns on the ground.
Only then, did the warrant officers on duty reach forward towards their shot papers.
Kersten looked at his large sheet of paper and was disappointed in him self.
Although he got the man's nipples, he was still far away from the mans head.
They did several other shots and by 6:20 P.M, they were done.
"Wahh!!.. Your so lucky.....at least you got the nipples.. I got the man's belly."
"Damm!! I got his right arm... would that really do any damage?"
"Sigh..... I got his junk... I think the man must be in serious pain."
"Hahahhahaha"
They all laughed out as they made their way to their 6:30 class.
Next up obstacle courses.
Kersten and his friends ran and jumped on thin logs of wood, that were surrounded by mud.
The logs were inclined upwards and attached to an even larger logs of wood.
Kersten jumped on the log and nearly slipped.
'Crap!'
He steadied himself and continued forward on the inclined logs and finally arrived on several larger logs of wood suspended 2 meters in the air by iron bars.
As he was about to move, the person in front of him slipped and fell into the mud.
'Plop!!'
A warrant officer quickly told the recruit who fell to go back at the end of the line and start all over again.
Kersten focused, passed through several log bridges and arrived back at ground level.
He quickly crawled through several large pipes and made his way to another set of inclined logs suspended 3 meters high, which led to a tall wooden post.
Once at the top, he quickly used the ropes on the sides to slide down.
Once on ground level, he quickly ran towards another 3 meter tall iron bar wall, which looked like the doors of a giant medieval prison cell.
He put his legs and hands in the holes on the wall and climbed over the wall making his way over the fall wall.
As he progressed, he became more fatigued and stressed...he crawled in sand, under several wooden logs... jumped through tires and almost fell into mud several times.
He was now at the final stage of the obstacle course.
He crawled on ropes trying to get from one wooden post to another.
And when he reached the end, he let go of the rope, and lost his footing.
'Plop!!'
"Get to the back of the line and start over again"
Kersten wanted to cry.
"Why did I suddenly loose my footing?.. I'm now covered in mud!!.. my hands and shoes are all slippery... There's no way that I wouldn't fall back again.'
He really cursed his luck.
By 7:20 P.M, the session was over and he quickly headed with his friends to take his bath.
"Hehehe.. I saw your fall man.. truly tragic"
"Don't mock me alright?"
By 8:30 everyone had dinner.. and by 9:30 P.M, he went around the fort with his friends while talking about their day.
And by 11 P.M, it was lights out... Time to sleep.
He was really exhausted.... But at the same time happy.... he only hoped that tomorrow would be just as exciting as today was.
This was his experience.