“Fucking walk!” Grabowski ordered. So instead ofa slow run they did a fast walk until the air hit them.
“Holy fucking shit! This fucking sucks!” Patrickbarked as he tried to keep the snot from hitting his mouth. Hisface was tracked with tears and other substances that were best forthem to ignore. He flapped his arms out wide like they were told todo earlier that morning.
Kenneth ran over the top of Brody, sending theother guy straight to the ground while he stumbled and tried to rubhis eyes. That was a big mistake. A split second later, Kenneth'showls filled the small clearing.
“Don't fucking rub your eyes, numb nuts!” barkedConnelly. “Stupid fucking private!” Connelly grabbed Kenneth withone hand and his canteen with another. He began to pour the coolwater over the other man's eyes.
Ryan came out and blindly walked straight aheador as straight as it seemed to him. He was thankful for his uglyBCGs at that moment, mainly because tears were streaming down hisface. Spit came foaming out of his mouth like he was a rabid dog.He just prayed that no one would shoot him.
He heard Brendon cursing and then a quickthump.
“GAWD DAMNIT! FURRY YOU FUCKING RAN INTO COMMANDSERGEANT MAJOR OAK!” King shouted, as he tried to pick Brendon upoff of the ground in front of a huge oak tree.
Brendon was stuttering and muttering. Ryanresisted the urge to rub his eyes. He was thinking it might beworth the pain just to see what the hell Brendon was bitchingabout.
“APOLOGIZE TO THE COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR RIGHTTHE FUCK NOW, FURRY!”
Brendon mumbled a quick apology to the CommandSergeant Major.
King then turned on a dime. “Furry, you fuckingmoron, that's a fucking tree!”
Brendon's vision seemed to clear because heturned and stared at the tree. “It's a tree,” he repeateddumbly.
“No shit, hero. It's a fucking tree.” With thatsaid King left Brendon alone to attend a fresh batch ofnewly-inducted recruits barreling out of the chamber.
“Gracin, flap your arms like a bird, come on.Fucking flap them!” Connelly shouted from his place beside Kenneth,who was still whimpering.
Ryan wasn't sure what the hell for but he raisedhis arms and started flapping. Instantly he felt like the world’sbiggest ass.
Afterwards they were all sitting in theshade.
“Holy hell, that fucking sucked,” Brendonmuttered.
“At least you didn't rub your eyes. That reallyfucking hurt,” Kenneth groused.
“You didn't run into Command Sergeant Major Oakeither, Kenneth.” Brendon sighed. “And how did Grabowski stay inthat place so long? When he came out he looked bored as hell.”
“They live to make us look like asses,” Ryanmuttered. He looked over at Patrick and laughed. “What'swrong?”
Patrick had a funny look on his face. “Dude, Ipuked in King's house,” he said, making everyone laugh again.
***
That night after mail call Drill SergeantConnelly stuck around and bullshitted with them. Ryan had to givethe guy credit. He was funny as hell. He was telling them storiesfrom his first tour in Iraq.
It was personal. It made every single one ofthem feel like they were not just recruits. They were finallysoldiers.
Ryan laughed when Connelly started talking shitabout ‘Scouts.’
“Fucking crunchies, they think they are cool asshit,” Connelly said, using the term 'crunchies' as a derogatoryname for the ‘Scouts.’
There was a snort from the doorway and all eyesturned to Phillip Grabowski.
“We are cool as shit.” He grinned. “So fuckingcool that when you take a tanker out of his tank and into a Humvee,they cower behind the big boys and pray we don't leave their assesbehind.”
“Oh now, see you gotta dis a man's wheels,”Connelly said sadly.
“That's it? That's all you could come up with?”Phillip asked, his grin widening to its most maddeningbrilliance.
