Chapter 03

Cadet Capers

During the last week before the summer holiday break the Major in command of the college ROTC unit has a meeting with Pat. When Pat is in the office the Major hands him some papers, waves at a chair, and says, “Captain Nolan, those are the forms to attend a two week training course at one of the Army training posts in July. Everyone else in the ROTC unit will be at the course and I want you to sign the papers to attend as well.”

Pat reads the papers, checks the dates against his other commitments, signs them, hands them back, and says, “OK. I’ve signed them. Now why do you want me there? It looks like I won’t get much out of it due to a lot of what they’re teaching are things I already know.” He closely watches the Major while he waits for a reply.

“All of the students at the course are placed in six person teams with one person as the team leader. The teams are paired to make units with one of the team leaders as the unit leader. With you attending as well we’ve a full set of teams and units with just our people, so we won’t need to take in extras from other college units to complete any of the teams.” Pat sits there and stares at the Major. After a moment the Major says, “OK. We’ve only got eleven women going to this course this year and they’ve already had some issues with most of the other men, yet they all get along with you. Thus, I know you won’t cause them any trouble. So I want to put all the women in one unit and have you as their unit leader. I want you to wear your unit flash on your BDUs but not have your rank insignia up. Armbands will be issued to the unit and team leaders to wear and be identified by them.”

“Now it makes more sense. This should be fun, Sir. However, I get the feeling there’s something important you’ve not yet said.” The Major shrugs then they spend a little while talking about the course and the students attending. When the discussion is over Pat leaves the office with the feeling he’s being set up in some way, but he can’t see what it is or how it’s being done. So he decides to leave it for later.

Over the first few weeks of the holidays Pat thinks about the course and how he can make it more fun for those under his command. He does think of something so he gets some t-shirts in camouflage colours with a special message on it for the members of his unit with their names on the t-shirts. He’s met them all so he knows what size t-shirts they wear.

On Post

To get the most out of their time on post everyone has to arrive late on the Friday to be ready to go first thing on Saturday morning. When they check in the students are told which team and unit they’re in, and they’re all given their bunking assignment for the duration of the course.

Soon after signing in Pat learns what the first part of the set up is. All of the barrack buildings are large and four units are assigned to each of the buildings. The bulk of the building is an open plan area of bunks with an area on the end of the building for their showers and toilet area. At the front of the building are four separate rooms with a shower and toilet attached to them for use by those in charge of the group in the barracks. Pat is the only male in the building he’s assigned to. He’s also listed as the senior person in the barracks, so he’s the Barracks Sergeant and he’s responsible for all of the people in the barracks.

Pat puts his gear away in his room then he talks to the other unit leaders while they wait for the last of the people to check in. All have to be here by 22:00 hours, that’s ten at night for the non-military types. The last two arrive at 21:45 hours. While the last ones to arrive are putting their gear away in the lockers beside their bunks Pat hands a bundle of five t-shirts to each member of his unit. Each bundle of t-shirts has a name on it so he hands them out to the named person. After he gives out the t-shirts Pat returns to his room and he’s soon back out with a clipboard and some sheets of loose writing paper on it.

Standing at the front of the barracks Pat surveys the forty-seven young women present before he says, in a loud voice, “Listen up! For my past sins I’ve been made responsible for this barracks and you lot. When I say jump I expect to see you all moving in an upward direction. Got it!” The women glance around the room at each other while they nod yes as they wonder just what they’ve got for a Barracks’ Sergeant. He continues, “I’m passing around this clipboard. I want each of you to print your family name with your initials on it and put your t-shirt size beside your name. I want this done right away. You all know what we’ll be doing here and you all know we have to keep this barracks clean. If you make a mess, clean it up. I’ll be doing daily inspections to ensure that’s done. I expect the other unit and team leaders to see their teams are where they should be when they should be. We will be the best barracks or you will not be happy. Is that clear?” They all gulp while they nod again. He smiles at them, hands the clipboard to the first woman from another unit, turns, and goes back to his room.

About half an hour later the clipboard is returned to him. He has his laptop computer open with an email almost ready to go. Pat enters the names and t-shirt sizes into the email before he sends it on its way. With luck he should have the extra t-shirts for the other ladies delivered on Tuesday or late Monday. He walks out and talks to the women from his college, saying, “Forget you have the new t-shirts for now. Just put them away and I’ll tell you when you can put them on.” They all smile while they nod their acceptance of his order. They’re used to taking orders from him, so it’s not a big deal for them.

There’s some talk about having a man in the barracks with them, but not much. All are soon asleep after the lights are turned off at 23:00 hours. They all know they’ve got some demanding days ahead of them.

Note: The following aspects of training are for a fictional ROTC unit and they aren’t meant to represent any real ROTC training at all, even if it does in some regards.

The First Two Days

Pat’s alarm goes off so he gets out of bed, he walks into the barracks, turns the lights on, and walks down the centre aisle shouting for them to wake up and then have a quick shower. Fifteen minutes later they’re all standing beside their bunks ready for their first day of training.

He’s not sure if this is how the post usually does their training, but their schedule has breakfast as the first activity to be followed by various training tasks. Pat has them all form up in front of the barracks in their teams and units in a double column. He has his team at the rear of the group so he can watch them all while they double time to the mess hall.

They all take quick looks around the area while they run toward the mess hall. They aren’t the only ones out, but they are the only new ROTC people moving in a formation. There are other formations, but they’re all regular Army units living on the post or the older ROTC trainees here for a different course.

After breakfast all of the ROTC students report to the parade ground. Pat has his group form up in two lines with each team leader on the right corner of their team and the unit leader as the front leader. Thus they’re in four blocks of two lines of six people while they wait to be addressed. The rest of the ROTC students are in groups split by their colleges. One of the other unit leaders from Pat’s college sees what Pat has done and is getting his unit into order, but they aren’t responding to his orders well.

A Master Sergeant walks out onto the parade ground and surveys the situation. He walks up to Pat, glances at his name tag, and says, “Nolan, have you studied the post map you were issued?”

“Yes, Master Sergeant Dales, I have,” is Pat’s response.

The man smiles at the reply, “Good. Take your group for a good run on course Bravo. When you get back here take them over to supply.”

Pat grins as he says, “Yes, Master Sergeant.” He waits a moment then calls out, “Attention,” a pause, “Right face,” and more orders for them to march then run while shouting an Airborne cadence Sarge taught him.

Dales watches Pat take his group off then turns to the rest and calls out, “Right, children, time to get yourselves in order. You know how as you were taught how during the last year.” While they get organised he thinks about the group he just sent on their way. In all the years he’s done ROTC training this is the first time someone’s got themselves organised before he’s told them to. The students haven’t yet learned they need to get organised as soon as they can, but they will before they leave here.

After running double time for about a mile Pat slows the group down for the next mile because he thinks it’s still a bit early in their training to do a five mile run at double time all the way. He has a grin while he makes a mental image of what’s happening to the others on the parade ground. Pat figures the others are all out on their runs when the parade ground is empty on their return. Over to supply to be issued with a few more items of kit each. A quick trip to take the new issue to the barracks then off to the gym for hand to hand combat, as per their schedule.

Both Saturday and Sunday most of the day is conditioning activities with a few seated instructional classes for a breather.

Early Sunday evening Pat is called to the front gate to take delivery of the new t-shirts. One of the store’s staff is saving money by being paid for making the delivery while on his way to visit family for a week.

Once he’s back in the barracks Pat hands out the t-shirts while saying, “Ladies, for the next two weeks I want you to wear these t-shirts when we’ve an activity where it’s suitable to do so. They have your names on them and are in your sizes. They’re for you to keep. I got them for this course to make a statement and a challenge to the other ROTC students.”

The women open the bundles handed to them, and they all smile when they see the t-shirts are the same as the ones they’ve been issued with by the Army. However, they also have their name plus two messages in black text: the front reads ‘I can do anything,’ while the back reads ‘I am woman, hear me roar.’ Yes, these will send a message to those who don’t want women in the military forces.

The Real Training

Monday morning everyone is now out and forming into groups to run to the mess hall for breakfast at the same time. The messages on the t-shirts aren’t noticed until they line up to get their food. There are a few not nice comments by some, but most think the t-shirts are a good idea.

After he finishes his meal the staff sergeant from the ROTC unit at the college Pat attends stops by the table for Pat’s barracks and says, “You really do like stirring things up, don’t you, Sir?” The use of the title has the women from the other units look up while those who know Pat just smile. “I like the messages and the sentiment, but you’ve just issued a challenge to the others and some of the instructors.”

Pat looks up as he replies, “I knew that before I ordered the t-shirts, Staff Sergeant Walker. However, I also know the levels of determination and morale in my group have also gone up. I’m sure these ladies will be the hardest working people here so they can point to the messages with pride and declare them to be the truth.” Staff Sergeant Walker looks at all the ladies at the table, smiles, and slowly nods his head when he realises just what Pat is up to. Walker turns and walks away to his next task while the ROTC students finish their meals.

Rifle Issue

From breakfast they go in different directions for various activities. Pat’s group goes to the post armoury to be issued with their rifles for the course. Sometime today all of the students will be issued with rifles.

When they arrive a corporal is setting used rifles out on the counter while saying, “Grab a rifle, show the serial number to the clerk while you say your name, then collect a cleaning kit and two magazines.”

Pat has the ladies line up and he grabs a rifle while saying, “Ladies, I want you to watch how I check the rifles.” He field strips and checks the rifle before putting it back together and handing it to the first woman, then he proceeds to do the same with the next rifle. This rifle he puts aside on the counter and checks the next one.

A staff sergeant walks up to the counter and says, “Just grab a rifle and get moving.”

Pat glances up and responds, “I’m making sure the rifles issued to my troops are in good working order, Staff Sergeant Kable.” He points to the rifle he put aside while adding, “That rifle needs a new firing pin. I know we’re being issued used weapons, but I know what to check to make sure they’re working properly before taking them. That saves time later.”