I pretended it didn’t hurt, not wanting to give anybody the satisfaction of seeing me in pain. Occasionally somebody in the crowd would look over at us whilst we walked and smile. They whispered amongst each other, no doubt talking about what they could do to us next. I tried to ignore them and focused my mind on what was coming up instead; my first fitness session with my new platoon. Physical Training for troopers on board a troopship was a serious business for obvious reasons. Without constant training a company could rapidly become unfit, and so their ability to fight would suffer as a consequence. The age old saying went ‘a drop of sweat in training is worth a pint of blood on the battlefield,’ and it was true. Not only did poor fitness affect our ability to run and to fight, it also increased the risk of medical complications during the high G-forces of a drop or caused problems for us breathing with the respirator. There were two types of fitness training carried out on ship.
What do You think about C.R.O.W. (The Union Series)?
