This was the first training evolution in his new recruit billet, and he was bound and determined to keep it all the way through graduation. He didn’t need Hodges to get him fired before he’d even had a chance to show the DIs what he was capable of. They were outside the camp walls, in TA103, “Training Area 103,” a good-sized expanse of open ground. It wasn’t as clear as a parade deck, but it was as close to being clear as any other training area. There were a few gentles rises and one gully, but a DI could pretty much view the entire area. Ryck couldn’t afford to focus on any of the other squads in sight, though. He had to watch his four fire teams as they walked through the various formations they’d just learned. As he’d wondered before, he wasn’t sure why they were walking around, their M99s in hand, but nothing else. No comms, no armor, nothing. Ryck knew they’d never be without their comms, and trying to control four fire teams by shouting was not the most efficient way of getting the job done. Why not just give them a club and animal skins, and let them grunt out their commands?
