I signed up to be in the National Guard in August 1994. A couple of months later, I was discharged for medical/mental reasons, but I did make it as far as basic training. It was brutal. Back in the 90s Drill Sergeants and the like weren't permitted to physically touch the soldiers they were training. I was glad for that because I'd seen so many movies where they could and I was terrified. But it didn't mean, they couldn't do other things. They could still get in your face. Yes, you can smell their bad breath and feel their spit when they yelled. And you cannot flinch, smile, or laugh about it. You have to stand there with no emotion what-so-ever. Let me tell you, that is hard!
While I was in basic, one of the Drill Sergeants tried to get one of the soldiers out of bed. I wasn't in the barracks when it happened, but I did hear it from those who were. The man pulled the mattress out from under her, flipping it over and knocking her out of the bed. This girl did a lot of things to get "kicked" out of the army, but they wouldn't do it. Her father was a Sergeant or something in that range. I can't remember the actual rank he was at, but it was up there. She was dating someone who was military and he didn't want her seeing the guy. Since men and women are not permitted to fraternize, he convinced her to join the military. Not sure how that worked, she didn't go into detail as she explained her situation to us (before the bed incident). She was advanced before I was sent home, though she tried to reveal she couldn't do the required push-ups to advance. We knew she could because we'd seen her do one-handed push-ups. I often wondered what happened to her afterward.
The experience I had within these short weeks will stay with me forever though some of the memories have faded a little over the years. It was rough and I quickly learned that I didn't have the mentality that was needed to endure the full training. They break you down and build you back up. I couldn't handle the break-down part of it. I was already broken down due to the mental abuse I had been through. And that was one of the reasons why I joined in the first place. Had I known the man I would marry later would do for me what I needed, I don't know if I would've joined. Thankfully, I didn't know and now have those memories. Plus, for a short while in my life, I had respect from the men in my family. At this point in my life, I was the first woman in my family who attempted being in the military.
This is one reason why I chose to use military in some of my books. Nanobytes included.
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