Alexander woke with a start just as the ball of flame had hit him in his dream. Blinking a few times he saw that it was starting to get lighter outside the tent. Panicking he quickly got up from the ground, looking around. What he sees around him makes him start to pale. At the end of the tent the sergeant and two of the corporals stand looking at him, and with a bit of relief, two other recruits.
"So, I see the three of you didn't want to listen to what I said yesterday?" Sergeant Porrex said to the three recruits after having gotten them out of the tent. Shaking his head he continued "everyone else is already gathered for the welcome speech. But you three"-he shakes his head again-"I will be having you three joining me on the stage with whoever else other sergeants got unlucky having under them."
Sergeant Porrex led the three recruits past the assembled groups of recruits standing before a stage at the far end of the camp. On the stage Alexander was glad to see that he and the two others from his tent weren't the only over sleepers. There was already four groups, the smallest at two strong, and the larges with ten people. In each of the four groups there was one uniformed person, whom Alexander assumed would be their respective sergeants. After their group joined the other for on the stage the lieutenant that had done the enlistment yesterday walked up on the stage. Lieutenant Edward looked first at the five groups on the stage, shaking his head and sighing, before turning towards the rest of the assembled recruits.
"It is my pleasure to welcome you all to the kingdoms army. At least it would have been had everyone of you been in front of me, and not behind. So, before I can continue with my welcome and tell you everything you will need to know about the coming week, I will have to deal with the dimwits." Lieutenant Edward said before turning back towards the groups behind him. He then pointed at the sergeant to the far left first, the sergeant stepped forward and saluted. "Sergeant Cedric report! What has your dimwit done?" Lieutenant Edward asked him after returning the salute. "Sir! This dimwit decided that he didn't want to stay after enlisting yesterday!" Sergeant Cedric reported.
Lieutenant Edward turned towards the recruit from Sergeant Cedric's group and said "you want to leave? Well, the moment you enlisted you became the kingdoms property for at least the next eight weeks. And I can't have anyone deciding to leave just like that now can I? But lucky for you, you will get to leave today, however it might not be like you think. Sergeant make sure he gets to carry the heaviest items you will be bringing when you leave." Sergeant Cedric saluted, turned towards his recruit and indicated for him to follow him down and towards the rest of the recruits from his tent.
The lieutenant continued with each of the groups, having the sergeant step forward to report on what infractions the recruits present had done. Some of the recruits had tried to leave like the first, all getting similar punishment as the first recruit, though in the groups where more than one tried to leave they were assigned other unpleasant duties. As for the recruits whom had over slept the lieutenant decided for two punishments, given that about three fourths of the recruits that were on the stage had over slept. What he decided for them was first; that they were to take the entire nights watch this evening; and secondly they would get the pleasure of extra training by doing twenty push-ups on the stage before returning to the rest of the recruits.
After all the punishment had been assigned the lieutenant finally turned back towards the gathering. "So, hopefully the rest of you will take this as a lesson why you should listen to the words of a superior." Lieutenant Edward said with a stern face, before loosening up a bit and continuing "and finally I can give you a proper welcome. Welcome to the Kingdom of Verenden's Army. After I am done speaking we will be making ready to move from here to the garrison at Elghus where you will be going through training for at least four weeks. If we are lucky and the war hasn't started by that time, the training will be extended either until the war starts or we complete the normal eight weeks of training. During our trip from Tiramdal to Elghus you will be learning to march, how to set camp and you will learn how to carry your weapons. When we arrive at Elghus I will go through what we will be doing during the four week period. Now, sergeants please have the recruits collect their gear from the supply tents and make sure that they are all ready outside the camp by the glass. Dismissed!"
The sergeants got all the recruits to follow them, each platoon going to a different supply tent. Inside the supply tent for 3rd platoon a man in uniform was waiting on them. "Sergeant Porrex, the gear for your platoon is along that side there, each recruit gets one uniform, including boots and hat. Along with the uniform there is one backpack each with all the necessities for the next four days, which should be when you arrive at Elghus. Also make sure that you have the recruits grab a barrel with water. Finally each of the recruits gets one rifle and a short sword." The uniformed man said to the group. "Yeah yeah, I know the drill, I was a recruit myself you know Karl." Sergeant Porrex answered him before indicating that the recruits should do as the man had said.
Having gotten their gear, 3rd platoon changed into uniforms, made their way out of the camp and gathered as the third group from the front. Once they had were behind, what Alexander would assume was 2nd platoon, Sergeant Porrex shouted at them "okay men, listen up. We will be forming into lines of two, further we will be forming up as squads, so you will be five men to a corporal." Sergeant Porrex then proceeded to split them up into groups of five, before assigning a corporal to each squad. The corporal assigned to Alexander's squad was named William. They then went on to form lines two wide, Alexander getting the pleasure of standing besides Corporal William.
Just as all the platoons had formed into lines two wide, Lieutenant Edward walked out of the camp. He stopped briefly and looked at the recuits, nodding slightly, before heading to the front of the company. A few seconds later all the recruits could hear the lieutenant shouting "get ready to march!" In response to hearing this Sergeant Porrex looked at his platoon and shouted "okay, you heard the lieutenant, now shoulder your rifles and get ready to march. We will not be going to fast today, and I expect that we will be making camp in five or so hours."
After giving the platoons a few minutes to get all the recruits ready, Lieutenant Edward indicated to the sergeant of 1st platoon, his second, to start the march. They would only be going at military pace on the first day so as to ensure the least amount of stragglers. Though Lieutenant Edward hoped that they would be able to increase the speed each day, and hopefully by the last day of marching they should be able to do full pace. If he got lucky with the recruits he might even be able to push them to an even higher pace.
It probably didn't take more than half a glass before the lines started to visibly stagger. All Alexander and, probably, all the other recruits could think about was how this was hell. Trying to keep lines, whilst carrying what he estimated to be around 22 kg of gear in addition to a rifle probably weighing about 9 kg, was almost impossible. The only thing that Alexander could think about was how he looked forward to setting up camp and sleep.
By the time that they were getting close to the spot that they would set up camp Alexander was ready to drop. He was not sure at all how he had managed to stay upright and less sure how he had managed to keep walking. It hadn't helped at all that the one time he had broken line with Corporal William, the corporal had reminded him that he would have watch the entire night. The last few minutes before the company came to a stop had started to feel like a dream, not a particularly good one mind you.
When the company stopped they could hear the lieutenant shouting "we have arrived at today's camp. The area here has already been cleared and most of the defences for the camp is already set as all new companies leaving Tiramdal this week will be going this way before heading to their respective training garrisons. The sergeants will lead each platoon to their respective areas in the camp where you will set up the tents that should lay there. After the tents are ready each platoon will prepare food and eat before setting up a watch rotation for the night."