The cadets went to their rooms, sorted through their bags and arranged their uniforms according to regulation. They both set aside one combat uniform and the pair of boots they were issued and finished organizing everything else according to regulation.
When they were done they quickly put the uniforms on and laced up their boots. The uniforms were a dark grey camouflage with spots of blue and a lighter gray. Arthur guessed it was camo for a more urban type of environment since he couldn't recall every seeing blue foliage anywhere.
Arthur and Strong walked out of the doors and jogged to the chow hall to get their breakfast in order to give them time to digest it before Payne could give them any more physical pain for the day.
They arrived at the chow hall and got their typical nutrient gruel, sat down and ate as fast as they could. Arthur didn't think he could ever get used to the bland food but it's better than getting nothing he supposed.
Once the cadets were finished they headed outside to wait the 30 minutes until they were supposed to be in formation. They sat down on a retaining wall outside the chow hall and began to talk with a few other bright people in their class that had the same idea as them. The classes were all co-ed but they hadn't had a chance to converse with anyone since their stay in hell had started.
"Name's Wright" said Arthur to a female cadet they were sitting by. "Mackenzie" replied the cadet. "I would say it's a pleasure, but nothing about this situation is pleasurable" laughed Mackenzie as she held out her hand to shake Arthurs.
"This is cadet Strong" said Arthur as he motioned to his left. "I never would have guessed" said Mackenzie as she looked Strong up and down. "This is Asura" as she motioned to her left. The cadets all shook hands and started talking about what they hoped to achieve at the academy.
"Strong and I are going to be mecha pilots" said Arthur with a hint of pride in his voice. "Ahh so you're our competition" said Mackenzie as her and Asura looked over the two in front of them more closely. "We won't be competition if we never manage to carry Private Brick through our first year so we should probably focus on that before we become rivals" laughed Mackenzie gesturing towards her own Private Brick.
Both Mackenzie and Asura had improvised a type of sling they could put across their body. It worked but it wasn't very friendly if they had to do any running or any sort of physical activity. Strong showed them how to make Brick into a backpack of sorts and then him and Arthur helped the two cadets adjust the tension and fit to ensure the most comfortable carry they could.
"Thanks for that" said Mackenzie, now with a Brick backpack. They sat for twenty more minutes and talked about life growing up and what they thought about the training until time was up and they proceeded to walk to formation.
Arthur looked around and noticed quite a few cadets still carrying "Private Brick" and felt sorry for their arms. Payne walked out and called them all to attention evaluating all the resourceful ways the cadets had figured out how to carry Private Brick around.
"Looks like half of you have a brain in there. That bodes well for your future, but it's going to take more than brains to get through this training. Today we are going to be in the class room covering all the basics you will need to memorize in order to survive here. Regulations on your rooms to avoid a shakedown like yesterday, ceremony and drill, how to wear the uniform, the ranking structure, and how to properly address those said ranks. All important training if you want to make it through the first year."
"We will spend the first week of training drilling these basics into you before we move on to combat training, tactics and movement. We will be teaching you basic infantry tactics because unfortunately, the majority of you will find yourself in the infantry officer ranks by the end of your schooling. If you fail to make it through officer training, you will join the regular ranks of enlisted and pray that you will find a position like myself if you survive your deployment. We don't see many dangers these days, but there's enough rebellions and skirmishes that claim too many lives even at this time of peace in the empire" said Payne.
Once you are dismissed you are to report to auditorium 2 in the south wing for class at 0900. Does everyone understand"? Yelled Payne
"Sir, yes sir!" yelled the cadets.
"Dismissed!" said Payne as he turned around and walked towards the south wing of the academy.
Arthur fell out and took his place next to Strong and the two female cadets they met earlier. They walked together towards the classroom and once there, took their seats towards the front to better see what was being displayed. On each desk was a tablet that had access to all the training materials and allowed notes to be taken during class. The tablet also had some other functions, apparently there was a forum for students to access on their off time, but short of that there wasn't anything that caught Arthurs eye at first glance. Arthur logged into his tablet with a retinal scan and started browsing the content of todays lecture.
Basic hygiene, military codes and regulations on grooming and boarding, drill and ceremony, and last but not least, military ranking structure. There were other topics but Arthur assumed they would be going over them at a later point throughout the week.
Class started and was uneventful until the instructor caught a couple people trying to sleep so they had to stand to the side and hold Private Rock up to get a better view.
The week continued like this. Every morning Arthur and Strong would meat Mackenzie and Asura, do their PT, go to breakfast and do class all day. They discussed the days' topics between meals and classes and talked about their excitement to actually learn tactics since drill and ceremony wasn't, in their opinion, super important in a warzone.
Arthur gained two more stat points in strength and agility and 5000 experience points for the 5 days leading up to the tactics training. He was hoping he would get experience from the actual tactics and movement training since it was conducive to his job as a future mecha pilot.