Time flies like a white horse passing a crevice and leaves in a hurry. In a blink of an eye, the new recruits have come to the last day of their training period. During this period of time, Zhou Yuan enjoyed a carefree life. Other than helping Simm as his assistant, he didn't have much else to do. Simm's idea of a joint training session had never materialized. The other instructors in the new recruits' training camp knew how capable Zhou Yuan was and so, of course, none of them held any joint training sessions. After all, no one liked to lose. Besides, the Buenos Aires disaster was also a reason for this. The Federation had already launched an attack plan against the Zerg, and all the instructors were speeding up the training of the new recruits; there was simply no time to prepare for any contests.
It is worth mentioning that, once again, Third Squad lost four more people and now only had eighteen left. The four people who left weren't eliminated, they chose to quit because they didn't want to go to war. They were so frightened when they heard the rumors of war, and on the night of the Buenos Aires disaster, they applied to withdraw. However, no one looked down on them because they had joined the mobile unit just to "get a job." After all, humans and the Zerg had met for so many years without any significant conflicts; the promised war had waited for ten years and still didn't come.
Thankfully, the Buenos Aires disaster came late. If it had come half a month earlier, it would have been good enough to have just ten people left among these new recruits who had not experienced the training of the troops.
The eighteen people who persisted until the end would receive notification of their assignments the next day and become real mobile infantry.
... ...
After the last day of the training ended, everyone returned to the dormitory together, with a trace of reluctance on their faces. They had lived together for a month in the new recruits' camp, and even the deadliest enemies had become friends in training, forming a strong comradery.
Now they were about to be separated, and they weren't feeling good about it.
There was a cold silence in the dormitory when Zhou Yuan suddenly stood up, intending to adjust the atmosphere as usual.
But today, he didn't know what to say either, because he too wasn't feeling very comfortable.
After the separation, they wouldn't know when they would see each other again, and some might never meet again in their lifetime.
"Can two of you help me?" Simm's voice came from outside the door.
"Let's go and check it out."
Zhou Yuan got up from the bed and led Ron and Kevin over.
When they got to the door, they saw Simm in a small open military truck with eight big boxes in the trunk. They weren't marked as armament boxes but as supply boxes.
"The restaurant is offering free alcohol today."
Simm smiled and said a word, then entered the dormitory to ask for help.
"Let's get to work."
Zhou Yuan asked Ron and Kevin to unload the goods, and then others helped transport them into the dormitory.
When they heard that Simm said it was okay to drink today, everyone was excited.
Drinking in the military was not a small matter, and perhaps only new recruits enjoyed such treatment. They were celebrating their graduation from new recruits' camp. They soon opened the boxes that Simm had prepared, which contained various alcoholic drinks and plenty of food to go with them, enough to last them the whole night.
"Drink as much as you can, eat as much as you can, and if it's not enough you can always go to the restaurant to refill!"
Simm exclaimed, and the new recruits cheered, then proceeded to drink and eat voraciously. Not all the new recruits could drink, but even those who didn't drink could still eat heartily. Simm had arranged better food than their rations.
"Fark..."
Seeing the new recruits happy, Simm inwardly sighed. Having been an instructor for so many years, sending off one cohort of new recruits after another, this moment each year always made him feel uncomfortable.
The rookies were going to face danger head-on, while he, an old hand, would still be staying in the safest place on the whole of Mars. That was simply a shame he couldn't bear.
He really didn't want to continue like this anymore; perhaps it was time to think about how to get to the battlefield.
"Thank you, sir."
Zhou Yuan carried a bottle of white wine and sat next to Simm, patting him on the shoulder.
Simm had brought several bottles of white wine, and Zhou Yuan was the only Chinese person in the class and it was obvious that Simm had prepared the wine specifically for him.
"You don't drink like this, kid!"
Seeing Zhou Yuan guzzling the white wine down in big gulps, Simm rolled his eyes. He certainly didn't want him to end up in the infirmary before even going to the battlefield!
"It's okay, I can drink a lot. I've been drinking since I was little."
Zhou Yuan shook his head, not overly concerned. His cell regeneration rate was very fast, compared to a normal person, his metabolism was several times faster, so it was really hard for him to get drunk. He could only drink it down to get a good buzz.
He wanted to have a good time today, rest for a day tomorrow to recuperate, and then head to the Tarcese Fortress the day after tomorrow.
"Let's see who can drink more!"
On hearing Zhou Yuan's words, Simm adjusted his mood and opened a bottle of whiskey to drink with him.
Suddenly, the dormitory of Third Squad became warm again. With the help of liquors, everyone wore smiles on their faces, talking about their brightest expectations for the future. Those with poor drinking capacity were drunk in just a few sips. Some lay down, some were crying, some were playing drunk, but all were soon held down.
At this moment, Zhou Yuan suddenly had a sense of fulfillment.
Being toasted by multiple people on the drinking table was itself a kind of success.
Not all rookies were as rich as Rico, and the family circumstances of some rookies were poor, to the point where they couldn't even afford a pack of cigarettes or some snacks. Zhou Yuan gave them what they wanted while also taking care of their dignity, which made them all support him so much.
Zhou Yuan felt very accomplished by this fact.
Being toasted by multiple people on the drinking table was itself a kind of success.
Every new drinker had toasted him before drinking heavily, expressing their gratitude for his care all this time.
He hoped that the next time he got toasted on the drinking table, those doing the toasting wouldn't be third class soldiers, but a group of officers of at least the sergeant rank.
Military ranks in the tripartite forces were the same for all three forces, which consisted of 16 levels:
Third Class Soldier, Second Class Soldier, First Class Soldier, Upper Soldier
Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant
Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain
Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel
Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General
However, the rank of General has a star rating from one star being the lowest to five stars being the highest, and the higher the star rating, the higher the authority.
For example, the Marshal of the Mobile Corps and the Airspace Command of the Starship Corps, the Intelligence Brain of the Strategic Corps are all five-star generals.
There were also the non-rank appointed leaders of the tripartite forces; the president, who was voted by all soldiers of the tripartite forces every ten years.
However, no one would recognize you if your rank wasn't high enough because the soldiers of the tripartite forces only recognized those who killed their way from obscurity to the top.
Zhou Yuan was currently a third-class soldier but would be promoted to a second-class soldier in two days.
All new recruits were third-class soldiers, and after leaving new recruits' camp, they automatically became second-class soldiers.