In the beginning, the group of cadets lives as follows: lights up (good morning), physical training (PT), breakfast, specialist training (ST), specialist training, physical training, lunch, specialist training, specialist training, physical training, combat training (CT), dinner, free time, lights out (goodnight). The group, as a whole, is attending only PTs and CTs. Most of the STs (specialist training) are solely focused on a specific role on a vessel, so, on a ST-time, pilots go to the pilots’ lessons, navigators go to the navigators’ lessons, etc. There are some exceptions, but they are too far between.

ST for navigators consists of practice, practice, practice, practice, and some theoretical stuff. The army does not want to create lots of smartasses who knew exactly how things works, it needs astronaut who can push buttons in extreme condition. Like, who cares about gravitational fields and stuff? Vector-a plus vector-b, round 1.1 to 2, pi to 4 and here we go. [Well, who cares about precise accuracy, when the blast radius is approximately equals the average city? - Hawk] [What is the gravitational fields? - Sanya] [Ok, pilot who do not know about THAT kind of stuff is scary, - Rise]

The training ground for navigators is just a big auditorium, every sit looks like an approximate copy of a navigator's battle station from the generic KSV: one big keyboard, one big, curved display, wide touchpad (a mouse, stylus, controller, or any other thing not screwed to the table is useless in unstable gravity). Future navigators will master the tools and tasks.

Everyone else’s training is sort of similar, except for medics. This part of the course is gentle [Gentle my ass! - Desi] and nothing particularly interesting happens. The main purpose is to cram into a cadet all the skills he will need. So, the pilot will not mix up the pedals; a navigator will calc long-distance pinhole; and so on. It doesn't take much time: the tools are extremely simple, straightforward, and made for idiots. Even the cat can handle it, but its tail is always in its way.

After the first exams [I got A+++++++, - Sanya], the action begins. Everyone knew tools, tasks and have some skills. It’s time to test everyone in the harshest environment possible. And time to start building crews and removing unfit ones from the army. The fixed schedule is gone, some training receives “A” prefix that stands for “aggressive”, like APT “Aggressive Physical Training”. During this phase, some cadets will change the yellow patch to the red one. They are considered an infant commodore. Not everyone is able to endure all the crap that falls on a commodore, and many have their patch replaced back into a yellow one.

On a side note, K-SAF military patches. Worn on the right sleeve, on the right chest, on the right shoulder blade (only on a combat suits). The patch is a circle with a thin colored border and a colored specialist emblem inside. Under the patch on the right breast is a black rectangle with the name. Color codes: yellow for cadets, white or red (Commodore) for astronauts. Yes, the cadet-commodore is indistinguishable from the regular commodore. From the glance and from the law.

On the physical training note. From the civilian standpoint, the physical training for the astronauts looks like a waste of time. Well, the vessels’ crew will not drop from orbit to the ground or attack something with a rifle in their hands. A military astronaut is just sitting in his comfy chair doing nothing, why the heck does he needs PT? Well, even now children do not come off from the assembly lines as high endure, tough and muscular super-soldiers [Large muscle mass is actually bad - high demand in calories, high demand in oxygen, high demand for micro-machines in body, - Vor]. An astronaut must be tough enough to survive a long operation without stable gravity. This can only be achieved by training.

And Infantry combat training is just fun. From the hand-to-hand combat to the shooting. [All boys are insane in their destructive power love of guns. The more powerful the gun, the more destruction this love is willing to wreak. I don't understand them, - Desi] [Don't you feel a pleasant shiver when the main caliber is warmed up? Doesn't your heart start beating more often when you see the barrel raised to the firing position? - Hawk] [You just didn't see a good barrel :3 - Sanya]

Once unfits are gone, and crews are formed (by the local initiative, or with some little help from mentors) cadets will have to pass a new series of exams and get first leave for 30 standard hours.

Next comes crew training and the final fitting of the astronauts to each other. Training smoothly moves up, to real vessels, real ranges, real weapons, real maneuvers. Everything ends with the official designation of status, ceremonial graduation, and the first vacation. The first vacation is not mandatory, if the crew wants to get right down to business, no one minds.

I will not describe each day in detail, it’s awesome [awesome my ass, - Desi] to train, but extremely dull to read. Like, navigators are sitting in front of displays for hours, calculating routes, or trying to figure out where they are by poking around in databases. I will tell you only the most fascinating or useful, or hilarious episodes from my time in the Academy.