You would think that our drill instructors might go a little easy on us given the news we all heard. The war between the Union and the Commonwealth. No, if anything, they got meaner it seems like. Day One was brutal. Waking up at 4 am was even more brutal.

Everything about basic was brutal thus far. I've worked out on occasion here and there, however this was something way worse. That post work out burn had nothing on basic training afternoon burn.

I would be so exhausted that when I hit the pillow I would instantly wake up not even feeling the sensation of going to sleep. It carried on this way for a week. Constant exhaustion, constant physical hell.

Towards the end of the first week I was sitting in the mess hall during lunch chowing down. The mess halls were neatly organized between the unit. There were four mess halls, one for each platoon. Then within the mess halls there were cut in have for each squad within the platoon. Then each half had a long schools cafeteria table.

It was so we could get familiar with the people in our unit, the peoples in our squad. But we haven't really had the opportunity to get familiar with anyone. Anytime someone had sat down for lunch or dinner we scarfed down anything laid in front of us like we were wandering pilgrims eating for the first time in days. I never thought I would ever eat peas at any pace other than hesitation in my life.

However after the first week of sitting in the hall and hardly chatting we eventually started talking to the other members in our unit. I mostly got Familiar with the members in my Fireteam. I really didn't have the time to get familiar with anyone else in the squad at the time.

When lined up for a meal in the Chow Hall I was expecting food to be more 'Military'. In other words bland and Utilitarian. Slops porridges and so on. But no, the food was damned good. I was currently chowing down on a rare steak. It wasn't even like cheaply made too. It was the kind of steak that had that nice charcoal-y crunchy feel on the outside. Then on the inside it was so soft and juicy it practically melted in your mouth.

Currently at the table everyone was finally talking about the war.

"How did we get here anyways?" Andrej asked.

Andrej was from a planet that was settled by the Czechs. He spoke with a heavy Czech accent and looked physically imposing. I don't know what they fed them on that world, or what it was like. But it reminds me of the stories of a place called "Alaska" back on earth that my great Uncle used to tell me about. Alaska being this arctic place had periods where the sun never sets so crops grew to be enormous during these periods.

So I liked to think that whatever planet he was from was the same. Whatever the case, the food he ate must've been big. That or he ate a lot and just worked out a lot as well.

"By ship" Narangerel responded Smartly.

Narangerel was another person in the squad. They were slated to be the Drone operator of the team. Drone Operation required some weird specifics on the pre-enlistment exam they give you. It required a lot of on the fly technical knowhow, so if I had to guess Narangerel was the smartest of all of us. She was currently clutching her electrolyte drink with her biomechanical arm.

She had a couple of cybernetics. Some I could tell like the arm, but others were more discrete like her Cybereye. Which surprisingly went against no regs. The Union Army from what I heard even prefers drone operators with Cybereyes so they can actively access drones hands free.

"No I mean the war, like how did we get to be at war?" Andrej asked.

Me being more familiar with history than them I felt the best person to answer.

"The Commonwealth's always had it in for us" I said.

He scoffed and swallowed some of his drink.

"Do not question why we are here, only make the best of what we have." Ganesh responded.

Ganesh was apart of a religious group known as the Sikh's. I didn't know much about them, only that they were a really humanitarian bunch. They usually had Gurus who talked about peace and love between humanity. It was more than a little confusing for me to see someone who believed in that serving in the military in a full capacity. More than that, he was allowed to grow out his beard. This was because It was protected by his religion.

Ganesh himself though was deeply religious. Every time it was personal time, an hour before lights out, he would always be praying in some way. It made me rethink my own religious thinking. They always said 'There's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole'

"Damned straight!" Andrej slammed his open palms on the table for emphasis "I'll make the best of what I can! I'll take home twenty Commo tags mark my words." He pointed a finger and rotated it between the group as a way of showing how serious he was I suppose.

"Wanna bet?" Narangerel asked.

"What's the wager?" Andrej asked.

"Whoever gets the most kills by the end of our first deployment gets one months pay from the other." She responded.

"One months pay eh?" He said. He made a gesture like he was thinking out the option. making a point of stroking his chin and going 'hmmm' out loud. but in reality I knew we already knew he had accepted the offer.

"You're on" he said and shook her metallic hand on it.

Shortly after this impromptu bet was made the dinner was over and we would go back to the back breaking exercises that was PT. Most of us had finally survived our first week. We all had felt tired and exhausted but proud we weren't apart of the ten or so that quit up to this point. Some units, ours included, had a impromptu toast during dinner to celebrate this momentous occasion.

The Second week would arrive. Thankfully we had gotten over what seems like the hardest part of basic. We went from drill and rigorous work out routines to learning much more practical stuff. First part of the week involved learning hand to hand combat. Afterwards we got to have a little competition between us all to see who was the best. The best of us would get a ribbon for unarmed combat.

I was out after the first few rounds. So I sat in the back cheering on Andrej as he almost broke the bones of each opponent he was up against. All the while I did thinking about the war. I had skimmed the news every now and then right before lights out.

The tablets we were all given by the military was strictly monitored on a closed network and rigidly controlled. If it was lights out the tablet would completely cut off regardless of what you were doing. The tablets themselves weren't anything too impressive. They probably were made by the lowest bidder because I swear I've seen used tablets dating back from Earth quicker than the ones issued to each of us.

Getting back on track, I would read about the news every now and then about the war and it was a flood of conflicting information. One night in the war we were winning and the war was ours, next we were losing and the war would end in sure defeat. Granted the war had only gone on for about a week and this news reading was just the product of a over active news media going overdrive.

Beyond that there wasn't a whole lot to be gleamed from the conflict thus far. The UCA Army especially had kept the war under wraps with Sergeants and other soldiers of rank being very tight lipped about it. Anytime we'd ask about the war to someone who we'd think would have a good answer they all just gave a canned response that we all knew was total BS.

As I was wrapping up my thoughts on the matter I put my focus back on the fight watching this tiny Thumbelina that made Andrej cry uncle. I rubbed my eyes thinking I was dreaming or something. The image was as real as can be. Andrej, the 200 something pound Czech had tapped out. A drill sergeant came into the ring and broke up the fight and gave us all a lecture on how we all needed to fight smarter not harder.

Andrej's size became a disadvantage and gave an advantage to his opponent. Our instructor explained how we could use this fight as a lesson on combat in general. Most people nodded off but once his lecture was done many people clapped and applauded Andrej's opponent.

When Andrej sat back down Narangerel looked at him with arms folded and a look of disgust.

"What?" Andrej asked.

"Thanks for that Asshole. I'm down twenty credits." She said with venom.

Ganesh gave out a hearty laugh and patted Narangerel on the back. "You need to learn humility my friend."

She pulled back from Ganesh with even more distain.

I chuckled a little at those two interacting. Narangerel being the big tech nerd she was, she constantly looked for ways to make more and more money. As getting into tech fiddling as a hobby is very expensive. She explained how the pay would only be enough for the down payment for most of the stuff she wanted.

I can't remember the names of even a quarter of the stuff she said she wanted to buy. Making side bets like this was a common occurrence, although she insists to us she doesn't have a gambling problem.

That night we came back to the bunk. I laid in my bed, reflecting on boot and military life so far. Despite the struggle and pain it often brought I was thinking that I'd stick through it. Boot is miserable don't get me wrong but I feel like by the 2nd week If I quit I'd be letting down my teammates.

I don't think I was worth anything in my life. I thought I would just become maybe a janitor or something like that when joining up. But here I was slated to become a soldier in the most important war in my Nations history. I decided that night that I would just keep a stiff upper lip and continue onwards. If not for me then for my team.