First Day At The Military 'Academy'

The US plan for turning us into cannon fodder was basically to set up multiple last-minute military bases all around the country with personnel barely capable of teaching us correctly since we were only cannon fodder.

The good thing is that they gave us one week notice before we had to show up, meaning that we would have enough time to say goodbye to our families, as chances were that we would be sent off to India as soon as we graduated from one of the new military 'academies.'

Originally, the Peruvian populous was conflicted but hopeful, we were certainly not happy that all people over 17 and under 50 were being enlisted, but on the bright side, we were very hopeful that, at the very least, the presence of the US within our country would help improve the corruption within our government.

However, that was not the case, and the Peruvian government began doing even more stupid things with our tax money before writing it off as needed expenses.

Apparently, to save face, the US made a deal with the Peruvian government that as long as they provided the people, the US government wouldn't take any action against the Peruvian government; they did this to make it seem that the government was ok with what was happening (which they were).

So with US intervention out of the question, the government was basically allowed to do anything it wanted as long as it could provide people to be turned into cannon fodder, thankfully though the US had the foresight to make the transportation of water to families of people who were serving as cannon fodder a direct one, meaning that the Peruvian government had no say in it; otherwise, we wouldn't even be getting paid water.

I spent the rest of my time with my close family.

At this point, although unwilling, I had accepted that there was nowhere I could run and that I was going to go off to die in India, so I wanted to enjoy what would basically be the last good moments of my life.

So, although we didn't go anywhere, I remember spending an entire day with each family member (my grandma, mother, and my 5 uncles).

It was fun to reminisce about when everything was much simpler, and our biggest worry was what score I got on my latest test in school or whether or not we would buy food from the street for dinner.

I didn't know much about what would happen in the training camp, but I knew that I wouldn't see my family.

I was lucky to have a family member that served in the military before the government completely fell into corruption because he gave me some pointers on what to do and how to act, to sum it was never to be disrespectful, ever, even if I thought my life was in danger, and to do anything I could to make my life easier as long as it didn't go against the orders or expectations of a superior.

Sunday was the most painful day, as it was my last day as a free human and the day I spent with my mother. I had recently been too caught up with my own problems to stop and think about how this must of all felt for her; in the span of a couple of years, her entire life fell apart, I just tried to comfort her by telling her that I would be ok, that everything would be fine, but I knew it was a lie. I'm pretty sure she did too.

We didn't talk much; it was mostly crying. Then, before the day ended, my mother went into her drawer and brought out an old rusty watch; she told me that it used to be my grandfather's.

Apparently, it was a family heirloom from the Peruvian war for independence, the only thing I remember thinking when I saw it was why it was our heirloom.

There was no answer though, apparently said knowledge had been lost to time, maybe I would never truly get to know, regardless, the next morning after having one last meal with all my family I had to say goodbye and leave with Josue to catch the metro, although he didn't live close, he went out of his way to come all the way over here, so I just followed his lead.

It only took us half a day to get over to the camp; thankfully, we just had to be there before the end of the day.

That didn't mean we didn't have to leave our homes early, though. Peru had always been known for its terrible traffic, adding that plus the fact that everyone else was also going to the same place, and you had a two-hour trip turn into a twelve-hour one.

I almost shed tears of joy when I got out of that overcrowded bus and got to breathe the fresh air once again.

Honestly, looking back at it, it was a miracle that Josue nor I died from lack of oxygen; that wasn't an exaggeration either, although thankfully nobody had died, there had been a lot of people that had been knocked out due to receiving too little oxygen from the air around them.

I was glad that I ate way too much for breakfast because it was already noon, and I'm sure that I would be starving right now If I didn't, with a prime example being Josue. Anyways, when I looked at the structure in front of me, I felt a little underwhelmed.

Since the US didn't have much time to make these camps, they were basically just barracks, those tables you could find at camps, barbed wires all around the perimeter, and a lot of obstacle courses with workout equipment here and there with one big evidently quickly constructed building to the side.

My first day felt like hell on earth. I had never eaten healthy or gotten into exercising, so I was one of the fattest people there, which, granted, wasn't that bad because all of the people in my group were 20 or younger, and we still lived with the aftereffect of ungodly teenage cholesterol, but it was still pretty bad; plus, it made it all the more difficult to finish the first obstacle course.

The worst part was that unlike all of the other times in my life where Josue helped me out, we were to go through the obstacle course individually.

In contrast, all of the others did basic military exercises and got to enjoy the show put on by whoever was going through the obstacle course at the time; thankfully, we were allowed to volunteer to go first.

Although I understood that the instructor told us that to try and make an example of the first person that went on the obstacle course and straighten everyone else out, I still volunteered.

And despite getting yelled at and belittled by the instructor and knew that everyone thought that I was stupid for volunteering, there was no other way to make it through the obstacle course if I did any other exercise beforehand.

As expected, I was criticized a lot more than all of the others and didn't even manage to make it to the end of the course, but at least, I didn't do as badly as I thought I would.

After that, I'm pretty sure I just put myself on autopilot to numb the pain. All I remember was that I couldn't feel any of my muscles by the time I finally got to lay on my new bed and that I was terrified for tomorrow when the actual soreness would kick in.