Three

Up and at 'em!" came the pre-mission wakeup call. "Let's go, let's go! Move it, ladies and gentlemen!"

She dragged the blanket off her stiff body and rolled gingerly to her feet. 5 am always seems to come far too soon. She made her bed, stowed her night gear, changed into her combat uniform, laced her boots tightly and stood at attention for inspections.

"Farmer, good. Smith, good. Steele, good. Greene, good. Halbert, good..." roll continued down the hall. "Head to chow, and be back to your S.S.C. for readiness, MOVE!"

They rushed out of the Trench as fast and stiffly as possible both breaking the lines and maintaining them.

            "Greene!" nick called through the buzzing and chatter of excited teens.

While fighting the horde of hungry people She flopped onto the bench by him and asked, "want to be my partner today?" then stuffed a whole piece of toast in her mouth.

He laughed mockingly, knowing she was totally nervous. "How much have you thought about asking?"

An uncomfortable silence drew itself out between them as she chewed hurriedly.

"Since briefing yesterday," she muffled to him before she swallowed, "well?"

"And THAT'S the way you decided to ask?" he chuckled.

She punched him in the arm. "Ow, ok! Yeah, I'll be your partner. Jeez." He rubbed his shoulder.

"Then quit messing around and eat, we only have seven minutes before we have to head to Ramirez." She warned.

He wolfed down half his tray in ten seconds flat leaving her grossed-out, yet oddly impressed. "We have like, twelve minutes," He muffled back at her, "you should be the one rushing." And smiled through green-spotted teeth before he stuffed in another scoop of 'breakfast' slop. She worked to clear her tray.

            "Let's go." She told him, standing.

He looked up at her, "but we have six minutes and squad meet-up isn't far."

She knelt by him and whispered, "And how long does it take to get through the crowds rushing in, and out? Let's go."

Taking her point, he stood, and they rushed out the door just as the next squad started squeezing in.

"I never thought about heading out a bit early and beating the rush." He mentioned to her, "smart."

She stopped him on the cement, "missions are always a big deal to me nick, it's the only time that I'm allowed to make decisions on my own. I need you to take this seriously. Please."

The smile faded from his face and he just nodded, "then let's get there and find out what we're dealing with."

The team jogged side-by-side down to the docks ahead of the other students.

            They sat on the grass discussing strategies until the rest of the group showed up, and then fell into line. Ramirez followed them and took charge as soon as the lines finished forming.

"There are leaders, and there are followers in this group. I want to make you all leaders by graduation. I will not succeed, but I will do my best to force you all out of your comfort zones and into leadership roles. Make decisions and live with those results. That is the way the world works, and in the field, there will be no one holding your hand with all the perfect answers. Understand?"

Chorus: "yes, sir!"

Ramirez shouted, "Teams, line up next to your partner and we will take roll."

Sets of kids called names and were assigned phonetic team designations.

Teams loaded into the boats one by one alpha-alpha started first followed by alpha-beta, alpha-Charlie, etc. troops loaded up and shipped out to their own corners of the training zones all day long.

Finally, Ramirez called "Greene, and Halbert! On board."

Designated as team Foxtrot-Delta, they shouldered their packs, set their drop-zone plans, and suited up before climbing into the gently swaying boat. Amber had never been in a boat before and had no chance of gaining her sea-legs. Luckily nick grabbed her arm when she almost fell out… twice.

The boat ride to the cape was a long hour and a half, wet, and freezing. The sun had been down for over an hour, and they had decided to enter the drop zone a short distance from the shore. As Ramirez quelled the engine drawing them to a slow drift the team set their goggles and scuba-gear securely in place and rolled backwards into the cold black water.