by Phil Walker
They opened their boxes and found the big bag contained sausage and gravy. There were biscuits in another bag and a plate that spread out like a fan to make a circular plate. They opened the warm biscuits and poured the hot sausage gravy on them. At the bottom of the box was another big chocolate bar. It was a very satisfying breakfast. Robby had two cups of the coffee.
When the entire party had eaten, three of the sergeants hitched up the wagons and headed back into Boston. Their job was to bring in another group of recruits.
Sergeant Seacrest stood in front of the men and said, “We’ve set up a course for you to run today. It begins with a test of agility. As you can see, we have set up a series of posts in the meadow, they’re spread out in two rows, and there is a small dummy on the top of each post. We want you all to line up and run this course. I’ll demonstrate how I want it done. Then he took off from the starting line toward the first post, slapped the dummy going by. It let out loud click. Seacrest was racing for the second post on the other side of the line and further along, he hit that dummy and got another loud click. He continued through the course, producing ten loud clicks. Then he sprinted across the finish line. Everyone was amazed at how fast and agile the Sergeant was.
“I ran the course in just under 30 seconds,” said Seacrest, the maximum time for you is 50 seconds. The men lined up at the starting line and Seacrest went to the finish line with a flag that he dropped to start each man on his run. Robby watched the men run the course. None of them were as quick as Seacrest, and he recorded results next to the name of each man on a score sheet. When Robby’s turn came, he dashed with all his might, making the sharp changes in direction and slapping all ten of the dummies. “Good” said Seacrest, “you did the agility course in 35 seconds.”
The next test was a run of 40 yards. The course was marked off with a start and finish line. Seacrest demonstrated again. He crouched down in a stance with both hands on the ground, and then shot away at great speed, crossing the finish line, and causing most of the men to look at each other in surprise at how fast the big man was.
“Now each of you try it. The standard is seven seconds. I did it in a little over four.”
Once again, when Robby’s turn came, he crouched down as Seacrest had and ran as fast as he could. “5 point 5,” said Seacrest, “Not bad.”
The tests went on. Robby was required to lie on his back on a bench and lift a bar with weights on each end. He did it five times. There was a vertical jump pole with dowels sticking out horizontally from the pole. The idea was to jump as high as you could and hit the highest dowel you could reach. Seacrest wrote down all the results.
Finally, Seacrest called all of them together and showed them an oval that was marked with short poles with string between them. “This is our long distance run. You must run around the oval, staying outside the poles and strings, four times. The distance you are running is one mile. You will run in groups of four and I will record your time as you finish. The standard for this distance is 7 minutes. That’s not very fast, and you’re not wearing proper equipment. Do the best you can. I’ll shout out your times as your group passes the start/finish line with each lap.”
Robby was happy for this test, he ran long distances every day on the farm and was sure he could do the distance in 7 minutes, although he’d never timed himself.
As it turned out, he ran the fastest of anyone that day. He was happy that Willis ended up in the top five.
Seacrest went to the tent and sat down to count up the results. When he was finished, he came out and called 11 names. He took all them aside and Robby could see they were very disappointed. They had not passed the tests with high enough scores to qualify. When the wagons came back from Boston, loaded with another group of 50 eager men, the 11 were loaded on one of the wagons and driven back into to Boston.
The new arrivals gathered wood, and ate as night fell. Seacrest took his group of 36 qualifiers away from the main group, toward the tree line. He was carrying a lantern and had five more brought by people in the group. All of them had their personal bags with them.
“Men, you are the 36 who have passed our screening and physical tests to move to the next level. Since we started out with more than 60, I think you can congratulate yourselves on making the cut. Now we come to the really sensitive matters.”
“How are you at keeping secrets,” asked the Sergeant, “a solemn oath taken before God with your hand on a Bible? If there is one of you who is unwilling to do that, please drop out now, because after this there is no turning back”
“I can do that,” said Robby, looking straight into the Sergeant’s eyes.
“Very well,” said Seacrest, “sit down and let me tell you a story. All the men sat down by the light of the lanterns. “Our ad was run in every paper in all the colonies. There are teams out now doing exactly what we are doing here. However, we could not very well put our real purpose in the ad. The British would take a dim view of that. So, the ad was written to attract the best men in the colonies, and you will certainly get the adventure of a lifetime, and be well paid for your service. All of that was true. It is also true that you are making a career commitment that will last for at least fifteen years. You will have opportunities to visit your families, but they will be few and far between and you’re not permitted to tell them the entire story of our total mission.”
Seacrest looked over the group, “Have I lost anyone who is not willing to meet this requirement?” Nobody spoke up.
“Good, you will not be explorers as the ad said, at least not in the beginning. What we are doing is recruiting a professional army that will be carefully trained and equipped with very special weapons to defeat the entire British Army and allow us to form an American nation.”
There was a buzz of talk over this announcement and Seacrest let it go on for several minutes.
“When you complete your training, you will be the best fighting army in the world. You remember our ad said we were looking for the brave, the proud, and the few? With what you learn, and the weapons we will provide, we can defeat any army in any country with a single reinforced Brigade of 3,000 men.
“Moreover, when we finish with the British in the colonies, we intend to conquer Canada, Mexico, Central America, and all the islands of the Caribbean. The new United States will be the largest and most powerful nation on earth.”
“All of this is being done with the knowledge and support of your greatest leaders. Your commanding general will be George Washington.”
“Obviously, we must build and train this secret army without the British, or any country finding out. We will also defeat the French, and the Spanish. When all of this is completed, we will be a free country, where every man and woman will have the liberty to go where they wish, say what they want, worship God in any fashion they like. It will be a country, unlike any other. The power to govern will come exclusively from the people, not from a King, or any legislative body. The government can function only with the consent of governed.”
Willis put up his hand, “Your ad said you would educate us to read, write, and do numbers, is that still true.”
“When we are finished educating you, it will be the same as graduating from Harvard. You will be that advanced.”
“How long will this training take,” asked another man.
“We have less than six years to turn you into the fighting force we need. During that time, you will live at a place called Fort Independence. You will be paid 8 dollars a month in silver coins throughout your service, including training. You will receive comfortable quarters in which to live, three meals a day, and we will provide you with all your uniforms and equipment. However, make no mistake about it, your education and your training will be very challenging.”
“This is even better than I thought it would be,” said Charlie Arthur.
“I’m glad you feel that way Private Arthur,” said Seacrest. He picked up his shoulder bag and pulled out a stack of papers and a Bible. “For all of yo
u who are still willing to volunteer for this career, step forward and sign or make your mark on your enlistment papers and swear on this Bible that you will keep our secrets and willingly face the tough job ahead of you.”
The men surged forward and signed their papers and made their oaths on the Bible.
When it became Robby’s turn, he signed the paper, put his hand on the Bible and said, “I so swear.”
All 36 men did the same. Seacrest had not expected anything less. He didn’t have a doctorate in Psychology and Human Behavior for nothing.
Seacrest pulled a small black case off his belt and spoke into it, “Ready for pickup.”
He then turned back to the group and said, “Follow me men, your transportation to Fort Independence is on its way.” He walked through the forest of trees until he came to another meadow. It was not very big, perhaps a hundred feet across. “You might just as well get your first lesson in how advanced this army is going to be. Wait for it.”
Robby stood next to Willis while Seacrest took his lantern out to the meadow and turned it up. It was a very bright light. In the background, Robby could hear the faint sound of a thumping that grew somewhat louder in the next couple of minutes. Then he looked up and saw a huge machine descending onto the meadow. Later Robby would learn that the machine was a C-48, “Chinook” transport helicopter coming in on whisper mode. At the moment, he just watched in wonder as the big chopper came to rest light as a feather on the meadow. The rear ramp augured down and the men climbed aboard. Men on the craft guided them to seats and showed them how to fasten their seat belts. Then the helicopter took off and Robby caught his breath as the ground fell away and the adventure began.
Fort Independence, Virginia
The flight to Fort Independence took almost two hours. As much as Robby wanted to look out and see the countryside from the air, it was night and there was very little to see. He finally dozed off.
He was roused when men in fatigues came walking along the rows waking people up in preparation for landing. Robby looked out the window and could see a blaze of lights coming from a large, busy place below. There were row after row of long buildings surrounding a central complex of bigger buildings and a big parade ground at one end. He could see that other helicopters like his were also landing and taking off.
As they came to a stop on the ground, the rear doors opened again. Men in fatigues rushed aboard wearing masks on their faces, but yelling loudly through them. “You men line up six wide, and line up behind the man in front of you. The troopers did the best they could to accomplish this simple formation, and were shoved around by the men in fatigues. When they were grouped in a square of men six wide and six deep, one of the men, who had three stripes of his shirt yelled out, “Come to attention, stand up straight. Now we’re gonna march to the infirmary. Start walking with your left foot when I say ‘March’ and stay in step. Ready, forward, march!”
The formation lurched forward and didn’t get the step right until they’d walked 200 yards, then they marched in somewhat good order, until the sergeant bellowed, “Prepare to Halt, ready Halt!”
Of course, some of the men didn’t halt and the formation became a logjam again. “First row, go through that door on the left, then each row follow.” Robby and Willis, who were standing next to each other near the center of the formation made their way through the door and into a brightly lit room where a number of men and women wearing white coats and all wearing masks directed them to lines in front of several large stations that contained all sorts of strange equipment.
A women wearing a mask came up to Robby and Willis sitting next to each other and said, “Relax, boys, you’re in the infirmary at Fort Independence. The reason why this is your first stop is to make sure you stay healthy. The first thing we do is to draw a small amount of blood from your arm to be tested for any diseases. Then we give you a dosage of a wide number of vaccinations for things like measles, mumps, chicken pox, tuberculosis, influenza, yellow and scarlet fever, polio. After you have this vaccination, you will immune from all those diseases for the rest of your life. We also do a full body scan to make sure you don’t have any tumors or a large number of other things.”
She drew the blood, placed a flat gun-like instrument on their arms, and pulled the trigger. The shots only hurt a little. Then she vaccinated them for TB, and had them lay flat on a table that moved them into a large tube and vibrated. As they came out, the nurse pulled a sheet of paper out of a machine and read the results of the blood test. “Healthy as a horse, both of you, any problems with your teeth?” Both men said they did, and were directed to another room where they sat in a chair and a masked man checked their teeth. He called off numbers to a nurse who was writing them down. “Both of you are going to need some work, but nothing that can’t wait. Give them an appointment.” The nurse looked at a calendar on a screen, and wrote a day and time for their next appointment. They added the paper to the large envelope that they had gotten back at the meadow with their enlistment. Now the envelope was filling with medical records.
The next stop was a room with more chairs and barbers cutting hair. The process of removing all the hair on their heads took about a minute and both Robby and Willis ran their hands across their heads in wonder. Next, was a large room with a lot of semi-naked people in it. A man came up, also masked, and said, “Remove all your clothing then go through there to the showers. A little sheepishly, they took off their clothes, which were taken away in a rolling basket. They got towels and went into the showers, where they were told to hang up their towels and step up to the showers. A man showed them how to adjust the temperature and handed them a scrunchy blob. He showed them the button to push for shampoo and the other for soap to put on the scrunchy. “Make sure you wash thoroughly,” said the man, “then dry off, wrap the towel around your waste and go through that door.”
Neither of the men had ever had a shower before, so the experience was unique. They were careful to follow the instructions to wash thoroughly, although Willis said using shampoo on a nearly baldhead seemed like a waste of time.
The next hall was noisy and filled with people, both recruits and men. None of them had masks. The man at the desk looked them over and directed each of them into two different lines. They went through the lines and got a big bag that began to fill with boxer shorts, socks, t-shirts, a bar of soap, a toothbrush, and toothpaste and finally to a man who did quick measurements with a tape. He then rummaged through racks of green fatigues and pulled out two pairs of uniforms for each man. He had them try on the shirt and pants, and Robby was surprised how well they fit him, maybe a little big. The other uniform went in their bag and they moved to the next station. Here they stood on a foot measure and were given brown boots. They sat down, pulled out a pair of green socks, put them on, and then slipped their feet into the boots. The boots were stiff, because they were brand new, but they were the right size. The men laced them up and the man handed them a couple pairs of blousing rubbers. He had them put on a pair and then roll the bottom of their pants under the stretchable bands, just above the boots.
The final station provided them with a wide, webbed belt, with lots of metal clasps on them, and a green beret with an emblem of a flag on the front. They were asked their last names and a machine printed a cloth tab that said Pierce and Grant on them. Some kind of strange material attached them firmly above their right pockets and they got another tab that said U.S. Army on it. It attached to the funny strip above their left pocket.
The door opened to the outside and the fresh recruits followed a real soldier whose fatigues looked ten times better than theirs to a big mess hall, where they got trays and utensils, and walked through a cafeteria line choosing from a wide selection of food. They got large cups, real ones this time, of coffee, and cold water with ice cubes in the glass. The novelty of that amazed them both. Robby spotted Charlie Arthur sitting along a table with several other men and he and Willis made their way over. The men at the table made room for t
hem. Everybody introduced themselves. Robby learned a lot of last names, because they were on the uniforms, but forgot most of the first names.
The food was hot, tasty, and plentiful. The men had not eaten since lunch so they were famished and ate with gusto. They all talked about their experiences and especially the wonderful machine that flew them to the Fort. Robby rubbed his arm where he’d gotten the jet spray of vaccines. It was a little sore.
Presently a soldier with two stripes came up to the table. “You guys came in from Boston?” They said they had. “OK, if you’re finished eating, I’ll take you to your quarters. Pair up, these are two man rooms.” Again, they went outside and across the street to a long row of two story barracks buildings. The corporal stopped at the third one and went in. “Since you guys, are among the first to arrive, you get barracks close to the mess hall, and the ground floor. Move in and pick a room. Doesn’t matter which, they’re all the same.”
Robby and Willis turned into the first room on the right side of the long hallway. They opened the door and stepped inside. The room was dark. The corporal reached around a corner flipped a switch and a light came on. There were two bigger than single beds with a wide cabinet between them and a light with two flexible arms pointing at the beds. There was a desk and chair on both sides of the room with lights on top of the desks. At the back of the room was a closet to hang clothes and a chest of drawers in the middle, with six drawers. The walls were painted a light blue and there was an attractive rug on the floor between the beds. The rest of the floor was tiles. Attached to the walls next to both desks was a bookshelf.
There was a bathroom with a shower and two sinks, plus a strange looking appliance with a seat and water in the bowl under the seat. Towels hung on racks on the wall, and there was a mirror across the whole front over the sinks. On the wall was a cabinet, which opened to hold toiletries.
The Corporal finished getting everyone in their rooms and came back to Robby and Willis. He pointed at the door with two plastic sleeves on it. “You put your last names in these sleeves so people can find you. That’s all for tonight. Reveille is at 5:50. You will hear the bugle on the speakers outside. When you hear that, you have ten minutes to get up, make your bunks, get dressed in the uniform of the day, which is what you have on now, and fall out for the morning meal formation. Don’t be late for the 6 AM bugle. It’s not going to be pleasant if you are.
