Boot Camp Day 1 [Closed to Rogue Squadron]

[mercjedi.livejournal.com]

Kyle paced as he waited for the new recruits to assemble. He'd had the Sensoriums replicate one of the old parade grounds at Carida for this introduction. It had been stripped of all the Imperial monuments of course. The academy had thousands of years of history long before the Empire so it was still a suitable place for inspiring young soldiers, or so he hoped.

Once the recruits had assembled they'd see a very different Kyle Katarn than they were used to. Gone was any of the relaxed mercenary clothing. Instead it had been replaced with the perfectly pressed uniform of an Academy instructor. Normally he'd never be caught dead in this thing, but he had a responsibility to the squadron to do this right. That meant standing on ceremony, and discipline including wearing of uniforms. Plus it was a classic image of Boot anywhere, and he didn't want them to feel they'd missed out somehow.

Once the recruits had arrived, and had managed to organize themselves into something resembling a formation Kyle began to pace in front of them. The heels of his perfectly spit-shined boots clicked against the stones of the parade ground. Finally he stopped, and faced them. "Welcome to Basic Training for Rogue Squadron. I am Drill Instructor Katarn for those of you who do not know me. Drill Instructor Chacon, and myself will be responsible for training all of you for the next six weeks. At all times you will address us as Sir, or Drill Instructor. If you do not there will be consequences. Just like there will be consequences for any other breach of military etiquette, or failure to live up to the standards we have set. Am I understood?"

"The following weeks are not going to be easy. Nothing worth doing is. You can look at as an opportunity to grow, and learn something, or you can complain endlessly. Either way I will make sure you graduate this course. I would like to take this opportunity to remind all of you that you are here by choice, and it is choice that is going to keep you here. You are free to step out that door, and quit at anytime. There is however no coming back. You wash out that's it. If you stick it out though, and push yourself to meet the standard you will become members of Rogue Squadron." He paused for a moment to look over all of them trying to lock eyes with as many as he could. They technically shouldn't be meeting his gaze right now being at attention, but if they were he wasn't going to say anything. It was a good sign he had their attention.

Stepping back he pointed to a pile of orange flightsuits. "You will form an orderly line, and each take ONE of these uniforms. You will wear it each, and every day you are in training. It will be clean each morning, but not pressed. It's a combat uniform, and I will not have any of you reducing it's effectiveness by doing that. After that you will see Drill Instructor Chacon to receive your blaster rifle. Don't touch the safety, or mess with it in any way unless told to. A negligent discharge will put you, and someone else in a world of hurt. Now fall out!"

Comments

[thewunderkind]

Oh god this outfit was soooo orange. Oh god she was going to take this blaster rifle and turn it into a death ray. Somehow.

Typical military speeches, boring standings and having to address people by formal titles aside, Lash was still excited for this. She'd done all this before earlier in her life, this was just a return to the basics even if she had problems standing perfectly still. Her mind tended to wander. Besides, he said it so himself. If they didn't like it, they could just leave. No way was she ever going to do that, however. This was a challenge! Lash never backed down from challenges. Only lame people quit halfway.

[fieldpromoted]

Trudy didn't much like orange either, but her job was to jump on and intimidate the hell out of the new recruits. So, catching the dissatisified look that Lash gave her flight suit, Trudy was on her back. "Something wrong with your uniform, recruit?" she said, eyebrows raised.

Tread carefully, Lash.

[gunslinging.livejournal.com]

Well, at least the orange didn't clash too horribly with Axl's hair. And he wouldn't have to worry about sweating all over the thing.

Axl had always hated military etiquette. It had never been part of the order of things in Red Alert, despite the rumors about Red's time with Repliforce. He'd had to learn it all when he joined the Maverick Hunters, but the Hunters tended to be lax about it, and the S-Class Hunters hardly ever bothered with using it at all.

It was just like joining the Hunters all over again, he figured. Only a hell of a lot more orthodox than his induction to that organization had been. Hey, at least I didn't have to stop a war before they even considered letting me in this time. This time, he just had to prove he knew how to play by the rules.

If there was one thing Axl had learned to be very good at, though, it was acting and body language, and it didn't take much effort for him to turn off squirmy obnoxious kid mode, stop fidgeting completely, and put on his seriousface. Just think of it as a loooong undercover assignment. And remember what the penalties were for screwing up on those.

[mercjedi.livejournal.com]

Kyle wanted to smile after he saw Axl in formation, but he couldn't. Instead he maintained the stern face of an instructor. Still he hoped for the best from the young robot. With any luck his attitude would rub off on some of the others.

[redheadcarrier.livejournal.com]

This was going to suck so much. At least she'd been doing physical training with... someone... a while back. The urge to snap out something witty or cutting was huge - but she held her tongue. She wasn't washing out, not after everything she'd already gone through. She'd deal with it.

For now, anyway. She'd probably snap later.

[mercjedi.livejournal.com]

"Recruit Soryu, move it, move it, move it. Show these new folks how it's done." Kyle didn't yell. Instead he affected a soft boom that seemed to carry regardless of the actual volume of his voice. As Drill Instructor voices went this one could almost be considered encouraging.

[on-an-impulse.livejournal.com]

Apparently, officer training programs were the same across the multiverse. He didn't know where this particular installation had come from, but it was enough to pull him back to those first awful months after Onogoro.

... he reached out to take Mayu's hand, then saw the blood, and his eyes went wide--

--the rescue vessel's captain put calloused hands on his shoulders, waiting until Shinn was too tired to cry anymore--

--the shuttle was filled with people like him, tired of the Earth, ready to work alongside the rest of the Coordinators...

It wasn't like his seven months at the academy had been perfect. It had taken a while to punch through the school's simulation records, and it wasn't like all the classes were interesting for someone who'd signed up to fly. He'd gotten into plenty of scrapes with bastards who'd just signed up for the nice red uniform, and even with the burly hunk of muscle who taught hand-to-hand combat. He'd missed his family so, so much. But... Rey had been there, at least after the first time they'd been stuck with clean-up duty for punching each other out. He'd made friends with the cadets who'd wound up in his crew, too, though he still thought Youlant was a pervert, even after the world had ended, and he still didn't fully understand why Meyrin had left Gibraltar. And Luna had been there the whole time, always smiling, always the most cheerful of all of them. He remembered her smile on graduation day, and gritted his teeth. If the Ohm had hurt her, if she wasn't in those pods--!

But that was the reason he was putting up with this guy's crap now, wasn't it? The academy hadn't been heaven, but he'd never regretted enlisting with ZAFT, and he knew he wouldn't regret signing up with this crew, either.

Luna, Meyrin, Vino, Youlant... Stellar, Mayu, mom, dad... I'm doing this for you. So what happened to you will never happen to anyone ever again.

[mercjedi.livejournal.com]

Kyle's eyes narrowed when he locked eyes with Shinn. Kyle wasn't planning on being any harder on him than the others, but if he stepped out of line he'd certainly make an example of him. Before stepping away Kyle gave him a nod of his head as if to say 'Don't kriff this up'.

[on-an-impulse.livejournal.com]

Shinn hoped this boot camp would end like that last one: by knife-fighting the instructor.

[jesushasagundam]

Kira had never really done the whole "boot camp" thing - he'd been thrown into battle just by falling into the cockpit with Ms. Murrue that fateful day at Heliopolis, and he'd picked up everything else on the fly as time had gone on. Still, he'd learned as much self-discipline as anyone by virtue of necessity, and there was no real problem in going through this with the rest of the team, was there? If anything, it might help them grow closer together.

He said nothing, listening to Kyle speak but still in his own thoughts. It had been a long time since he'd had to actually follow orders; he was used to doing what his heart told him was right, and it hadn't failed him so far. But if this was what it took to help the rest of the team come together, than he'd do it.

[silverduelist]

Boot camp in order for all of their pilots to familiarize themselves with each other and their own respective crafts was okay to Yzak. New tactics did have to be learned, but he wondered just how "basic" this was going to be. It wasn't as if he forgot anything he learned in the academy, so he knew full well how to carry himself as a soldier. What wasn't okay to Yzak was the idea of Athrun being here with them.

I would never imagine I'd have to go through something like this with that bastard again!

Yzak was not down with the idea of mister first place in almost everything ever being here with them.

It begins...

[fieldpromoted]

Trudy had been hanging back behind Kyle as he gave his introduction - she saw a lot of familiar faces in the ranks (such as they were right now) and paced back and forth, examining the recruits, how slow they were to respond, any set jaws or rolling eyes. She picked out one or two to keep her eye on.

Now that they had been issued their uniforms and their rifles, it was time to get down to the bones of why they were here. Discipline.

Whether a field officer or not, every officer perfects a parade voice, and it was in Trudy's loudest, most bellowing parade voice that she now shouted "Recruits ATTENTION!"

She prowled down the line, watching for sloppy or slow - she got it in spades, but it wasn't until she got sloppy and slow that she halted her progress, spun to face the recruit in question and began to yell in their face. "You call that attention, recruit? What the hell are you doing, you look like a goddamn noodle standing there - put your shoulders back, recruit! Chest out! Chin up! DO NOT LET THAT RIFLE REST ON THE GROUND!" She barely gave him time enough to think while shouting instructions in his face at the top of her lungs. "Faster, god dammit, my grandmother could move faster than you and she's dead! Feet together! What is your name, recruit?"

[ooc: Feel free to jump in and be the person Trudy is screaming her head off at.]

[comedownthisroad]

Tay is both used and unused to this feeling. The orders, the expectations of respect and immediate obedience, physical exertion, she's used to that - that's what her childhood was. But there are others with her this time, and if she slips up and mouths off, she's not gonna get a brief smackdown and a lecture from Grandfather. This is... somehow much more real.

Maybe because for the first time, she's going through training with the expectation of being in the field in the immediate future. It's not preparation for when she grows up. She is grown up.

Once she gets her jumpsuit on and her blaster rifle in hand, she stands at attention as best she can guess how, since that was one of the things her family didn't care about. She's doing a pretty good job of it, actually.

[char-char-char.livejournal.com]

Char's just kind of there, standing at attention and covering his irritation with his default amused look. He had to admit, being a thirty-year-old veteran stuck training with a bunch of kids was amusing on some level. On a direct level, though, it was damned ridiculous.

He just hoped he'd been keeping in shape well enough not to embarrass himself.