TitoVillar
patreon
SCL Chapter 8: Whiskey, War, and the Weight of Command
🕑 Added 2025-04-07 03:28:19 +0000 UTCAs a new recruit sergeant, Augustus needed to put the orders of his superiors into practice and strictly manage his soldiers to ensure that they would not fall behind in training.
What satisfied Augustus was that the recruits in the first class were all excellent; at least their physical strength was not a problem. The soldiers from Shiloh were basically farmers, high school graduates, and truck drivers, and the recruits from Antiga, Braxis, and Tyrador also had strong bodies.
Only Benjamin Crandall, from an agricultural planet, had been a monk in the local church before, but in fact, he was high and mighty, the tallest of them all.
The two high school classmates from Augustus' hometown of Korhal, Kurt Josephine and Aland Lundstein, were the ones who really held him back.
Augustus had attended the best aristocratic schools in Styrling since he was a child, and his classmates were, of course, all descendants of aristocrats who were pampered.
Even if not all things had to be done by servants, his physical fitness was much worse than that of others who had been crawling in the mud and streets since they were young.
In fact, Augustus' friendship with them was very limited. In the past, he was always surrounded by a group of 'villains' and 'frivolous' idlers, while Josephine and Lundstein belonged to a different social circle.
But no matter what, this special relationship on the battlefield would undoubtedly make them feel close to Augustus. Whenever Augustus issued training orders or made new proposals, these new recruits from Korhal would always respond first.
This was crucial for Augustus to establish prestige in his class, making his future plan to form his own team possible. At present, there were two main groups in the second platoon's first squad: one headed by Augustus' people from Korhal, and the other composed of the Shiloh recruits led by Jim Raynor.
Augustus believed that this gap would soon disappear, and he would establish initial trust with the soldiers in his class during boot camp. Once they stepped onto the battlefield, the bond forged through life-and-death struggles would eventually unite them.
For the whole day after that, Mechanical Sergeant Tavis would appear in front of the recruits at any time and in any way to correct their standing and training postures.
Many people were covered in dust, and their legs became weak because of the sudden appearance of Kel-Morian chariots or the bullets and rockets flying from unknown directions, but it didn't take long for the recruits to become numb to it.
After all, these things weren't real.
Another major training subject for the recruits was to fight against the Kel-Morian troops that could appear at any time. During this period of time in the boot camp, they had to overcome their fear of the battlefield and the enemy.
Among these suddenly appearing Kel-Morian troops, there were both fully armed Rippers and Kel-Morian Labor Auxiliary Corps who were completely unprotected, wearing only khaki work clothes, wearing steel helmets, and carrying electromagnetic rifles and ammunition bags. If the Kel-Morians have any ability that is famous in the universe, it is to remove some parts from seemingly incomplete objects or machines and piece them together into something that can barely be used.
Augustus was told that some notorious Kel-Morian special forces should be paid special attention to, such as the Moria Sentinels, the Kelanis-Spirit Guards, the Three-Headed Snake, the Sea Dragon, the Assault Troopers, the Guild Guards, and the Brutus Brotherhood.
The holographic projection simulation army that can cover a quarter of the entire base area has actually appeared. What Augustus and his new recruits have to do during this period is to familiarize themselves with the combat mode of the Kel-Morian regular army, and at the same time remember the badges and combat habits of all the well-known combat units of the Kel-Morian.
For example, the combat style of the Three-Headed Snake is just like a group of hyenas pouncing on their prey. They often appear in deserts and desertified grasslands without cover, riding assault reconnaissance vehicles to hunt the isolated and helpless Terran Federation army.
The logo is a dark green three-headed snake with its upper body erected in a deterrent posture.
Guild Guards are composed of the bravest warriors from various guilds in Kel-Morian. They are widely known for their absolute loyalty to the guild and their unique practice of still following the tradition of using cold weapons and revolvers as their main combat weapons.
Some military experts in the Terran Federation believe that the spiritual symbolism of Guild Guards is far greater than its significance in reality. Usually, they only appear as a guard of honor during the ancestor worship ceremony in Moria.
The badge is a sword and shield pattern with a pure white background and amber outlines.
...
The first week of boot camp was all about physical fitness and formation training, interspersed with a small amount of individual weapon training, including the use of battlefield compasses, multi-spectral night vision goggles, portable personal information processors, field medical kits, and three-dimensional map imaging devices.
From the wake-up call at 6 a.m. to returning to the dormitory at 9:30 p.m., the training camp schedule was very full, and Augustus could not find time to rest at all.
After training every day, even these energetic young people were exhausted. After the first day, it was difficult for them to summon the energy to play cards or boast all night.
That being said, Augustus still took advantage of the last night of the first training week. Although the time available to recruits in boot camp would never exceed three hours, Augustus still found an opportunity to take his class to the barracks for dinner.
According to Augustus, among the several platoons of D Company, only he had been insisting on doing this—building a solid and reliable friendship with each of his subordinates, keeping in mind everyone's personality and expertise, and even noting inconspicuous personal habits.
The Marine Corps' Infantry Regulations prohibit soldiers from drinking alcohol during all service time except for vacations, so the military bar in the base was prohibited from selling alcoholic beverages.
Despite this, Augustus still got 20 bottles of No. 8 whiskey and other alcoholic beverages produced in recent years from the bartender at the price of 150 credit coins per bottle.
This was at least five times the market price. Jim Raynor was surprised by Augustus's generosity. In Shiloh, it was equivalent to the three-day salary of an ordinary agricultural robot repairman or a skilled worker in a gas refinery.
Augustus's speech, behavior, and concept of money all pointed to the same conclusion—he must be a descendant of a noble in Korhal, and not just any noble, but one who controlled at least one pillar industry or was involved in politics.
Raynor and the others in the class did not ask any more questions. Augustus made it clear that he did not want to talk about his family. So, the topic was immediately dropped, and no one mentioned it again.
If the new recruits in Augustus' class really looked up the status of the surname Mengsk in Korhal, they would have more or less understood how prominent their squad leader's family background was, but they didn't really care.
No one here cared how rich you were or how noble your family was. On the battlefield, even a billionaire's head could be smashed with a rifle butt.
If they all lived to see the day of honorable retirement, they might have the opportunity to find a stable job in Augustus' family business to support their families, and that was all they could hope for. In the Terran Federation, where the economy was in recession, order was in turmoil, and people's lives were becoming increasingly precarious, expecting more would only bring deep pain.
While eating French fries, fried steaks, and fragrant golden casseroles at the bar, all the first-class recruits sang how good it felt to have a rich man in the class, while mercilessly criticizing the Marine Corps' daily meals.
The food rations of the Federal Marine Corps had always been called 'fast-heating shit'. They had to provide soldiers with the fastest-absorbed protein and sugar in the shortest time, with taste and appearance not taken into consideration at all.
In the main base of Turaxis, Augustus ate mostly liquid food. Usually, if you needed extra food, you had to buy it at your own expense, but the supplies in the base were quite scarce, and only officers could afford fresh vegetables and meat.
However, Major Mybika believed that there was no need to improve the food standards in the boot camp because the Federal U-F series of individual rations contained all the nutrients needed by soldiers, and eating these individual rations was even healthier and more nutritious than their daily diet.
Due to the ban, everyone was restrained when drinking. Only Pastor Benjamin had never drunk alcohol and didn't want to try it.
