“Whatever. I’ll send you the files.”
By the end of the week, the entire squadron had divided up the chores to ensure that the Plebes who were struggling were given extra time to train. Joanie was running around helping everyone practice their breathing, and Catie was typing twelve papers.
◆ ◆ ◆
“No classes tomorrow, what’s up with that?” Catie asked.
“Hey, it’s Saturday,” Joanie answered.
“I think there’s more to it than that. Baker looked very pleased with himself when he announced it.”
“I’m sure they’ve thought up some fun exercises for us to do. Or maybe we’ll get to go to the rifle range!”
“I don’t think fun is going to have anything to do with it,” Catie said.
◆ ◆ ◆
The next morning when they formed up for PT, instead of doing PT, they marched to Delphi City’s central park.
“You’ll be happy to know that we’ve been given exclusive use of the beach for today,” Cadet Colonel Cordova announced as the Plebes marched onto the beach. “We’ve even arranged for some toys to play with.” She pointed to a stack of logs.
“Each squadron will have two hours to play on the beach!” Cadet Lt. Colonel Jefferson said. “While you’re playing, the other squadrons will be practicing their marching.”
“That means we’ll be marching for eight hours,” Joanie hissed.
“Plebe McCoy, give me twenty!”
Joanie got down and did twenty push-ups. “Serves me right for talking out loud!” she thought.
◆ ◆ ◆
Catie and Joanie’s squadron was the third to hit the beach. It was really torn up from whatever the other squadrons had done. Five Plebes had been taken away on stretchers, and the others looked like they’d been put through a special kind of hell. Their exhaustion was palpable as they made their way off the beach. They were allowed a ten-minute water break before they had to start marching.
“Our turn!” Cadet Major Baker shouted. “Each flight, grab a log!”
There were three-meter-long logs spread across the beach. They were about half a meter in diameter and looked like they weighed a ton; in fact, they weighed five hundred pounds each.
“I want those logs at the top of the beach, and I want the red end pointed at the ocean at all times, and keep them off the sand!” Cadet Major Baker yelled. “Now, move!”
Catie’s flight ran down to their log, they looked at their Flight Lieutenant for instructions, but he just motioned up the beach and smiled. The Plebes spread themselves out on both sides of the log and lifted it. It was awkward; four of the men in the flight were six feet or taller. Three women and two men were around five feet seven, and Juliet was five feet one.
They started to shuffle up the beach, but with the rough sand, it was difficult. They had only made it four meters before someone tripped, and they dropped the log. The rear four kept hold of it so that it didn’t crush anyone; just the front end hit the sand.
“Pick it up and go back and start over!” Cadet Lieutenant Hoffman yelled.
“This is impossible,” Julie wailed. “The sand is too rough to walk on, especially when you’re carrying this log.”
“Then let’s not do that!” Catie said. “Let’s do like a bucket brigade. We line up and move the log forward, the rear two move to the front once the log is beyond them, and so on!”
“Let’s do it!” Plebe Howard yelled.
They started their log brigade; it was soon apparent that Julie was unable to get a grasp of the log because of her short stature.
“Julie, you go out front and make a place for the next two to stand on,” Catie yelled.
“Got it!”
Julie moved to the front and started kicking the sand level. As the log moved up the beach, she ran in front, leveling the sand.
Their flight was the first to get the log to the top of the beach. They stood there, holding it and smiling at each other, proud of their accomplishment.
“Don’t just stand there! Take it back down to the water!” Cadet Lieutenant Hoffman yelled.
The trip down was easier on Julie since she already had leveled spots for them to stand on, she just had to smooth them out from the wear of five Plebes walking on them.
“Bring it back!” Cadet Lieutenant Hoffman yelled.
◆ ◆ ◆
Their technique slowly spread up and down the line, and by the end of their first hour, all the flights were following their example.
“Now, I think it’s time to roll them!” Cadet Colonel Cordova yelled.
“Alright, turn it sideways and roll them up the beach,” Cadet Lieutenant Hoffman ordered.
“What do you think, same method?” Plebe Howard asked.
“Yes, but you tall guys need to level the sand. You’ll have a hard time getting this low,” Catie said.
“You heard what MacGregor said. Start leveling the sand,” Howard yelled as he got in front of the log and started to level the sand along its length.
The other three tall men got out in front with Howard and started leveling while everyone else bent over and started to roll the log up the slope of the beach. Here Julie showed the advantage of being short. She took up the position in the center of the log and dug in and pushed. Slowly they built up momentum. The effort by Howard and his team was helpful, but the sand was still rough and uneven. The big hills were knocked down, but there were plenty of smaller ones to impede their progress.
“Nice job, now roll it back to the water!” Cadet Lieutenant Hoffman yelled.
Since it was downhill, rolling it back to the water’s edge was easier, but that just meant it took less time before they had to turn around and roll it back up the hill.
“Come on, you can go faster than that!” Cadet Lieutenant Hoffman yelled.
Slowly the rolling of the log smoothed out the sand level. After the fourth trip, there was little
