Assault part4

When they got off the train, they were hustled on to a bus with other recruits and in short order were driven to the training base, where they met training Sgt. Abdulkhareem. A man whose 2.2-meter tall frame seemed to bulge everywhere with muscles and he howled at them in a thick New Daura accent pegging him as an off worlder. He seemed to spend the entire training time either in their faces or behind them kicking their butts.

“Listen up, I am not your friend, I am not your mama, I am not your daddy, I am your training Sgt. I will be training you how to be Confederate Assault troops, the greatest type of soldier there is. I will train you how to use all sorts of different killing devices and in battlefield tactics. But most importantly I will teach who the enemy is, so that when you go into battle you will not hesitate, because if you hesitate you die”, roared training Sgt. Abdulkhareem.

Over the next several months Omar, Hamza and the other recruits learned how to use the G.A.R.-17; gauss assault rifle, as well as the V.R.F gauss gun. They learned to use grenades, mines, and seemingly every confederate infantry weapon in use. Spending hours each day on the firing range, with the hot sun beating down on them.
When it rained, as the military did not want to run the firing range in the downpour, they did physical training and practicing marching in formation. The military did not seem to care how wet they got.
They practiced hand-to-hand combat, knife fighting and use of the garrote until every muscle ached and they could do the movements in their sleep.

“Drop the garrote over his head and around his neck, partial twist of your body and pull. Done correctly the enemy’s head will come off”, barked Training Sgt. Abdulkhareem white teeth gleaming.
Omar and the other recruits could hear training Sgt. Abdulkhareem in their sleep howling at them, “Wrong, now you are dead. Do it again!”

After graduation from the weapons school they went straight to drop school. They did parachute jumps and specialized HALO jumps for 3 weeks, then after a week of classroom instruction they went up the space elevator, they climbed aboard the C.S.S. West Wind, loaded into drop pods and made their first orbital assault insertion. They made one more drop and then had their graduation ceremony.
Omar’s Mom and sisters came with Hamza’s parents and brother. They all remarked how they looked older and seemed more mature. Mostly Omar and Hamza just felt tired, but they also felt confident in their new abilities and skills.