Chapter Twenty-Eight Basic Training
Mark was bored out of his mind. It seemed like he had been sitting in that cart forever. Regardless of how long they had been travelling, the horses were just not in any hurry to get to where they were going. Several of the men, including Mark, fell asleep as the night dragged on. When Mark woke up, the horses were still plodding along toward their destination.
It took two days for them to get to basic training. A camp had been set up to train the new men they picked up along the way to continue to fight in the war. So, one moment you were fighting against them, and then those who survived the onslaught were converted into fighting for them. In this way the army, kept replenishing itself. Mark thought there must be a lot of these camps and wondered if anyone in the original army was still fighting. It would be ironic if that were to be the case.
As soon as they got to camp, all the men were lined up and the commander who led the camp addressed them. “This is the best day of your lives.” The commander started off, “Instead of fighting for a royalty that could care less if you lived or died, you now have the honor of fighting for all humanity. Your job isn’t to conquer, it’s to liberate. It’s to liberate your friends and neighbors, not only here but in places you’ve never even dreamed existed. When we liberate an area, the people there experience a better quality of life, because their toil doesn’t go to benefitting a select few, it goes to benefitting themselves. By organizing resources on a mass scale, we can eliminate hunger, provide shelter, and give everyone the opportunity to reach whatever potential they have inside of them. We will eliminate violence and war and bring about a peace that will last for ages. The generations that come after you will remember you as heroes. The skills you will learn here will make you invincible. As you learn to work as a team, those who oppose you will have no choice but to fall. Now your instructor will tell you what to do.” After the commander had finished giving his inspirational introduction, he left and disappeared into a structure and that was that.
The man who was given the task of taking the men and turning them into a well-oiled fighting machine, was not inspiration at all. In fact, he always seemed to be in a bad mood because he yelled. He yelled a lot. As soon as the sun came up in the morning he yelled, and it seemed like his voice was stuck in the loudest setting possible. Mark didn’t have to think, he just did whatever he was told to do. In a way it was a good thing for Mark because he didn’t have time to think about the people he left behind. He didn’t have time to think about Carla or Toby and Gina.
Day after day it was the same. He had no idea of how long he had been there, but he did recognize that he was better. The things he learned about fighting and working as a team amazed him. Back in the Kingdom he had always focused on skill and never got to the point where he needed to learn strategy. Soon his group was the well-oiled machine his new masters had wanted to be. He was not only stronger, but he was also smarter.
One morning, his group was told they were joining the war. Mark was not at all happy about joining the war. He wasn’t afraid of dying, he just wasn’t interested in dying for someone else’s cause. All the talk about making the world a better place through violence didn’t resonate with him. It resonated with others, not him.
There were others in his group that had fully committed to the war effort. They believed that what they were doing was for the long term good of humanity. Mark wasn’t sure one way or the other. Of course, time would tell. The thing is Mark didn’t think he would be alive long enough to find out. Mark’s group were sent beyond his own kingdom to a place Mark had never been before. Anywhere beyond the kingdom was a place Mark had never been before. It took several weeks to get there. By the time Mark got to the front, he was amazed at just how much ground they had captured since his own Kingdom was overrun. He passed carts of men who had been defeated on their way to be trained like he was.
Now you would think that the new recruits would cause trouble, but you would be wrong. The morality of their mission and the promise of a better life for all resonated with all who were forced to join. They had a greater purpose now than just fighting for someone who didn’t really care if they lived or died, and they committed themselves to it.
Mark saw battle for the first time in his life. It was something you never forget. The first time you kill someone. The first victory your group secures for the cause. The strategy of those in command amazed Mark. It was like they knew in advance what their enemies were going to do. The battle that Mark participated in was nothing less than brilliant and the enemy soon surrendered. The bloodshed was kept to a minimum and the whole process repeated itself.
Once the enemy was subdued, the soldiers started directing the common people in getting their lives back to normal. New organizations were established, and the new territory started contributing immediately to the overall good of the world. Mark couldn’t see how this army could be defeated and over time, He felt like it was destiny.