Realistic or Modern ~ TO HELL AND BACK ~

[Tame Impala]

 

[Tame Impala]

Sergeant Collins

Overview

Location	The Barracks
Date	1st of August, 1942
Day	Saturday
Time	06:30

"1st of August, 1942
After an eight hours long train ride from Melbourne we finally arrived at Fenton Airfield. Covered in asphalt it's full of large hangars, wooden barracks and thousands upon thousands of Marines. We got here late at night so there wasn't too much time to look around the airfield, we're probably just a couple of hours away from sunrise.
My platoon were assigned to barrack 13 in our company's area. Loads of bunk beds and the occasional spider's all we've got for decoration, it ain't much but it's something. It smells of sweaty men and timber, a smell I've yet to get accustomed to.
- Sergeant Robert Collins
3rd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 405th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 7th Paramarine Division"

Robert's eyes were struggling to stay open as his pen drifted across the dimly lit paper. Eventually the pen slipped out of his hand and fell from the top of the bunk bed on to the wooden floor. That was his cue to shut his eyes and go to sleep. Not more than a minute later, he was dead-asleep among the other men.

Robert was awakened by someone slamming their door right open. It was Captain O'Shaughnessy, nicknamed "Red" within the Company due to his ginger beard and hair.
"Dress up boys, full gear, we're going for a run!" Echoed loudly in to the barrack, sunlight hitting the men in their face.
You could feel the displeasement in the room and hear some of them groan from their beds as the Captain left towards the next barrack.

"Why would anyone volunteer to do this?"
Robert mumbled to himself, eyes still closed.
All he wanted was to go home, or at least fall back asleep but he knew damn well that wasn't going to happen. Their rough training's what made them an elite force. No other unit in the U.S Military had so many men drop out of the training. That could only mean one thing, the Paramarines are the toughest sons of bitches out there. That's why he enlisted for this unit, if he was going to war he was going to fight with the best of them.

His thoughts were interrupted by Lieutenant Powell's voice, overpowering the mutual complaints in the room.
"I want each and everyone of you lined up outside of this barrack in ten minutes, geared up from head to toe! Is that clear?"
Darrel Powell was a great platoon leader, he trusted his non-comissioned officers and made sure to encourage the men to do their very best.

Robert was barely awake as he sat up in the bed and took a quick look around the room. How it made him miss Anna, being surrounded by men all of the time. He was suppose to be done with school by now, starting a life with her and chasing his dreams of having a career as an author. Instead he was on the other side of the world preparing for war.

"Watch out Barb, coming down. Did you manage to catch some sleep?"
He asked as he began to make his bed, not even looking at the Private.
His head was aching due to the lack of sleep, the stress was building up inside of him as he still had all of gear to put on. He was usually a morning person, but not on three and a half hours of sleep.

 

[Trektek]

Dimitri Vasiliev

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The clicking of the pocket watch that he held in his hand was loud. But it was only loud because he had been holding it, watching it for any imperfections and waiting, just waiting to adjust it as necessary. The pocket watch was important. He didn't know how or why, but everything hinged on the importance of this watch. He was sure of it. It was his duty to guard the watch and keep it safe. Safe for just the right moment in time. The time that the war would need it. The time of utmost desperation.

Dimitri watched deeply into the reflection in the watch as it changed from his own reflection to that of gunfire and then to the flames, flames that expanded into an endless void. Flames that seemed to engulf anything and everyone that was around them. It spoke to him. Told him its secrets. Whispered them in the way that flames could crackle and pop. Telling the secrets of life and death. The secrets of the beginning and the end.

Then the water came after a loud bang and extinguished the flames in a quick and fluid motion. Just as quickly as the secrets had been shared, so had they been lost. But the room continued to fill up with water. First to his knees, then his chest and finally his shoulders. There was no way out. Panic started to set in as he was engulfed, waking up in a cold sweat.

Or at least he had thought it was a cold sweat. Dimitri wiped a finger over him and discovered that it was water, and not sweat. Looking at the top bunk, someone's water must have spilled onto him. A sigh of relief was to be had that it was just some water from a canteen and not him drowning. The dream felt so realistic. Perhaps it is just the nerves about starting training. Or a feeling of something else. But that was not something that he could afford to be thinking about now. It was time to get ready.

Groggy and with ill found sleep, he followed the cues of the others and started getting himself ready for the exercises. He would not be one to get left behind. Let it not be said that Dimitri Vasiliev was a lazy good for nothing. He would get his training and help out in the war effort. That was the American Way. And he was nothing if not a red blooded American like everyone else that was here.​

 

[Jannah]

Taki Togawa
​

War.

He was actually going off to war.

It was surreal, everything that had come to past in the last years. Taki still remembered much of it as if it was yesterday. The Empire had attacked American soil, those of Japanese descent begun being rounded up like cattle, and finally he himself was thrust off into a war that nobody wanted. It was a lot of take in and now, while sitting in barracks deep in god forsaken Australia, another reality begun to fully sink in.

Surrounded by the other men with little concept of personal space at all, Taki picked up the perpetual stenches of body odor and sweat that soaked their sleeping quarters. Even all these months later he was yet to grow fully accustomed to the close quarters and all the rather not so pleasant habits that were revealed because of it. He only allowed himself to take solace in it, knowing what was to come was almost destined to be worse; he could deal with a little discomfort over watching his comrades get shot down as would inevitably happen. For now, he tried to make the most of the relative stability that existed before being thrust into Hell itself.

It was those god damn mornings that gave Taki the first taste of what was to come. He hated the abrupt stir from a peaceful slumber he felt every morning; a testament to a body well worn down the previous day. Yet, as the commands came from his superiors he obeyed without question. Despite experiencing the typical grogginess of an individual awakened prematurely he went about his brief morning routine. Bed was made, he was dressed, and he was geared up. He had done it all in record time, to boot. When his superiors said ten minutes he knew they meant ten minutes.

With all the others, unquestionably about as groggy as he was, he made his way to the queue that had begun to form outside the barrack. He stood, at attention, barely moving at all just as instructed. It was there he glanced at the scenery in front of him, only able to guess at what was to come. He had no doubts that his superiors had arranged the most strenuous exercise possible. They were supposedly the best of the best, and those officers would damn well ensure they met the reputation they had gained.

 

[Becker]

Luigi 'Barb' Barbaro

Time seemed to tip-toe by as Luigi stared into the darkness above him, seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. The dry, unpleasant and constant heat was as agitating to him as the scorn he had for his brain's refusal to allow him a good night sleep. It had been a long time since Luigi slept peacefully, constant drill and training had turned his carefree mind into a lump of mass; fuelled by a wretched cocktail of caffeine and spouts of adrenaline.

Every inch of his body ached for rest and still his mind refused to relinquish any sign of what he craved. Luigi turned over in his bed and let out a frustrated sigh as he ran his finger along the wooden slats that made up the walls of the barracks. Feeling each and every bump as though they were as deep as valleys, he pictured an entire mountain-range running along a mysterious island that sat in the middle of no-where. Focusing on these details, Luigi started to feel more at ease and continued feeling along the slats as his body gradually settled into place and his vision began to blurr in the most pleasant of ways. With his eyelids feeling heavy with the weight of the world, his body frozen in bliss and with his mind finally at ease, Barbaro let everything go and surrendered himself to sleep.

What felt like seconds later, the front door was slammed open and 'Big Red' announced that the Squad was going for a early morning run - For a moment, Luigi had considered hanging Captain O'Shaughnessy from the flag pole outside the barracks, then he considered joining him up there but Luigi had to discontinue this line of thought as he had neither the energy nor the length of rope required for such insanity. Luigi settled for letting out another deep, frustrated sigh and sat upright as his mind once more kickstarted itself back into life.

'Another day in paradise'

Luigi began to swing his legs out of bed but the sight of Sergeant Collins making his way down from the bed above made him hesitate. Upon landing feet first onto the wooden decking, Robert immediately turned to making his bed and asked if 'Barb' managed to get some sleep.

"Not really, starting to think that my insomnia is getting worse the closer we get to deploying."

Not wanting to fall behind, Luigi hefted himself out of bed and steadied his exhausted body against the bedpost alongside Robert. Taking a moment to come around, he eventually turned and fixed his bed just like he was suppost' to, each fold and tuck appeared like a seamless performance of origami that only a half-alseep soldier could do without thought or consideration. Perhaps that's the best thing the military had taught 'Barb', how to perform at the subconscious level without even realizing what he was doing.

Luigi blinked a couple of times once he finished making his bed and steadied himself as he looked down, only to see his uniform on. Holding his hands in front of him in astonishment, he hadn't even registered his actions the entire time.

"Yeah, it's getting worse.."

Perplexed by the time jumps in his memory, he turned to look around the barracks at the other men. Some were already kitted up and ready for the run, others were still in their sleepwear and lagging behind the rest of the squad. Feeling a sense of understanding and sympathy for those also suffering from a clear lack of good sleep, Barb couldn't bring himself to urge them on. Instead he stood there like a statue, waiting for the next order to trickle into his fractured mind.
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