Story #2343

Our basic training cycle had made it to the M4 training section of basic training, and we were all on the grouping and zeroing portion. This meant that most of each platoon was sitting quietly on the bleachers at the range, doing our best to sit still and not fall asleep so we wouldn’t get smoked again.

At this point in the cycle we’d all learned not to watch when another pair of privates was getting smoked, otherwise we ended up joining them. A little ways into sitting on the bleachers I heard the familiar sound of someone getting smoked.

Drill Sergeant L somewhere behind us was yelling “One, two, three, pause, one, two, three, pause, one, two, three, pause. Privates sound the f*** off I should be able to hear you from here!”

I couldn’t help but be curious about that last comment so I risked a glance behind me. Drill Sergeant L was yelling into a handheld radio. I followed his gaze to see the two recruits on gate guard doing pushups about a half mile down the road.

No distance is great enough not to be smoked.