Rise Of The Ussr In Another World - Volume 1 Chapter 14 Instructor From Hell
A/N : Scheduled chapter of the week.
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Once the cadets had packed their luggage and arrived at the gates of the Weismann estate as instructed, they found some horse carts waiting for them. Add had hired as many carts as he could, but even then it would take two rounds of travelling to carry 100 people to their destination which was over ten kilometres away in the north of Rigel. This place was chosen by Add a few days ago while he was exploring the area, for a potential place to build a training camp. The place he finally chose, was a sparsely forested patch of land on the banks of a river name by the locals as Lucent. It flowed down from the ice caps of the great dividing ranges and was quite large, at over 100 metres wide. The area was quite wide and flat, and extended for around a kilometre till the sparse trees gave way to thicker forests. This place was a good spot to build the training camp he wanted, as I was far from the town and had no villages close by as well.
When the first group arrived, they were joined by a small group of carpenters and masons. These people were also hired by Add, to serve a particular purpose. To build the training camp from scratch in this otherwise desolate place. When the cadets learnt that they would be staying here from now on, for an in definite period of time, their faces were very spectacular to see. Since there were no buildings to stay in, they were given tents, each able to hold 4 cramped individuals. As a whole, these tents formed a temporary camp. Only the young master had a smaller tent all to himself. Now, one may wonder if it was alright to camp in the middle of a monster infested forest, but Add had already thought of that. He had thoroughly gathered information about the possible risks, and monsters lurking around this particular area, and the results were not too depressing. He figured that was long as the group was alert, they should have no problems staying away from harm, and this would also serve as a good training for the cadets.
The Young Master had also brought the cooks and helpers who prepared the meals for the cadets back in the estate, who had arrived alongside rations and food supplies early in the morning. After the last of the cadets had finally arrived, Add divided them into 4 groups and assigned specific works to each group. The first two groups were told to follow the carpenters and clear the area by cutting down the trees which would then be used to make the buildings in which the cadets would be staying during the course of their training. The trees in this area were rather thin, but tall, and their trunks were mostly straight, making them ideal building materials. The second group was charged with setting up the tents, and after that, collect water and helping the cooks gather. And the last group joined the masons, to dig temporary latrines, a work not so pleasant, but important nonetheless. Add himself kept making round of the entire premises ensuring that everything was going smoothly while also looking out for any monsters that came too close.
By the time evening fell, many small oil lamps lit up in the camp. These lamps did not use, oil derived from petroleum, that commodity had yet to be discovered by the people of Iseria. The oil used for them came from the seeds of a plant called “Klifol”. The oil was too disgusting to be used for cooking, but served quite well as fuel for lamps and wicks. The Klifol trees grew in large numbers in the hills, so the oil was quite plentiful and cheap fuel. The cadets had their dinner comprising of bread, and a soup of vegetable and meat, after which Add explained to them the plans for the coming few days. The cadets would be helping the carpenters and masons who would be building the buildings of this ‘camp’ from the next day onwards. All in all there would be the main building which would serve as the residence and office of the Instructor, that is Add himself, 4 barracks for the cadets, 2 barracks for the other people like cooks and helpers, 1 mess hall coupled with a kitchen (for having the meals), A large hall for evening lectures, an armoury, 4 storage sheds, a horse shed and lastly two bathhouses and sanitation facilities in the form of deep pit latrines. There would also be a 4 metre tall wooden fence surrounding all these buildings. Aside from that there were also the various structures and obstacle courses he needed for training the cadets.
Completing all these would take a lot of time, so Add had asked Walter to gather 100 more people to work alongside the masons and carpenters to complete it. The pay offered was quite nice with 30 coppers for a day’s work. This was a big project, and the masons estimated that it would take at least 6 months to complete all of it. A total of around 100 gold coins would be spent on this work, which considering the economic situation of the Weismann house, was a severe hit to the treasury, but Add had to go on with it. To train a proper army, he needed a proper place as well. The work would start from the next day onwards, and the training of the cadets would go on alongside it. After discussing this with the cadets, he began dividing them into groups. The 100 cadets were divided into 5 groups of 20. Add called these groups, “platoons”. Next he appointed a Lieutenant who would in charge/leader of each platoon, and a sergeant, who would serve as the in charge/leader in absence of the Lieutenant. These ranks were given to those whom, Add felt were suitable for the post. The other cadets would be given ranks after the completion of their training. When addressing a ranked cadets, the others had to place a ‘comrade’ before the rank of the said person; that is, when addressing a Lieutenant, others would have to call him “comrade Lieutenant”. All the while Kent, who had also followed them here, kept noting the names of the people who were being assigned the ranks.
After this was done, Add informed the cadets that they would have to keep watch every night from now on. 10 cadets, two from each platoon were to be awake in shifts to keep watch and perform minor duties which included patrolling their barracks area, keeping watch for any animals or monsters from entering the premises and watching out for any cadets attempting to leave the barracks area. Each pair of cadets on watch would wake the next pair of cadets from their respective platoons, at the end of their one-hour shift. The ones left without having to wake up would be the first to start the watch next night. He dubbed this duty as Night watch. He also strictly emphasised that the Lieutenants and sergeants would be held responsible for any mistakes their platoon makes, and hence they were to see that the cadets under them were working properly and maintaining the discipline they were expected to. Once all this was done, the cadets were dismissed and everyone retired to their tents to sleep for the night.
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The next morning, as usual the cadets gathered together in lines and awaited their orders.
“From Today onwards you will begin the actual military training! On that matter, let me be frank with you all. When you were recruited, I believe many or even most of you had thought that your job will be that of a guard at the Weismann Estate. However, as you may have felt, that was not the case. For those who still have doubts, let me be clear; what I am training you to be, are not just pathetic watchmen, who can swing a sword or two. No! you lot are being trained to be soldiers! Soldiers who will represent the military might of our territory! In the future, it will be upon you to ensure that the people of Rigel, including your families, and all that live in our territory, are protected from all threats, be it human or monster.”
The cadets stood still, as Instructor Add spoke with his usual cold and flat tone. There were helpless smiles on many faces, and worry on others. These people may not be geniuses, but with all that had been happening ever since they joined; it did not take too much thought to understand that they were not going to be just guards. And now they realised that their suspicions were all true, they were being trained for the army after all.
“I must also remind you that whatever you think that you know of the army, it would be best if you forget it, throw it out of your head. From now on, whatever I teach you will be the only things you need to remember.”
“Then before we begin, I will ask all of you a question, and I hope you will answer me honestly. Do you understand ?”
“””YES SIR!!!”””
“Tell me, what do you think a soldier fights for ? You there, try answering me”
He pointed at a cadet who appeared to be under 20 years of age. The man in question became tensed, and his darted all around trying to find an answer.
“Uh..thatfor the loyalty to the lord he serves, sir ?”
He squeezed out such an answer after thinking for a while. But Add shook his head and asked another cadet.
“For the honour of a warrior ?”
That was also not the answer he was looking for, so he asked another cadet. But no matter what answer they gave, it did not satisfy the instructor. Finally, he stopped asking any more cadets and spoke himself.
“The question I asked you, is a common question, every soldier will ask in his life at least once. The answer to this question, itself is the very essence of being a soldier. Unfortunately, none of the answers you have given me can be called the perfect one. So let me explain. What a soldier fights for is not honour, it is not wealth, it is not loyalty to the lord as well or any such things. He fights to protect three things. The first is to protect his “motherland”, the land where he was born, from which the entirety of him came. The second, is to protect his parents who raised him, his wife and his children. And finally, he fights to protect his fellow soldier, who stands by him in life and death. That is the difference between a soldier and any other person. He lives his life not for himself, but to protect those which he holds dear!”
The cadets listened in silence, his words reverberating in their minds. Till now, they had never thought of such things. The human society of Iseria was a feudalistic one, where the nobility was supreme. All armies were loyal to the lords and kings which raised them. Loyalty to the country as a whole itself was very rare, if not absent. The common belief was that the nobles were most important, and loyalty to them was of utmost importance, but what Add told them, was effectively disregarding the common beliefs of the people.
“So I want you to remember this well! From today, till the moment you die, you must always remember what it is that you are fighting for. What it means to be a soldier! Your life is no longer yours, but it belongs to the “motherland”. Why? Because all that is you came from the motherland, and when you become dust, that dust will once again return to her! I don’t know if there are any gods, for I have not seen one ever. But I believe that if there is any god, then it’s the land which gave birth to me. I hope that those of you that also consider yourselves to be soldiers will fight to ensure that the “motherland” will be safe, that your families will be safe, and that the soldier beside you would be safe!”
The faces of the cadets were now solemn, and even the many workers who were working around them, felt the heaviness of the words he spoke.
“The life of a soldier is not easy, go become a farmer if you want a easy life. This life is one of pain, hardship and labour! Remember! You are the first and the last line between all the dangers and the ones that you wish to protect! In this line of work, some of you will not make it. We are only human, so it is inevitable that we will die. You cannot change that fact, but; what you can change is the way you meet your end. Whether you die as a helpless man trying to survive, or a soldier who has the courage to take a stand and fight till the end. Take pride in who you are, for not every man can become a soldier. That is your honour, that is your pride! Do you understand!?”
“””YES SIR!!!””” Their voices echoed, as the cadets responded with all their might.
“If you are to die, defending your motherland, worry not for your families, for as long as I am alive I ensure that every such man would be labelled a martyr, and their families will be the responsibility of the state. I will make sure that your families don’t sleep hungry if you are no longer there to provide for them, so I want you to be relieved in that aspect.”
Hearing this, the cadets shook. They had never heard of this before. All of the cadets were from the common folk, and the nobles rarely cared for their lives. Once a soldier died, his family would usually be left to fend for themselves. Generally, when soldiers died, only the families of distinguished soldiers got some reasonable sustenance from the state, while the families of regular soldiers were given a few silvers and then left to fend for themselves. The cadets never expected Add to promise to take care of their families after they died, but having trained under him till now, they felt that he was not lying.
“Lastly, I want you to learn by heart, or at least always remember the following lines I am about to sayA brave soldier who once faced against an army, all alone said these”
“To every man upon this world,
Death comes sooner or later.
And how can a man die better,
Than facing fearful odds;
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods.”
When he heard these lines, even Kent, could not help but felt his mind shake. Just where did the young master who hadn’t yet lived two decades, learn about such words. He had no idea, but he knew just how much weight those few lines had.
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After he had said what he wanted, Add began explaining to the Cadets, how their training would proceed. He had formulated a plan based on the training, the modern armies of earth gave to their new recruits. The first stage was called Basic Combat Training (BCT). This was the first step in the actual military training. It was assumed that the cadets who entered this training were 100% rookies and all the ways of the armed forces had to be drilled into them thoroughly. They would all be taught the same basic procedures and skill set so they are ready to properly work together and defend themselves, as well as their fellow soldiers, whenever and wherever necessary. It would span for 2 and a half months, and was divided into 3 phases, namely the Phase 1, 2, 3 respectively. Each phase would extend on for a month. During this time, Add would drill into them the modern way of war fare, but the most important thing that the cadets had to in this time frame learn was team work; how to perform tasks as a team, learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses and adjusting the pace to match with the team. Wars, no matter in which era or age, are never won by individual, it’s a group effort, the combined efforts of all the soldiers, working as one large team, that take an army to victory.
In the first cadets would have to follow all orders strictly and all of their actions would be under monitoring of the Instructor. Any errors or mistakes would be severely criticised and have to be corrected. Also if the mistakes are severe, the whole platoon would be subjected to punishment, no matter how many or who committed the mistake. This would foster a sense of solidarity among the unit. The Drill and ceremony training would also begin from the first week, which included the cadets being taught the correct procedures for marching and body movements such as standing at attention, “facing” (right-face/left-face), “at ease,” “to the rear” and the many others. During the evenings, after the training was over, the cadets would be attending lectures in which they would be taught the seven ‘Core Values’ every soldier must have, which include loyalty, duty, respect, sacrifice, honour, integrity and personal courage. They would also be taught subjects that involve day-to-day personal life in the Army, and the strict rules and discipline they must always abide by.
By the end of the first week, the cadets were already suffering. The relentless practicing of drills, coupled with rigorous physical exercises, made them exhaust all their energy every day. Then there were the various rules and code of conduct that every soldier had to follow. There was a lot, and since most of the cadets didn’t know how to read and write, they had to depend on the few who could and memorise as many as they could. And if the instructor ever saw them breaking a rule, then life would become a whole lot worse. They also learnt many new things such as the systematic and coordinated marching, which was very hard to do, and even after practicing for a week they had made little progress, which made the instructor make them work even harder. Marching alone was easy, marching in sync with 20 people, was very hard, when everyone had to mach everyone else’s movements. It took them 2 weeks before they managed to finally attain an appreciable degree of cooperation and synchronization. During this time, the carpenters, masons and workers had built the many obstacles and training equipment that Add had ordered. These included a 50 foot wall made of straight tree trunks, a series of rope walks and ladders placed across ditches and between trees, and a running track with ditches, wooden stumps and rocks placed all over. There were also a series of trenches dug around, and filled with some water to form a muddy drain like structure. All of these would be needed for the next part of the training training.
After they had been taught how to march and the rules of the army, Add moved to the second part of Phase 1 training. The cadets were looking very different than they had been when they arrived at the camp. Firstly, all of them had their beards and moustaches shaved clean, and their hair was also trimmed down, almost revealing the scalps. This of course had been done under the orders of young master Weismann who flatly stated that if the cadets did not prepare themselves properly, he would gladly do it for them. As to how or what he would do, no one knew and no one wanted to try to know as well. Four barbers had been specially brought into the camp for this purpose, as no modern do-it-yourself razors existed yet. Secondly, they were all dressed in matching sets of plain clothes. The clothes had not been coloured and had a brownish grey tint of the yarn used to make them. These were made of thick and coarse yarn, and were tough enough to withstand the daily training the cadets would be subjected to. Joey the tailor had been the one to deliver these as well, however his face did show a strange expression when Add had stated his order as follows.
“They should be tough enough to last for a long time, and cheap. Comfort is a secondary priority.”
Each cadet had been given two pairs of the clothes, which he introduced as the “cadet uniform”. Although not the ideal, training wear, these were the best Add could afford now, and as long as they stayed in the training, they would be wearing these only. He also got them shoes, which were made of cheap leather. However, these were not to be worn during training, as the leather didn’t sit well with rough use, dirt and grime. Although he could buy all these things, but he chose not to waste his CP on such trivial things which could still be managed. The precious CP could only be used to obtain important items and skills which he could not obtain otherwise.
In this part, he taught the cadets the basics of unarmed combat training, also known as hand-to-hand combat. This included training to subdue armed enemies with wooden swords and blunt spears as substitute and also hand to hand brawling. The evening classes were about navigation, using the position of the sun, using land marks to keep track of one’s way etc. Add introduced the compass to them. The cadets who had gradually familiarised themselves with the clock, now obtained another item to rack their brains after. Although magnets and lodestones were being long used in Iseria, a modern compass no matter how simple, was still more accurate than those. He also taught them simple map reading and how to estimate distance on the maps, although without the knowledge of SI units like metre and centimetre much of it was crude estimation.
What followed was running with a heavy log on the shoulder, which simulated carrying a wounded comrade away from a fight. Then there were the laps around the obstacle course, which tested the cadets’ stamina, flexibility and physical limits. They had to climb the 50 foot tall wooden all, with little grip on the smoothened surface, and depending on their arms to carry them up. There was also the tight rope walk over a aitch filled with water. The cadet had to walk over a thick rope tied between two trees while taking support from another thinner rope which ran in parallel above the main rope. If they slipped and fell, it was a ten metre dive into a ditch of cold muddy water. Which was not too risky, except for the few cadet’s who did not know how to swim and had to learn that as well. But perhaps the most horrific part were the narrow and dark trenches. These were long ditches barely four feet deep, filled with mud and water and covered by wooden planks, making a dark and suffocating drain. The cadets had to crawl through these drains, with close to no sense of direction whatsoever. Lastly, they were taught the most basic of first aid techniques. How to clean and dress a wound, how to deal with a broken bone etc.
And the performance of Instructor Weismann also cannot be not mentioned. Over the one month, he ruthlessly put the cadets in their place. Add relentlessly trained them, in every way he knew. Even if some cadet made mistakes repeatedly, he berated them harshly and explained to them again and again, until they corrected it. He would often drop by the tents of the cadets, without any warning and scare the living daylights out of them. His punishments were also harsh. Once a few cadets tried to poach the alcohol kept for medicinal purposes; which was edible by the way, just simple fermented ethanol; and he found out. As a reward, the three cadets who did that were tied to wooden poles and left standing the entire day under the hot sun. They were only released when they all fainted. Events like this, coupled with his usual deadpan and icy expression and harsh relentless training, made the cadets give him the nick name : The Instructor from Hell. Add of course heard it but unless anyone made the error of saying that to his face, he paid no mind. During this time, he had also been hunting monsters for meat frequently, ensuring that the cadets have a stable supply of meat, all the while also adding a little to the income by selling the monster materials. As a result, he had gained some more levels, and his level now stood at 46 and he now had a total of around 300,000 CP. There was a certain item he was planning to buy, but it was priced at 500,000 CP, so there was still some time till he had enough to get it.
Finally, after a month of this training, the cadets had learned how to follow basic drill commands, marching, navigating through obstacles and many other skills, and could now proceed to the next portion of the training. But for that, Add needed something, and that something needed a lot of CP. So once again, he set out to farm credit points. All 200,000 of them that is.
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