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Chapter 1: Boot Camp

" Hey Rudy," called Deiter. "Sarge wants us to run the obstacle course before we head over to weapons training."

"Ah, crap," I replied. I slowly got up from from my bunk. I hated that course. "The mud always gets into my fur and then it pulls all over for the whole day."

"Well, that just sucks for you then, doesn't it?"

This new fur just happened to be Heinrich Bawmann, the Sargent in charge of my squadron. He was known for being tough as nails and not taking crap from anyone. He was rumored to have disobedient soldiers court marshaled over the smallest matters.

I jumped to my feet and went to attention. Deiter followed suit to avoid Gunny's attention. My heart was pounding as I waited for the command to be at ease. A single bead of sweat rolled down my facial fur, leaving a trail of wet fur that gave the appearance that he had been crying.

"Why you cryin' boy?" asked Gunny.

"I'm not crying sir, it's sweat," I answered quickly. "It's hot in these barracks."

"Well, get changed to run the Grinder. In case you forgot, that would be the obstacle course."

I thought about making a smart comment but held my tongue, remembering the time I tried to get the last word in. I had to run so long that I literally could not feel my legs for the three days afterward.

Gunny left me and Deiter to change into P.T. clothes. Not three minutes later, me and Deiter met up with the rest of the squad. Greg, a stallion that moved to the KoT several years earlier, was our machine gunner and Al, a tiger that was, like me and Deiter, a rifleman.

After a short greeting, Gunny called us over to the start of the course. We all lined up to run the course. In order it was Me, Greg, Al, and then Deiter.

"Well, I forgot to tell you all something," stated Gunny. "The fur that finishes in the shortest time gets to skip the run tomorrow."

A wave of shock ran through the squad. The run planed was right after lunch and was supposedly two miles total. One mile out, one mile back.

"Ready, GO!" shouted Gunny.

I was caught by surprise and almost tripped as I took off. I jumped over the low wall, across the ditch and hauled ass over the cargo net. I finally arrived at the barbed wire covered mud pit. As I dove under the wire, machine guns roared to life over head. You have got to be kidding me, I thought to myself.

"Keep your head down out there," I heard Gunny shout. "That's live ammunition!"

Halfway through the mud pit, I felt the mud reach under the fur on my elbows and knees. By the end of the pit, my entire front was soaking in mud and water from the occasional puddle. I paused briefly to shake some of it out. Then I carries on by running to the the weapons station and awaited further orders.

As I waited, my friends all completed the course and began to clean themselves as best they could before they began weapons training. I had the hardest time of it because my fur was the thickest of the group. While they could easily wash the mud out of their fur, I had to scrub it for a long, long time. After cleaning ourselves, Gunny walked up.

"The fur with the longest time, is Al. Next is Deiter, and the fur in second is..." he paused. "Rudy. Greg, you don't have to do the run tomorrow."

"Wow, how close was it?" Greg asked out of curosity.

"You beat Rudy by about half of a second."

Greg silently looked at me with an apologetic look. I shrugged dismissively, trying to change the subject. We all walked into the munitions locker and grabbed our gear.

Us tigers got our bolt action rifles, which were the envy of all of the armies around the world at the time. The R-75 was a rifle that had a fast working bolt and a 10 round magazine. The machine gun of choice was the M-18, a squad support weapon that mounted on a bi pod and had a 75 to 100 belt that lasted between around 10 to 15 seconds if the trigger were held down. The last weapon was Gunny's sub machine gun. The S-26 fired its 45 round magazine in about 13 seconds.

With this firepower capability, it was no surprise that the firing range our squadron was at erupted into a hail of bullets whizzing towards silhouettes. The bullets not only peppered the targets, but literally destroyed them. After about half an hour, we stopped firing and began cleaning our weapons.

As the we cleaned, reports from the Lion's Kingdom began streaming in and around the base. Reports of a new canine army filtered through to my squad.

"Did you hear about the mixed canine army that is forming near our border?" asked a young tiger.

"No. Is there any proof to these claims?" I replied.

"Yeah, I saw the pictures from our spy planes about an hour ago. It looks like the 1st Army is going to have their hands full."

"Did you hear that boys?" called Gunny. "We have orders to move to the new front. The sly Foxes have declared war on us, opening a whole new front."

"Well, what other armies are going with us?" asked Deiter.

"As far as I know, we are the only army going. The Foxes sent most of their furs to assist the Wolves in attacking the Lions. We will be facing the Fox's Home Guard, mostly conscripted furs, and the 10th Mixed Canine Army, which is a mix of Wolves, Foxes, and other damn dogs of all sorts." said Gunny.

"When do we leave?" asked Greg.

"Pack your bags and your equipment, because you won't have time tomorrow. That's when we are leaving. You are the best squad in this army, if I do say so myself. So follow my orders and you might make it home from this war alive." answered Gunny.

As I hear the news I can't help but feel elated. Finally, some action! I thought to myself. If only then I had know what kind of hell we would have been facing, I wouldn't have been quite so excited.