“CLEAR, SERGEANT!”
“So if you are carrying anything like that, Sergeant Paddy will now come around with a bag. Right now, you are on amnesty. Anything that goes in the bag is forgotten. If I catch anything unmilitary in my barracks, I will have your ass. Is that clear?”
“CLEAR, SERGEANT.”
“If you have any money, you can keep it or turn it into the company safe. Decurion Jones will be following Sergeant Paddy with envelopes for money. He will give you a receipt. Now, this is an acceptable time for questions.”
Herzer really didn’t want to lose his money pouch so he raised his hand with a swallow of apprehension. “PERMISSION TO SPEAK, SERGEANT!”
“Speak, recruit asshole.”
“TRIARI SERGEANT, I HAVE A PERSONAL POUCH. PERMISSION TO KEEP IT, SERGEANT!”
“Granted. Small personal items are acceptable as long as I do not look upon them with disfavor.” He looked at Herzer and shook his head. “Recruit, that uniform looks like a fisking sack.”
Herzer, not knowing how to reply, stayed mute.
Jeffcoat nodded after a moment and frowned. “There’s a dusk retreat formation. Get it squared away before then.”
Herzer had no idea how he could do that, but he fully intended to try. He turned in his money, accepting the receipt, and held onto the pouch.
“When I say fall out you will fall into the temporary barracks. You will do so in a military fashion which means at a run. You will be assigned spots on the floor and gear for tonight. After you are squared away, there will be an inspection of your gear. FALL OUT!”
They barely had enough time to put their gear down on the ground before they were back outside being shouted at and began drilling. The group did not take well to drill. Some of them didn’t seem to know their left feet from their right and before long the sergeants were hoarse with shouting. Despite his physique Herzer got to the point where he felt that he was going to die if he had to do one more push-up. After much instruction they could stand at attention and parade rest, march in step, stop and turn on command. That seemed to be the minimum necessary and the sergeants brought them back to the barracks and had them fall out.
“Now, we’re going to assign some of you to temporary leadership positions. You’re probably not going to keep them. Each of the leaders will be responsible for a certain group. One of you will be in charge of the rest. Herzer, fall in over here,” he continued, pointing to a spot at the front. “You’re the Recruit Triari. That means you’re in charge of the whole group. When I take the triari you fall to the rear. Clear?”
“CLEAR, SERGEANT!” Herzer said, sweating. He realized he was just put in charge of the whole group and he wasn’t even sure he wanted to be in charge of himself.
“Listen up you yardbirds! I’m going to be giving some of my orders through Herzer here. If he says jump, it’s just like if I gave you the order. Clear?”
“CLEAR, SERGEANT.”
“Cruz, stand here! Abrahamson, stand here!”
Jeffcoat continued laying out the decuris and maniples, chivvying each of them into place.
“There’s sixty-two of you right now. By the time we’re done, I’ll be satisfied if there’s forty. When I call for you to fall in you will fall in in this order. You will fall in and fall out at a run! Is that clear?”
“CLEAR, SERGEANT!”
“You have been formed in one triari or what we will call a triari. I am your triari sergeant. A triari normally consists of three decuri and the triari sergeant. A decuri is made up of two maniples and the decurion. A maniple consists of five legionaires including the maniple leader. For the time being, your recruit triari is Herzer Herrick. Your recruit decurions are Cruz, Abrahamson, Stahl and Pedersen. Now, I know that’s not all clear, but you’re going to be clear with in very shortly. By the tenth time you’ve fallen in on them, even you will have it figured out. Fall out and get into the barracks!”
Before the last person had gotten through the door he bellowed “FALL IN!”
Naturally, half the triari couldn’t find their place. After much swearing and push-ups they were all in place at which point he had them fall out and fall in again and again until they were all finding their place without thought.
“When I give the order, fall in to the barracks. Lay your blanket down. Lay each of your items of equipment out in a neat and soldierly fashion. You will do this quickly. The sergeants and myself will then inspect your shit. I doubt that even you yardbirds could have screwed it up already, but we’ll see. FALL OUT.”
Naturally, nothing was to their satisfaction. Cloaks were improperly folded, helmets were tarnished, lockers were not neat. And they had a very direct method of expressing their displeasure at the quality of layout. Each of the recruit’s bundles, with the exception of Herzer’s, was tossed out the door of the barracks in a heap by the time they were done.
“Get you gear sorted out and laid out in a military fashion! Lay it out in the manner that Herzer has. We’ll be back at dusk and all those ragbag uniforms had better be straight by then, too!”
Herzer found himself running from one recruit to the next, fielding their griping and cajoling or threatening them until most of the gear more or less ship-shape fashion. Along the way he rummaged up a set of needles and thread, and a couple of recruits who had some idea what they were doing with them, and got most of the uniforms more or less straight. They didn’t have so much as a knife among them, so the extra fabric had to be tucked into the uniforms, but it was as good as it was going to get. Before he was done with the last person the three sergeants had charged into the barracks.
“Fall in at attention on your gear!” Decurion Jones shouted.
Herzer pounded to the far end of the barracks and waited in unhappy silence as the sergeants went through the gear. Fewer of the bundles went out the door but still more than half, and most of the triari, including Herzer, had been gigged on their uniforms. And it was starting to get dark; the barracks were darned near black.
“All of you get that gear back in here and laid out!” Jones said when they were done. “We’re not stopping for chow until your shit is straight!”
The whole group fell out again, sorting out the piles and getting them laid out with more griping at the ones whose gear had not passed muster. The third time the sergeants came through it was to the light of torches that they passed to the recruits. Finally they were done and Jeffcoat nodded.
“That’ll do for now,” he said hoarsely. “All but those shitty-ass uniforms. But you can work on them in your free time. Fall out!”
The recruits were marched to dinner at a trot and lined up.
“The triari guide is the last one in,” Jones said. “When he’s done eating, you’re all done. And he is going to eat quickly,” the sergeant added, looking at Herzer significantly.
They passed through the line, getting wooden trays that the recruits heaped with slabs of meat, beans and cornbread.
Herzer, aware that he was going to be under scrutiny, got far less than he had intended and when he sat down he checked the rest of the group. Some of them, frankly, didn’t seem to know what “eat quickly” meant. He dawdled over his own food as long as he could until he caught another significant look from Jones at which point he shoveled what was left into his mouth and stuffed in the last piece of cornbread on top of it.
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING STILL EATING, YARDBIRD?” he heard behind him as he headed out of the mess building.
It didn’t stop with dinner. The state of the barracks was not to their satisfaction and the recruits found themselves marching up and down, back and forth and finally halfway up the Hill before they were led back to the barracks. Herzer didn’t know what time it was, but he realized that he’d gotten fully clocked into a dawn-to-dusk cycle and he was practically dropping on his feet by the time they got back to the barracks.