Chapter 2

"Svirany"

I yawned as I walked through the camp. It wasn't much, just a few abandoned buildings and all that. It was quite tolerable, especially for being so close to the frontlines. I walked into the tent, I saw all my buddies sitting on their cots, some of them playing cards, some of them reading books, or just sleeping. I walked to my own cot and sat down, letting out a sigh as i hit the cot. 

"Hey, Any news?" The man on my right asks. I turn my head towards him

"News? About what?"

"News about when we're gonna go out there, I wanna kick ass." This is Prince, He, like the rest of us are fresh faced recruits, we've both volunteered for the Reserve back last year. This was our first week here in the rear and we've both been waiting for the unit rotations. 

"I have no god damn clue, Just wait for the officers to say something." I said quite unamused, I've been getting this question from him nonstop ever since we got here. 

"I'm getting impatient."

"Be patient instead."

We get interrupted as an officer steps into the tent, he was quite tall, burn marks covering the left half of his face, god knows what caused it. He spoke up.

"Are you all a part of the 31st?" 

"That we are, Sir."

"Be ready by 0300, You're going out there." He turns and walks out of the tent. The entire tent erupts in cheers from the news. I look at Prince, the look on his face says it all.

I for one wasn't excited, I only joined the army in search of a job in the homeland, such as an Engineer or something, but luck wasn't on my side and I was assigned as a Rifleman. I was assigned to the 31st Mechanized Brigade and we were all sent to Svirany, They've been dealing with these separatists for about a year now and we keep getting told that they're on their last legs and we need one final offensive to finish them off. They all probably said this just so we could be excited at the fact that we're going home and so our morale doesn't plummet. The fresh soldiers all believed it, but the Veterans didn't.

I got up from my cot and bent over underneath, reaching for my Flak Vest and Helmet. I pull all my equipment out and place it down on my cot, organizing it so I can make sure I have everything that I need. 

A blonde haired boy sitting across from my cot speaks up

"Hey guys, Do we even need to bring these?" 

He's holding a small rucksack that all of us have been given. We were given a huge one and a smaller one. I was told the smaller one can be used for carrying ammunition, but I knew it was just extra weight that none of us wanted.

"Don't bother, it'll just weigh you down, ditch it unless you're carrying bandages." 

A brown haired boy said. The blonde haired kid was Elliot, the brown haired boy was Miller, They were also fresh faced soldiers, like the rest of us.

"How long do you think we're going to be out there for?" Prince said

"I just hope it's quick - These Separatists should just give up, we're gonna kill them all sooner or later." Miller says

After a while, we all finish packing our equipment up. We all went back to doing what we were doing originally. I went to sleep, the other's stayed up and played cards or talked. 

After a few hours, I get woken up by Prince.

"Hey, Oak, Wake up, We're assembling in half an hour."

I rub my eyes, sitting up on my cot and looking around the tent, Everyone is getting their equipment on. I slide off my bed and yawn, stretching my arms. I bend down and put on my uniform. The uniform was quite old, we most definitely got the shorter end of the stick and got the older uniforms. It consisted of Dark Green Fatigues with some faint camouflage patterns in them with black boots. It was nothing too fancy, but it did work. 

As I put on my uniform and slid my equipment on, I immediately felt the weight of it on my body. The Flak Jacket was quite heavy. It was just to protect us from shrapnel while we had a plate carrier beneath it to protect us from small arms fire like pistols. No doubt it would not be able to stop a rifle.

We all walk out onto the assembly grounds. I saw our armored vehicles lined up next to each other alongside the trucks and the rest of our battalion in line. The brigade commander was in the middle, about to give his speech.