High School Soldier
38. Pass...!!!
28 April 2321, 08.42 WIB.
**
The atmosphere at the training ground was as crowded as ever, but today there were no tests or training.
The soldiers were wearing training uniforms and had unusual faces. Today there is no bluff and ‘siksaan’ from the coach. Today there are no clothes and faces that are dirty due to paint and mud.
Today no ‘siksaan’ sort of has to spend one full serving of lunch within 30 seconds. In addition, today there is no set meal time and the whole person can eat the food provided.
Trainers and test takers who do not pass and can still continue the test until the end gather together and mingle with each other. Even the coach can still joke even though the siteai does not allow to do ‘party’.
The cause is clear, because the situation has not been completely peaceful and the war is still going on around Karanganyar City. Moreover, Jumapolo Subdistrict is bordering Sukoharjo Regency which is trying to be defended from the invasion of other world troops.
Some residents saw from the fence the soldiers who looked free after taking a hard training and exhausting physical and mental.
Some residents feel familiar with the soldiers who still had time to do something fun. Some were furious, because there were still many people who were short of food and in the training place there was plenty of food.
The point is that this training place makes the citizens split into two camps. That is the camp that supports the soldiers not to stress after taking a hard training and the camp that opposes the soldiers do something fun in a situation still at war.
Major Sugeng arrived to join the participants and coaches who were having fun.all participants and coaches paused for a moment to pay their respects to Sugeng as the highest ranking soldier in this place.
“You can continue having fun before plunging into the battlefield again,” said Sugeng with a serious face even in a relaxed atmosphere.
“Siap..!” answer all participants and coaches.
On this day, there was no one place to eat for the 10 soldiers and shared their contents with each other. The soldiers could eat the prepared food and drink the available iced tea.
Some of the soldiers saw some residents looking towards the place of this party. It made the atmosphere awkward and felt unworthy of doing this fun thing.
The saying that ‘have fun over the suffering of others’ might be worth saying in the current atmosphere.
But Sugeng took the loudspeaker and said, “The people around the training ground, if you want to join us please come here. The gate will be opened and you can join us..”.
Two trainers headed to the gate of the training ground to carry out Sugeng's orders, which opened the gate so that residents who wanted to join could join the party.
Some residents enter the training ground with faces that still show a sense of ‘doubt’. Most of the residents who entered the training ground were mothers who brought their toddler children.
In a war situation like this, food would become very difficult to find and very expensive. That's why mothers bring their children to this place which is provided a lot of food.
Food obtained by the military is then distributed to other places that still have something to do with the military actually comes from tax money paid by citizens.
So allowing people to eat together is not wrong.
In addition to mothers and children, the elderly are also invited to eat together. Because the elderly are a vulnerable group of people suffering from malnutrition even though every day they eat rice. If every day only eat rice alone, it is the same that they do not get other nutrients than the rice itself.
Salt is indeed abundant, because Indonesia's sea area is wider than the mainland and Indonesia's production of garan is the highest in the world. Most of the salt consumed by Indonesians is sea salt. Eating salt rice is already filling, but has not met standard nutrition.
**
After this, is the main event of the planned arrangement of events. The event is highly awaited by all participants who successfully take the training and tests to the full extent.
This is an event that makes all participants who successfully take training and tests to the fullest feel nervous. After this is the announcement event of participants who graduated to training to become Special Student Forces.
All participants, both those who did not graduate and who can follow the training until the end to the place where the next event is held, namely the hall.
Some people pray according to their own religion to get satisfactory results. Some more looks resigned and impressed ‘dumb’.
At registration, there are no listed benefits if you graduate to become a Special Student Team. What the participants thought at registration may be only ‘honor’ and ‘pride’ if successfully become part of special forces.
The participants who skipped the training until the end sat in the front row until the next. Participants who did not pass sat in the back row and so on.
In front of them sat 25 coaches and Major Sugeng. There are no invitations to this event, as it is a closed event.
It also happens in training places all over Indonesia. Although the people in the initial unit of participants knew if they had taken the training, the general public was not allowed to know the identity of the special forces soldiers. That was also the case for soldiers from the Special Student Forces section.
The host stands on the pulpit to read out the sequence of events, the host is one of the coaches.
The event began with singing the Indonesian national anthem. Then a speech from Sugeng that was themed about ‘spirit of young blood’.
“It is time for the main event, which is the order of the participants who passed the Special Student Forces formation test, I will read the participants who graduated from the first order.
The host read out one by one the names of the participants who passed, but what was surprising was that the participants who ranked first were not Nio.
When the mention of the next name Nio name is not mentioned, until the 10th order occupied by Rio.
Sima ranks 20th below participants who graduated from Company 406. Until the last order of participants, namely 24 Nio names were not mentioned.
Arista who did not pass looked very surprised, as well as Ika who passed and was in 22nd place. Similarly, Nio's colleagues in Squad 3 also expressed not to accept the words of the host.
But Nio's face did not show any disappointment or anything like that. Nio's face still showed a calm expression even though his closest comrades were not calm.
The whole person stared in wonder at Nio who made him say, “Why does everyone look disappointed? Though the one who did not pass it was me.”
“Because the 24th order participant is in pain, he is declared not to pass. To replace the order 24, then who ranks is the participant of the order 25, namely Sergeant One Nio from Company 406,” said the host who made some people breathe a sigh of relief.
Nio only showed an expression of disbelief with what he saw. Rio and Sima quickly headed towards Nio's seat and embraced him.
Some parties can already guess if Nio passed this training, but in a way that can be said very ‘coincident’ and very dependent on luck.
"Pass...!!!" rio and Sima shouted simultaneously which made Nio distracted.
“Good training is mental testing,” said Nio while letting out a little tear in the corner of his eye.