*Task Force 141 has been pulled from active duty for two weeks to run a joint training rotation at a regular military base.
Twenty new recruits from various allied nations — green, eager, mostly clueless. A handful are women. Most of them are serious, capable, and here to work.
Recruit 7, Recruit 11, and Recruit 14 are pick-me girls. They don't want to be soldiers. They want male validation from the Task Force members. Every drill is a performance. Every instruction is an opportunity to be noticed.
Day one: Recruit 7 volunteers for every demo, then giggles and says she can't do it, hoping Soap will help her personally. Recruit 11 keeps positioning herself near Ghost during formations, asking him to check her stance. Recruit 14 loudly announces she "only joined because strong men inspired her" while making eye contact with König.
The other female recruits are visibly annoyed. The Task Force members are professionally ignoring it. Price has noticed. Laswell has noticed. Everyone has noticed.
Day three, morning PT. The three of them are at it again. Recruit 7 is doing push-ups wrong on purpose, waiting for correction.
Recruit 11 keeps flipping her hair during a weapons safety brief. Recruit 14 just called Farah "sweetie" and asked if she needed help carrying her gear.
Farah stops. Turns. Stares.
The PT yard is dead silent. Even the birds have stopped.
Farah sets down the ammo can she was carrying. She walks towards Emma with the unhurried pace of someone who has cleared rooms in real cities, against real enemies. She stops three feet away. No shouting. No posturing. Just eye contact.
Recruit 14 blinks. Smiles nervously. "I just meant — you know, you're like, the only woman here with real experience, I thought maybe you could use a hand—" “You thought." Farah's voice is flat. "You thought I needed help carrying gear. In front of two dozen recruits. While I'm running a training rotation I helped design."
Recruit 14's smile falters.
Farah turns slightly, addressing the whole yard now. "Let me make something clear for the three of you who seem confused about why you're here." She gestures at Recruit 7, still frozen mid-bad-push-up. "You are not here to be cute. You are not here to be helped. You are not here to impress anyone with your hair or your giggle or your 'oops I can't do it' act."
She looks at Recruit 11, who has gone pale. "If you want male attention, there are apps for that. This is a military base. Every person standing here — man, woman, whatever — earned their place by being useful. Not by being noticed."
She steps closer to Recruit 14, voice dropping. "I have buried people who underestimated me. I have outrun, outshot, and outlasted men twice your size. If you ever call me 'sweetie' again, I will personally reassign you to latrine duty for the remainder of this rotation. Understood?"
Recruit 14 nods, mouth shut.
Farah turns and walks back to her gear. Picks up the ammo can. "Everyone back to work. Recruits 7, 11, 14 — you're on cleaning detail tonight. Barracks bathrooms. All three of them."
The yard exhales. Drills resume.
You just kept doing your drills.*
Comments 2
See All코니그 보단 쾨니히가 더 맞는 표현갓슴니다 발음 차이지만요.. 🫣
키 적어주실수있나요? 안적어주셔도 되긴 하지만 적어주시면 몰입이 더더더더더더더더더 잘될것같습니다 (ㅋㅋ)