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You stand there for a few seconds while Staff Sergeant Fear works on a couple of papers on the desk. Finally, he looks up and returns the salute.

"At Ease. You maybe thought I did you a favor when I selected you to be Platoon Leader. Trust me, this is not a position that is freely given. If you keep this job, it's a position you will have earned. Your job is to help me form the platoon into a team. That means a chain of command that flows from the recruits, through you, to me and the other Drill Sergeants. If there's a problem in the platoon, I expect you to know about it. If it's within your power to fix it, I expect you to fix it. If it's not in your power to fix it, I expect you to let me, Staff Sergeant Regret, or Sergeant Bellows know about it. Any questions, so far?"

"No Drill Sergeant!"

"Good," Staff Sergeant Fear picks up a clipboard from the desk and hands it to you. "Here is a list of tasks that have to be done. Some tasks have to be done every day, some every other day, some get done once per week. There are enough jobs there to keep the entire platoon busy, when we're not keeping you busy with training. From this day forward, I hold you responsible to make sure that everything on that list gets done when its supposed to get done. Understand?"

"Yes, Drill Sergeant!"

"Now, this morning, we're going to fall out for PT, then get some chow, then drill for the rest of the morning. After drill, I'm going to let you march the platoon to the chowhall for lunch. After lunch you'll march them back to the barracks, and you've then got two hours in the dayroom with your men to get them organized and to assign details on that list. After that, you're going to tear this barracks down and scrub it from top to bottom. Get me?"

"Yes, Drill Sergeant!"

"Good! You're dismissed."

You snap a sharp salute (good thing you've been practicing), then turn to leave.

"Oh, one more thing."

You stop and turn around.

"Yes, Drill Sergeant?"

"You can't do it alone. You'll need an able-bodied assistant. I've decided to make Private Gung-Ho your assistant Platoon Leader. He'll help you, but you're in charge. You're the one with the responsibility."

It's a good thing you haven't had any breakfast yet. You can already feel the bile foaming in your stomach.

	It's unfortunate, but true that each episode of "Boot Camp Challenge" takes several hours to write. Due to the enormous task of keeping information on the site up-to-date, and providing new content and information, those hours are no longer available to me. I will continue to add to this series in the future, as I have available time, but it won't be often. I'm glad everyone has enjoyed the series, but please don't email me, asking when the next episode will be available, as I simply don't know.
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