Now I’m Commander and I Quit

I’m a very good student at a military academy. We go through combat exercises, one troop against another, and our troop does excellently.

Now, I find myself in charge of my own troop. We come across one reconnaissance officer from the enemy troop; my entire troop is all thumbs. I realize I needed to have been giving them orders. They didn’t know what to do.

The games are halted by the commander trainers. They are dismayed at my lack of readiness.

I lay down in my bunk. The other group of trainees have left for games. I’m tired; there is no one left in the room; maybe one other person, a girl.

I think, spitefully, “if this is just becoming a place where I am giving the orders, then all of this is bullshit. I don’t have to do this. This just isn’t for me. I’m not doing army stuff if I don’t have to.”