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right. “Goddamn it,” he snapped. Scott almost never missed right, and when he did, it usually meant his leg was tired. He stepped back behind the tee and took a practice swing.
    “Three more kicks and this is over,” he told himself.
    The next one was perfect, or at least it went over the crossbar. The next one did as well, but he nearly hooked it.
    “One more,” Andy told him. “And this will cost me $10.”
    The rest of the platoon was cheering and hooting around him. Scott was set up his usual step-and-a-half from the block. He stepped in, planted his left foot next to the block and snapped his leg through.
    As Scott looked up, even he was surprised. He had nailed it and a half. Right down the middle, high and deep. It backed Slick Man to the edge of the track and easily would have been good from 55-60 yards. He lifted both arms, palms out and turned to Andy, who lifted him off the ground. When Andy put him back down, Scott collapsed on his back, exhausted. With his eyes closed he thought of Roni and of football and of her talking about design school again. Maybe there’s a future for both after all.
    But his thoughts were soon broken as he felt something falling on his face. He opened his eyes to find himself covered with $10 bills. He smiled, and hopped back his feet. “Come on assholes,” Scott smiled. “I’m buying.”
     
     
    ****
     
     
    CHAPTER 6
    The following Tuesday was even more significant than winning the field-goal challenge. April 19 – 30 days from graduation – dawned warm and sunny in the middle of Missouri. It was going to be full day for the boys of Second Platoon.
    The morning was slated for the second of four physical training tests. Push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, horizontal ladder and the Run, Dodge and Jump made up the agenda.
    Scott knocked out 32 push-ups in the 30-second time limit, 41 sit-ups and 21 pull-ups. Not his best output, but still in the Top 5 in the platoon. He hated the horizontal ladder. The ones he’d used in the past were a ladder set about nine feet off the ground.
    But the Army version was different. As an added door prize, the bars were similar to conveyer rollers, so it required even a stronger grip and upper body strength. Trainees had to grab a hold of the bar and use the momentum to swing to the next bar. And pity the guys who had to go bar to bar with both hands; they almost always fell off early into the drill.
    Only a few guys could go all the way down and back in one try. Scott wasn’t one of them. A badly dislocated shoulder in wrestling his junior year of high school had ended his dreams of college wrestling. He came back to play defensive end and kick for the Stampeders in football as a senior and also placed third at the State wrestling tournament, but it was the end of his college wrestling dream. And needless to say, it made the horizontal ladder a challenge.
    On his first try, he went down to the end but fell off trying to turn around. On the second try, he made it to the end, but couldn’t swing up onto the ladder. It was a good effort, but cost him points and he fell to 11th place in the standings. He’d have to make it up in the Run, Dodge and Jump.
    The unique exercise entailed a miniature obstacle course. The starting line was five yards from the first obstacle and trainees ran to it at full speed. Then, two hurdles, a little over waist high, made of 4x4s were set into the ground. They were about four feet apart and the object was to sidestep (or dodge ) between them. Then, another short run to a six-foot wide ditch, which had to be jumped over. On the other side of ditch was another set of hurdles, which had to be dodged through, followed by another five-yard sprint, before turning around and going back and retracing the course.
    A good time was between 25 and 30 seconds. Scott had quick feet, but not fast feet. His best time had been 33 seconds. What made it more challenging was that it was on gravel and in combat boots. Tennis shoes and