Chris Genz

U.S. History II H
DITLO
Training Day
Bernie woke up. He read his motto on the ceiling above his cot for the third time. Let the
Germans feel the Bern! it read. Bernie was not in any ordinary bed. It was 1940. World War II
kicked off with Nazi Germany suddenly invading Poland. The Polish were overwhelmed, and
quickly taken over. He did the same to the Danes, Norwegians and the French. The Italians sided
with the Germans. Chaos ensued all over Europe, with virtually every country taking a side and
declaring war. For new immigrant Bernie Sanders, it was time for war. Bernie was originally
from Great Britain, before emigrating from Great Britain to the United States in search of a
better opportunity. With the invasion of nearby European countries, Bernie felt like his family
was being threatened in Great Britain. Several American soldiers were migrating from the US to
the UK voluntarily to help with the war effort. Bernie felt like he had no choice. He quit his job,
took a boat ride from the US to the UK, and was now training.
Bernie got up, and walked over to breakfast. Ryan, Joe, and Corporal Johnson were
sitting at the table.
Ive heard rumors of the Nazis launching air raids on Britain, Corporal Johnson said, I
sure hope they dont do anything over here at our base.
Thats not a rumor, thats a real thing. I heard they bombed over half of London, Joe
explained. Its insane, I listened to the radio broadcast this morning.
They ate breakfast talking about the Battle of Britain, as the rumors had it. When
different soldiers heard about it, they would have an extremely sad reaction as if something was

being taken away from them. Thats exactly what was happening. The German Luftwaffe was
going into Britain and fighting with air force against Britain. Corporal Johnson told them that the
Royal Air Force had the power to overpower the Luftwaffe. After all, it is the Royal Air Force
were talking about here, Corporal Johnson commented at the last second before breakfast was
over.
Now the giant bell rang and that meant that todays training began. Today we were
supposed to learn how to handle mustard gas. It was my third day of training, and we were given
gas masks and our uniforms. I was part of the British Second Army in the I Corps and we were
training for what seemed to be our lives. The Nazis were demolishing every obstacle that was in
its path with little to no resistance. It took about a month for the Nazis to take over France, and
smaller fragments of time for Poland and Czechoslovakia. Britain was the last stand before the
Nazis could sweep through the rest of Europe and the world.
Bernie learned how to put a gas mask on. He watched other people almost suffer in the
gas tank, and one soldier, Vinchenzo, had an unfortunate death, but the higher ranking officials
told the soldiers that gas training was necessary to fight in the war, because of the use of
poisonous gases. Bernie went inside the gas tank and immediately felt the effects of the last
persons turn. The goal of this is that you want to show no effect that youre being effected by
gas and tolerate the pain. It was very hard. The gas stung Bernies skin. It almost felt like the
there was a ton of pressure going onto the skin, but it ceased after thirty seconds. Bernie walked
out and walked into the group of people who were already gassed, as they called it.
Bernie, you did a great job. Youve passed the gas exam, the general told the soldiers
quickly before immediately shifting focus to the next person. Bernie waited for person after
person to finish, and when everyone was done, they were ridiculed on how an invasion was

imminent and the high ranks were mad over the fact that the soldiers were not doing anything
when they should be running or be going over something related to military. Normally the
soldiers run to the hill and back three times, but since they were not following orders, they had to
run to the hill and back a grueling six times.
Bernie was panting by the time he returned back to the camp for lunch. The first thing he
noticed was frustration among the soldiers, partly because the London rumors were found to be
true, and partly because they had to run twice as much as they used to. Portions were not large,
as the meal today was a scoop of rice. There were maggots in the rice, and there was one soldier
in particular that slammed his tray onto the table, spilling the food everywhere before being
lectured by a general to go and run some more before wasting food like that. Rations are very
important because the soldiers who are fighting are more important at the moment.
Suddenly, anger was unleashed. In about five seconds, there were two soldiers fighting,
one much larger than the other. Then, some immature soldiers were circling up and encouraging
the fight, but the nearby generals were trying their hardest to break them apart. Finally, after a
minute of fighting, the larger soldier came out victorious and the smaller soldier, who had an
extremely bloody face, was being transported to a hospital in the area. The general was lecturing
the larger soldier, who was a lot taller than the general as well, but he was trying to keep his
temper this time around.
For Bernie, he had to keep all of his anger inside him. Even though there were horrible
things happening around them, as soon as Bernie breaks and starts getting angry, his tenure as a
soldier will be over real quick. He would be sent back to America, where the war was not going
on, and he would not be able to fight for either the US or the UK. Unfortunately, some soldiers
do not consider that during their training session and it pays.

The rest of the lunch period was quiet in an awkward silence. Everyone there was
thinking to themselves the consequences if they acted up. They probably learned from the fight.
After lunch, the general came to address the trainees.
Boys, I am sad to announce that the London bombing rumors are true. The German
Luftwaffe has made their way into London and began to bomb the city. According to the RAF,
the Luftwaffe has had limited effectiveness but they have not stopped their invasion. This may
mean that the Nazis may be planning a mainland invasion of the United Kingdom. In such a
case, your training may be cut short to help our army defend against the Luftwaffe. This is your
only warning, the general explained. No one was surprised that the Germans began to bomb
London. That doesnt matter. The fact that they would be soldiers in a matter of days was the part
everyone was scared about. These soldiers are all only a few days into training, and theyre being
asked a large task; take out the Nazis. The Nazis have been training all their life to be tough,
resilient, and to follow orders, no matter the cost. This scared everyone.
Unfortunately, no one had time to worry or write letters to their family. Everyone was to
report to the hill by 14 oclock even. It was barely before that time when the general made that
speech. Everyone appeared at the hill, where we were told to take out targets that were set up
from the hill to the training camp.
Your goal here is to take out as many as these Nazis as you can, the general said. He
grabbed one of the targets and bent it a little. These are the Nazis right now. I want you to make
it back to camp in 30 minutes flat. No causalities. And make sure not to hit the training camp,
please. We already have one dead today, and we need every person alive we can for this war.
Good luck.

This was pretty easy. The Nazis were made of paper, and the bullets shredded through the
targets. But as time went on, it got harder. At one point, there were tanks and soldiers all aiming
their paper guns at the soldiers. The soldiers are supposed to get over this mini fear and shoot the
soldiers immediately, but soldiers all over the place were hesitating. To be a good soldier, the
soldiers had to not be afraid to die if it meant good for the country. These soldiers were
hesitating, and hesitating soldiers meant death.
After a while, the soldiers got back to camp, with the general looking at his watch, and
then he looked at the trainees panting, youthful faces. I hope you know, that it is sixteen
oclock! the general yelled, You soldiers are the worst! I saw every move you guys made, and
the fact that you guys all hesitated makes me even angrier. Every single one of you! You should
be ashamed of yourselves. As punishment, you guys are going to run back to the hill, and rip
every single Nazi soldier there to shreds, and bring it back here. Now!
The general was in a bad mood. On the bright side, none of the soldiers died in the fake
offensive launched. Bernie knew that this was probably going to take a very long time, since they
delivered these fake soldiers on trucks. Ripping apart the Nazis felt satisfying. The soldiers felt a
sense of relief being able to tear the Nazis to shreds. They took it personally, as their country was
being attacked. It was a sense of motivation, and a way to make the soldiers not hesitate if they
ever do this again. Even though it was relieving, tearing the Nazis apart was still grueling work.
It took us four hours, and by the time night approached, we knew that we missed the trainees
dinner. Soon, though we were able to finish up in the night, and we returned back to the camp.
Soldiers, I have some good news and some bad news for you, so Im going to start off
with the bad news. The London bombings have been consistent to this hour, so your training will
end exactly one week from now, and you will graduate into a real soldier and fight on the front

lines. You will have this time to write a letter to your family notifying them, the general
explained. There were cheers and boos from the soldiers.
The good news is that, there is some leftover supper for you guys, so you did not miss
dinner. Make sure though that you do not hesitate tomorrow during our offensive. You will do it
in time, the general said. I guarantee it.