Boys topple in heaps, one rank stepping forward to take the place of the preceding one and then going down in turn. Massive air bubbles start breaking the surface and the waters of the pool are frantically roiled for several long minutes as far below, the water does its work, forcing the oxygen out of three young pairs of lungs and filling them with its surging, killing wetness. In between the two noncoms are a long line of troopers, 14 and 15 year olds, packed together, shoulder to shoulder. “You dudes ready…?” the redhead asks. Twisted, heaped up armored bodies lie everywhere, their contorted, agonized faces mercifully hidden from view behind their opaque helmet visors. The mirrored face masks of their helmets conceal the varying degrees of hesitation, doubt and fear that all three of them are now experiencing, emotions etched onto their faces and burned into their eyes, emotions that none of them dare to verbalize.
