Free Abandoned by Lee Shepherd Page A

He was still so grateful that she at least offered some form of comfort in extremely difficult times. He genuinely wanted to do the same for others. He just needed to get through the twenty-four weeks of basic training at Catterick Garrison first, before he could then go on to do a further twenty-four weeks of training to become a Combat Medical Technician.
    Charles, strangely, settled in with relative ease and discovered a new found purpose in his life. He loved the sense of unity and camaraderie that it brought him. He even made a few friends along the way — though he never allowed himself to become too close to anyone. The one thing that Charles really loved, though, was the sense of strength and power he was starting to feel. Whenever his fellow recruits would get down time, Charles would often be found honing his physique in the barracks’ gym, determined never again to be in a position where he found himself overpowered and at somebody else’s mercy.
    With sheer determination and goal-orientated ambition, Charles made light work of his initial basic training, and was so proud when he and his group of new recruits received their passing out parade at twenty-four weeks.
    However, when everybody else was heading home for two weeks leave, Charles had nowhere to go; he had already given up his flat — he never wanted to return to the area that held so many bad memories for him. Heinstead chose to stay at the barracks and throw himself into more training, something which didn’t go unnoticed by his commanding officer Marcus Lancaster. Funnily enough, Marcus was also actually from Lancaster, and it was well known throughout the unit that his family had held a long tradition of serving in the (KORBR) and that he was from a very well-respected family. This would explain how, at only twenty-one years of age, he was already a well-respected officer in the regiment.
    ‘Quite the dedicated soldier aren’t you, Charlie boy?’ Marcus remarked as Charles was delivering blow after blow to the heavy bag that hung from the gym wall.
    ‘I try my best sir. Don’t you encourage us to “be all that we can be”?’
    Marcus chuckled. ‘You’re absolutely correct, Charlie, indeed we do. I see you are hitting that bag with real bad intentions. Have you had any form of boxing training in the past?’
    He watched with interest as Charles wiped the sweat from his face at the end of yet another round.
    ‘No, sir, I just enjoy channelling my aggression through the bag, sir. It helps me to relax.’
    ‘I know exactly what you mean, Charlie,’ came Marcus’ reply. ‘What say you and me get in the ring and I’ll teach you a few moves? We could use someone like you in our boxing team — what do you reckon?’
    Charles, not quite sure what he meant by ‘someone like you’, didn’t want to cause offence, so he just agreed and climbed through the ropes into the ring with Marcus. The older man found a real respect for the younger as he put him through his paces, thinking he would soon start to tire as he shouted out command after command. It wasn’t to be, as Charles thrived between the ropes and relentlessly delivered combinations as instructed by Marcus.
    After a gruelling ten three-minute rounds, on top of the bag work he had already put in, Charles seemed somewhat raring to continue, whereas Marcus was ready for a breather.
    ‘How about we call it a day for now, Charlie, eh? We don’t want to be burning you out lad.’
    He’d enjoyed the workout with Charles though, and the one thing he really took from it was just how much potential he had seen in the young man. He slapped Charles on the back.
    ‘I would really like you to come and try out for the team when the company returns, Charlie, I think you would be a great asset. Do you think that would be something you would be interested in?’
    Charles was not used to this kind of praise. ‘Yes sir, I think I’ll give it a go,’ he said, shocked.
    ‘Well don’t think too