My twenty-third day of employment at the Military Academy of the Duchy of Danubia started and ended differently for me. When the Apprentice Aquatics Instructor arrived alone today as I finally felt confident in making all of the transfers on the trolley system the gate guard asked me to report not to the pool but to the Vice Commandant’s office.
Lt. Dracovv was sitting outside the Vice Commandant’s office when I was at the door he instructed me, “When we go inside, be sure to maintain a position of attention and look the Vice Commandant directly in the eyes,” Drakov directed.
Upon entering the office, the voice from inside directed them to do so. The platoon sergeant of the cadre of cadets and Dracovv were waiting for me. “Were you training the cadet before that cadet needed to be recovered from the water?”
The Vice Commandant of Cadets was female, mid-forties, and attractive in a way not usually associated with a uniform and offered formal greetings. “Shevat, we would like to reward you for saving this cadet’s life. She has explained to us what she did, and she knows it was not behavior acceptable to students at the national military academy. At the end of this class session, she is to be switched, twenty-five on her naked posterior. What we need to know from you is what you mean by, ‘play along?”
When she spoke, it was carefully phrased, “Ma’am. Noticing one of the female cadets struggling in the deep end of the pool, I dove down, provided a rescue breath, and undid her trousers. Her legs broke the surface and the rest of her cadre filed into the pool area. Since this was a rescue, use the effort as a rescue demonstration.
“I said ‘play along,’ hoping the cadet would stay in the rescued victim position and allow me to show the swimmer cross-chest carry to the rest of her class. Admittedly, I also hoped the cadet would face less severe consequences for her actions. Poorly chosen words as they were, based on the fact she had nearly drowned and needed to be recovered from the water,” I concluded.
“Your heroic use of your training to rescue this cadet has earned you a commendation, Instructor. Offsetting this is your compassionate attempt to avoid being punished for her actions. That recklessly endangered her own life. Instructor, this normally would carry a fifty-switch penalty. However, I have offset forty strokes due to your heroic action. Instructor Shevat, please make yourself available at the end of the class day for necessary discipline – dismissed.”
“Well, that went better for you,” Lt. Drakov said softly to me outside the office building.
“Why do I still get ten lashes?” I asked.
“Could have been fifty and then dismissed from the academy. The Vice Commandant saw the truth and compassion in your story and decided to take it easy on both of you.
“The cadet will remain with her cadre and graduate on time with her class and will wear what all of us would consider a badge of honor on your rump for the next few days. You tried to save the girl twice, succeeded once and partially the second time, you have our admiration,” Dracovv concluded.
“Well, let me get my work in before this happens,” I smiled at Drakov and headed toward the pool. When I arrived poolside, I found the same class of cadets waiting there as had been at the pool when the female cadet almost drowned herself. “Please, Instructor Shevat,” said the platoon sergeant, a male in his late twenties, “demonstrate how you rescued Cadet Kara.”
Marcia smiled and thought, ‘Well, why not? After all, I am here to instruct and train, not just to get my work in.’ I said, “Sergeant, please point out your weakest swimmers.”
“Now, do the same with your strongest swimmers,” I ordered. The sergeant looked confused. Sent another seven cadets to the left, leaving thirteen cadets and the sergeant standing in the center.
“Sergeant, your strongest and weakest cadets will undress to proper swimming attire,” Drew laughs from the class, “while the remainder of the class and yourself will report here in full combat gear and boots in five minutes – dismissed.”
Calling the twelve cadets to her side, Marcia outlined how the training would proceed, then individually showed the twelve cadets how to carry out the rescue drill. “One of you will have to go twice, and I will work with the sergeant myself,” I concluded.
Cadet Kara, the girl who was disciplined that afternoon and one of those designated a ‘weak swimmer,’ volunteered to do double duty. “I know I can do this,” Kara declared. I scanned the eyes of the other eleven rescue swimmers in training; none offered a hint that anyone else should take Kara’s place.
“Okay, I’ll be there if you need me.” I drew on the confidence of the class in her decision. Five minutes later, the fourteen ‘victims’ appeared back in the pool area. “Sergeant, please climb the ladder on the one-and-one-half-meter diving board, turn and face away from the pool, and walk backward until you fall off,” I instructed.
As the sergeant struggled up the ladder too narrow for a field pack, Marcia explained to the rest of the class that they would each follow. The cadet falling off the diving board had only one thing to do. Sink to the bottom of the pool. The rescuer was to call ‘Victim in the water’ to alert others to be ready to assist.
Would then dive into the deep end and give the victim one rescue breath. Then using the cross-chest carry method I had taught the twelve cadets, the rescuer would bring the victim to the surface and the side of the pool. The others would help drag the victim out. “Sergeant, when you’re ready, begin,” Marcia called and watched the sergeant step off the board and plunge into the deepest portion of the pool.
A deep breath, a smooth dive, a nose pinch on her victim followed by a breath of air into his mouth, a cross-chest carry position followed by strong scissor kicks brought the sergeant and me to the surface. Using my legs and right arm, I brought the sergeant to the poolside; the cadets grabbed his arms and hauled him out of the water.
A male cadet was next off the board, the exercise continued, and Kara was the rescuer. The procedure went smoothly. The class rotation was Kara’s second turn at a rescue, this victim being a female not much bigger than Kara herself. The female cadet went off the diving board and hit the water awkwardly. I was immediately at the poolside in case there was trouble.
Kara dove to the bottom and found her victim on her side. Reviewing everything I had said and shown the class, Kara shook the girl and got no response. Alright, temporary loss of consciousness, breathing rate would be slower. Pinch nostrils and hold a hand over the mouth so the victim cannot reflexively breathe water. Get into position and push off with your legs. Now start scissor kicking and using your free arm. Surface in three seconds, two, one, broaching, then breathe, Kara, breathe.
“Loss of consciousness, possible aspiration of water, I have a neck pulse,” Kara was yelling to the class when her victim opened her eyes and whispered, “Now that is the way to do a rescue, girlfriend.”
With the cadet out of the pool, the wet-uniformed half of the class retreated to the locker rooms to put on dry casual uniforms. I had nothing to shave and would simply wait the punishment time. The parade ground was full of cadets and staff information to witness the punishments.
Cadet Kara was brought out, in the formation of her cadre, in her place, but nude among her fellow cadets. Her sergeant ordered her two steps forward and presented her to the Academy Vice Commandant for discipline. While reading the charges Kara was strapped into a device that bent her over and spread her legs slightly apart. It held her firmly in place.
Her sergeant then applied in even strokes spaced thirty seconds apart, twenty-five slashes from a leather switch from the coccyx down her buttocks to her upper thighs and ending mid-way to the knee. The strokes were hard and evenly spaced and the welts raised were sufficient to suggest a return to class tomorrow would be uncomfortable if not downright unpleasant. Releasing Cadet Kara to her cadre, where she would remain at attention.
Vice Commandant then called for me to be brought forward for punishment. Lt. Drakov accompanied me and presented me to the Vice Commandant. My single charge of attempted mitigation of a cadet’s breach of protocol and the penalty of ten strokes.
Marcia was buckled into the same device used on the cadet before her as her superior was the Vice Commandant. She took off her dress tunic to allow freedom of movement. “Instructor Shevat, never have I had so defined a target for the administration of punishment,” the Vice Commandant remarked.
I thought for a moment as the first stroke of the switch struck me and remembered my pure white backside from being covered by my bikini bottom was now going to be a purplish blotch of bruises. I counted out loud as each bite of the leather switch took its toll upon her flesh. On reaching the tenth, I felt the device adjust to help me stand up correctly, then release me. I turned toward the Vice Commandant, knelt, kissed the toe of the commandant’s boot, and said, “Thank you for correcting my misguided behavior, Ma’am.”
“Protocol did not require that, Instructor Shevat, yet, I feel you have even more won the hearts of the men and women of this academy by your doing so.” The Vice Commandant then instructed Lt. Drakov to escort the newly punished Apprentice Aquatics Instructor to her office before being dismissed for the day. “Where did you learn punishment behavior, Instructor Shevat?” the Vice Commandant asked, “Whoever taught you, taught you well.”
“As you may know, Commandant, my university offers a two-semester course preparing students for the exchange program with the National University of Danubia. The instructor of that course was a sociologist named Sarah Bushnell. She believes the students should be fully aware of all aspects of Danubian life before accepting the exchange.
“That included exposure to public nudity, religious public penance, criminal collaring, and corporal punishment. In the final weeks before accepting the exchange student position, I was switched to five lashes for a demonstration of what might happen. Some dropped out of the program at that point. Most of the students dropping out were male students. Those of us left knew what to expect, Ma’am.”
“Very well. Your work here thus far has been excellent, with nothing but positive remarks about your water safety and rescue training programs. I hope our relationship shall continue beyond the start of the university year when the rest of the cadet battalion returns from summer field games. Lt. Drakov will see to your arriving home safely.”
I turned to Lt. Drakov and meekly asked him,” Lieutenant, by the way, she hired me and switched me, but I’ve never caught the Vice Commandant’s name.”
“Oh, I think you’d recognize the name when you hear it,” Dracov chuckled.
“Well?” I uttered sarcastically, “Are you going to tell me?”
“Her name is Colonel Magda Dakota, my mother,” Drakov chuckled again.
Resisting the temptation to rub her sore rear, Marcia muttered, “Your Mom sure swings a mean switch.”
“She learned taming my two brothers and me as we grew up,” Dracov grinned.
The pair reached the motor pool, where the Vice-commandant’s driver and car awaited them.
A much shorter while later than the trolley and transfer system allowed, I was at the Siminov front door saying good night to the young officer in full uniform. To kiss him or not to kiss him, I wondered. What was the Danubian protocol on that? I had the question answered by Ivan Simonov coming to the door and saying, “Lieutenant, if you wish to court this young woman, you will begin by having dinner at my family table on Sunday.”
Feeling dragged into the house by Ivan’s strong right arm, I grinned back at Dracov. She shrugged and said, “See you at work tomorrow?” His response, “Definitely!” thrilled her heart.
Ivanka arrived home, saw my backside, and took me into our shared water closet. A tube of cream, some of which Ivanka liberally applied to my welts, was shown to me. Use it once daily before bedtime until the bruising recedes. To say the rest of the evening was uneventful compared to the day is an understatement.