On the last day of January 1941, in the auditorium of the Fort Leavenworth Military Academy, John was attending his "graduation ceremony" along with 104 other students from the short school. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The three-month school was short, but it had already left a deep mark on John. In the past, even if he was wearing an officer's uniform, he had an unconcealable "businessman's atmosphere" on his body. Today, both in his behavior and in his way of thinking, he is beginning to "look more and more like a real professional army officer."

This comment was not made by John himself, but by Major General Bull, who had come to attend their graduation ceremony on behalf of Chief of Staff Marshall. John had heard that his old boss was likely to leave the battle planning office with him. At present, most of the work in the department is already under the responsibility of Deputy Director Nevins.

As President McNair, Major General Bull, and an alumnus-turned-senator took the stage to speak, John began to reflect on the more than 100 days and nights he had spent on the Fort Leavenworth campus.

When he first entered the school, he used to think that 3 months was such a long time. Staying in a closed school all day, in addition to studying is training, the tense and boring days seem to be endless.

But before he knew it, he was adapting to this simple, boring life and finding a lot of fun in it. Looking back now, John himself is a little emotional. I didn't expect that he could learn so many new things in such a short period of time.

For this, John is still a little proud in his heart. When he entered the school, he, a colonel who was a halfway monk, was a proper crane tail in the class no matter which subject. Three months later, his overall final score had risen to 27th. Although there is still a long way to go before he squeezes into the top 10 and receives the Army Refresher Medal (usually no medal is issued at the end of the short course, and only a few outstanding cadets can get it), John himself is already very satisfied.

Of course, the paper, which was completed under the careful guidance of President McNair, was a bit too large in the overall score. This "A" alone was enough to move him up a dozen places in the class. But even if he doesn't count his essay grades, John's grades in other subjects are above average in his class.

In fact, John himself knows that most of the students in the class do not value the assessment results as much as he does. For them, it makes no difference whether they get "A", "B" or "C", as long as they can pass and successfully graduate.

Many people still focus on activities and promotions or job transfers during the final exams, and only a few people such as Van Vliet are studying hard. But being able to squeeze into the top 30 of the class in the end helped John improve his self-confidence. This made him firmly believe that as long as he was willing to work hard, the gap between himself and those old soldiers of the army was not irreparable.

Soon, the speeches of President McNall and others ended. Next, the top 10 students in the class, such as Van Vliet, will all receive an Army Training Medal. Then, it was John who took the stage to receive his certificate of completion.

Compared to those regular cadets, John's "graduation ceremony" was a bit rudimentary. Every summer, when the master's cadets graduate, the Secretary of War and the Chief of Staff attend the graduation ceremony, which is held on an open-air sports field. Thousands of family members and guests will be in attendance, and the whole school will celebrate the whole day.

The graduation ceremony of students in a short course like John and others is much simpler (many times a year, and each time they are too big to do it and not exhaust the school to death), and the family members of the student representatives and the guests who attend the ceremony are only one or twenty people in total. After receiving the certificate of completion, everyone went to take a group photo in front of the main building of the school, and threw the hat and it was almost over.

At the time of the group photo, due to John's highest rank, he stood directly behind Major General McNair. And next to him is the "champion" Van Vliet in the class.

"John, are you ready?" In the queue, Van Vliet asked in a whisper.

"What's that?" John asked, puzzled.

"Stuff the things in the hat, don't you want to throw the hat in a while." Van Vliet snorted to the side, "Can't you wait for those kids?" ”

John looked in the direction indicated by Van Vliet, and sure enough, there was a group of children waiting there, who should be the children of military academy staff or guests.

It was then that John remembered that he had heard someone say that there was such a tradition in the American military academy. When students throw their hats at graduation ceremonies, they should put a certain amount of money and a note with a message in the hat. When they throw their hats one after another, the children will grab them, symbolizing that their will will will be passed on to the next generation.

"Why didn't you warn me sooner." John grumbled, "I didn't prepare anything. "It's too late to find a pen and paper to write a message.

"Do you have cash in your pocket, just stuff it in, it's just a formality anyway." kindly reminded and complained, and Van Vliet was also speechless. However, he has always had a good temper, and he will not bother John about this little thing, but still said with concern: "If not, I still have a little in my pocket." ”

"No, thank you, I have it." As he spoke, John pulled out a handful of change from his pocket. In this era, there were no credit cards or mobile payments, and he had long been accustomed to keeping change in his pocket in case he needed it.

Thinking that it was 1941, John counted out 19 dollars and 41 cents and stuffed it into his hat. His move made several classmates around him grin. Although they are all mid-level officers, their salaries are not high, and they are generally only a few tens of cents, no more than a dollar at most.

How can there be a hat like John, who can throw out a hat for a small 20 dollars, which is almost equal to half a month's salary of ordinary infantrymen. These bear children really made money today, eight or nine people grabbed more than 100 hats, and there was a "big prize" hidden inside.

After throwing the hat, everyone scattered in twos and threes. With the next batch of students still waiting to move into their dormitories, it's inevitable that everyone will have to celebrate with a few classmates who have a good relationship.

One is to contact the feelings, and the other is to find an opportunity to vent. After all, these people are a bunch of big men who dance knives and guns on weekdays, and they have been pretending to be good students in the school for several months, so they have to find a chance to release them.

Generally speaking, military schools are very tolerant of cadets like them who have received their certificates of completion and have not left school. In the end, if they do something slightly out of the ordinary, they will turn a blind eye. At the graduation ceremony just now, President McNair announced the pardon of a cadet who had been imprisoned for violating military discipline and school rules.

The unlucky guy who was locked up in confinement was Lucius. When this guy came back from a trip a few days ago, he was drunk and knocked over a sign in the school and was fined for 5 days. As for why Lucius made such a low-level mistake, the other students didn't know, but John knew it in his heart.

Some time ago, Lucius didn't know what way to go, and stabbed Groves and McCorshawn, a Philadelphia construction contractor, to General Campbell of the Judge Advocate General's Office. Later, however, General Somerville, with Marshall's support, pressed the matter down.

As a result, Lucius failed to steal chickens and rice, and Groves failed to calculate, but greatly offended Somerville, the boss of the engineering corps, and his life was naturally difficult. John heard from Fred that Lucius had been swept away from the Engineer Corps Construction Department and sent to a consultative body under the Military Production Commission to sit on the cold bench. It's no wonder that he would make such an unwise move in frustration.