The barracks alarm was blaring loudly, ear piercing, and disturbing people’s sleep. It was a good one though. It was food time and every young cadet were expected to march to the dining hall to have their meal. 
Life wasn’t difficult in the barracks and was totally different from what Abdullah and other young cadets heard before deciding to be a soldier. 

“Life hasn’t been rough here and they have been taking it easy on us,” Abdullah smiled a day before while writing this in his diary. He remembered the very moment when his father brought him to the barracks, crying like a baby and regretting his stubborn acts which made his father enroll him into a soldier school. 

At last, life in the barracks wasn’t what his father thought it would be and the lenience of the soldiers was enough to keep him going. 
Happily, he jumped out of his bunk bed and head towards his travel bag to bring out the only food cooler he took with him to the barracks. 
On getting to the parade ground which was close to the dining hall, he was halted by the soldiers. 

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmPEFjM6FC3dALg95jtTyhuJemukxdTjpnz9M1aVF5WMZi/img_2247.avif)
[Source](https://unsplash.com/photos/a-water-tower-with-a-sign-on-top-of-it-8qEC_GitQu0)

“Hey you, go drop your cooler and get back here fast,” this felt like a movie. The general commander who has been lenient with everyone finally showed his true color. On his right hand, he had a *koboko* cane with him and on his right hand, a long belt that is enough to reach someone who is a bit far from him. 

Out of fear, Abdullah ran back into his room to drop his cooler. He cried like a fatherless kid. That was his first moment of missing home ever since he was enrolled to the soldier school by his dad. He never thought the soldiers would be this harsh. He had loved the barracks already but that’s just about to change. 

“All of you should not bother bringing your coolers to the dining hall. The soldiers sent me back to the room immediately I got to the parade ground,” Abdullah said to his roommates immediately he got into his room. They could barely hear him. He was blubbering to the point that his mates felt sorry for him and gave him a hug. 
That was the first time he felt like a brother to his roommates. They wiped off his tears and chatted about the alarm they heard. It could be a fake alarm. 

“I thought it was food time and the alarm sound meant that we all should head to the dining hall,” a little boy, Sanni, Abdullah’s age mate complained. They all were farmished and the next meal was their only hope but they were about to get derived from the next meal. 

Suddenly, they heard the noise and footsteps of every other young cadet. The soldiers were chasing them out of their rooms to the parade ground. Abdullah and his peers didn’t even wait for the soldiers to get into their room. 
Scattered, they ran out of their room forgetting to lock it up. 

“Welcome to Nasarawa barracks. If we didn’t use the food alarm to trick you all, no one will be willing to come down to the parade ground for your first entry parade to the barracks. Welcome to the life of a soldier and know that things won’t be ever easy as it has been since you got here,” the commender felt like a different person and Abdullah who used to look into his eyes couldn’t do that anymore. 
He looked more serious than a judge. 

“About to face the real life,” it’s so funny how Abdullah who has been giving good compliments about the barracks is about to change the whole thing. With the tears in his eyes dropping on his diary, he wrote about his day and how the soldiers tricked all the young cadets with a fake alarm. 
Abdullah as well wrote how the soldiers make all of them skip a meal for them to have their first parade. 

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmReSoTjToQvvrNB4SgYx2qxjVEkDCkMbn98CSCnxdQcyL/img_2248.avif)
[Source](https://unsplash.com/photos/brown-boots-on-brown-dried-leaves-YV6hrOd3fQ0)

That was the beginning of the tough days in the barracks. Manageably, he spent the whole of five years in the barracks working towards being a bonafide soldier. 
On his final day in the barracks, he sighted his father and gave him a deep hug. He looked back at the gate of the barracks and brought out his diary. 

“Finally going home. It’s been hell here,” he wrote and headed home to be celebrated as a new soldier. Life in the barracks wasn’t the best but the challenges made Abdullah a great soldier.