The heat at the “La Culebra” Training Camp , on the outskirts of Hermosillo , wasn’t just a temperature: it was a palpable pressure that clung to your body and pressed you against the dry earth. By six in the morning, the sun was already beating down on the concrete barracks, and the air smelled of dust, stale sweat, and diesel. Nothing grew there except discipline… and fear.
I was Private Jessica Morales , twenty-six years old, from a forgotten town in Zacatecas , supposedly without education or a future. I adjusted my boots with calculated clumsiness, letting my hands look unsteady, always a second slower than the others. My hair was pulled back in a regulation bun, but slightly messy, like someone who doesn’t yet understand military rigidity.
“Hurry up, Jess,” whispered Lucía Hernández , my bunkmate, a nineteen-year-old girl from Oaxaca. “Today the sergeant is in the mood to destroy someone.”
“I’m coming…” I replied, feigning anxiety.
Inside, Lieutenant Colonel Rebeca Torres , an intelligence officer with the Mexican Army, who had conducted covert operations in Central America and joint missions with international forces, observed everything with clinical detachment. No one at that base knew that the clumsy recruit who was always running back could shut down a military installation with a single encrypted call to the Ministry of National Defense ( SEDENA ).
My mission was clear and brutal: to become the perfect victim.
For six weeks I had lived like Jessica. I had studied the files of soldiers who had deserted basic training, imitated their fears, their hunched posture, their learned silence. I had buried my pride—that Mexican pride that compels you to endure—because here I had to die so that the truth could emerge alive.
Rumors had reached the offices in Lomas de Sotelo , Mexico City: abuses, illegal punishments, extortion disguised as “fines,” systematic humiliation. But the official reports were always clean. Fear is an excellent eraser.
They needed someone invisible.
Someone like “the poor girl from Zacatecas.”
First Sergeant Cárdenas patrolled the formation like a ranch owner. At thirty-eight, his strong body concealed a mind corroded by power. His eyes searched for weakness like a vulture.
“Attention!” he shouted.
He stopped in front of me.
“Morales,” he spat. “What the hell is this?”
He pointed to my boots, which were perfectly clean.
“They’re my boots, Sergeant,” I replied, looking straight ahead.
“Your boots?” he laughed. “Those things aren’t even fit to stand on this homeland. Is that how they defend the nation in Zacatecas? Or do they only know how to ask for government handouts there?”
The group became tense.
—Get down! Twenty push-ups! And thank the floor for putting up with you!
I obeyed. The concrete was scorching. I didn’t feel tired, I felt rage. Not for myself, but for what he represented: the corruption of the uniform.
Days later, he made me his target. He sent me to clean latrines with a toothbrush. He punished the entire section for my “mistakes.” He tried to isolate me. Some doubted him… until they realized I was just the excuse.
“Your country doesn’t need you,” he told me one afternoon.
That phrase hurt because it was the same one he had repeated to others before me.
The uniform inspection came on Friday. My uniform was spotless. There was no reason for it.
Cárdenas positioned himself behind me.
“The hair,” she said.
—Follow the regulations, Sergeant.
That was the trigger.
“I am the rule!” he roared. “Hold her back!”
Two soldiers grabbed my arms, trembling. I couldn’t resist. Cárdenas pulled out an electric machine. The whirring cut through the silence of the courtyard.
The first time was a shock. Strands of hair fell to the dusty ground. I didn’t cry. I stared at the Mexican flag waving in the brutal sun. I thought of all the women who had endured it before me.
“Now you look like a soldier,” he mocked.
When it was over, they let me go. I touched my head: jagged cuts, exposed skin.
—Pick up your trash and get out.
I gathered a lock of hair. I looked him in the eyes.
—You’re going to regret this, Sergeant.
“I wish I had done it sooner,” he replied.
That night I dialed the secure number.
—This is Lieutenant Colonel Rebeca Torres. Code red in La Culebra. I request immediate intervention.
At eight o’clock the following morning, Cougar helicopters landed, kicking up clouds of dust. General Patricia Herrera , from the high command of the Mexican Army, disembarked accompanied by the Military Police.
“Are you in charge of this unit?” he asked Cárdenas.
—Yes, my general…
—And what about this recruit?
—Disciplinary measure…
—Soldier Morales, in front.
I took a step forward.
“Your covert mission ends now,” the general announced. “Before you stands not a recruit, but Lieutenant Colonel Rebeca Torres.”
Cárdenas’ face crumbled.
“Agents, proceed,” I ordered.
The sound of handcuffs clicking shut was the cleanest sound in the desert.
Months later, I returned to Training Camp “La Culebra.” The heat was still relentless; the Sonoran sun had learned to be merciful to no one. But something was different. The air was lighter. There was no hidden fear in their eyes, no tense silences in the ranks.
The new commanders walked among the soldiers with firmness and respect. Lucía and Miguel , now
My short hair was starting to grow back. I wasn’t wearing it.
I looked at the Mexican flag waving against the blue sky, and I understood that it had all been worth it. Every insult, every unjust punishment, every strand of hair that fell to the desert floor.
Because that day something became clear that no one at that base would ever forget:
