GrafenwöhrUS Army Training Area
Training Site 22
2/19th Company Area
West Germany
27 October, 1987
1710 Hours

I maneuvered through the gate, set up just like it was supposed to. Concertina wire in front, the middle, the back, having to be pulled aside. Then an 'S-bend' that prevented anyone from making a straight run at the camp.

Beirut taught everyone to pay attention to that. It only cost a couple hundred Marines.

Not that the civilians gave a damn. The Congressional inquiry had been largely kept quiet, but from what Stillwater said the people who ignored the intel and the requests had been offered early retirement or their pistols. The civilians who ignored it? Well, they couldn't be expected to have anything bad happen to them over a couple hundred Jarheads, could they? They just went right on doing whatever it was that civilians did.

Probably play with GI Joe figures and masturbate.

Group was running a field expedient ASP (Ammunition Supply Point) with spoked ATPs (Ammunition Transfer Points) for the stuff that could go off easier. They were pretty much supplying the artillery units and the tankers, with some infantry jumping on the boat to hit the range, since 2/19th was offering CS chamber qualification.

When I parked the vehicle Major Thursby was already standing next to the vehicle, waiting for me to get out.

"I'm gonna go see the CO," Stillwater said, getting out of the vehicle. His kneebrace squealed and he almost fell when he put his weight on his knee.

I'd have to report it.

'Well known snitch' indeed.

"So you're Corporal Cromwell," The Major said. I'd been warned she had tried to take my Corporal away three times, all three times Chief Warrant Officer Three Henley had landed on her with both feet.

"Yes, Ma'am," I said, reaching into the back and pulling my surgical bag out. I clomped my helmet on my head, shifted it, then snapped it before turning around, pulling my surgical bag over my shoulder. While she stood there I also pulled out my fast aid bag and pulled it over my head.

"Where's your weapon, Corporal?" She asked, looking me over for anything she could yell at me about.

"Left it at Atlas, Ma'am, as per SOP," I told her.

"You know, in the Army we salute superior officers," She snapped. I saw something over her shoulder that she had no idea was rumbling toward her.

No. I wasn't playing that. I stared her straight in the eyes. "A field exercise area is considered to be the equivalent of a combat zone, the kind of area I've been living since I returned from Special Weapons training. We do not salute in a combat zone, as that will identify an officer for any snipers in the area."

"Don't give me that shit, Corporal," she started.

"Get your goddamn sperm catcher of a face out of here, you dick polishing retard," Henley snapped from behind her.

The Major whipped around, looking angry, then saw who it was. She actually backed up fast enough that if I hadn't gotten out of the way, she'd have slammed into me. Instead she hit the side of the truck, staring at Henley like he was a live grenade.

"Chief, I didn't think..." she started.

"You female wanna-bes never fucking think about anything but the location of the next cock you can suck for a promotion," Henley snapped, reaching forward and grabbing her LBE. "Goddamn it, it's females like you that make it so that I regret every goddamn day that women were given the right to vote, much less serve in this man's Army."

She opened her mouth and Henley yanked her forward, throwing her behind him, so that she landed on her hands and knees in the snow, the slush, and the mud.

"Go suck cock somewhere else while the real soldiers get shit done," He said, stepping up on me. "So, Cromwell..."

"Sir?" I said mildly.

"You finished taking it up the ass from that pack of mouth breathing retards dragging their knuckles around Atlas?" He snapped.

"All done and cleaned off, sir, if you'd like, you can taste it and check," I smiled. "It's probably a bit older than you'd prefer, but hey, we've all got our hardships to bear."

That brought laughter from the cruel faced fat man. He threw back his head, held onto his belly, and actually laughed.

"Goddamn, Cromwell," he said, then reached out and hugged me, startling me. People turned and stared, but I ignored them. After a minute he set me down.

"How's Missy doing?" I asked.

His face clouded for a moment, "She's out of the cast. The scar on her leg isn't too bad, better than what could have happened," He put his hand on my shoulder, "Stillwater may be a worthless son of a bitch outside of Atlas, but he trains all of you right."

"Anyone would have done it, sir," I told him, blushing. "I was just there."

"Be that as it may," He said, closing the subject, "Well, let's go over to Operations so you can turn in your paperwork," he said, turning and walking away. I jogged a bit to catch up to him. It started drizzling, unable to make up its mind if it wanted to snow or rain, as we walked over to the sandbag and mud covered Conex that had concertina around it and a camo net covering it.

"Halt, who..." a private without even butterfly wings on his collar started.

"Get out of my goddamn way, you slack jawed walking Neveda garbage pile," Henley snapped. The kid jumped out of the way, probably afraid Henley was going to bite him. He moved over to the door, pulling it open. "I swear, they get goddamn dumber and younger every year."

"Our job to teach them and raise them, sir," I told him.

"That it is, Cromwell, that it is," He said. I followed him in, where there was a bare bulb hanging from the roof and tent liners on the walls to keep warmth in the Conex. Aine was sitting at a little foldable field desk, staring at a piece of paper with a look of disgust on her face.

"What's the problem, Lane, you little red-headed menace?" Henley asked, walking up and looking down.

"Stillwater seems to think he has some modicum of control over me," Aine said, her voice acidic.

"It's a leave form, not orders to stick your fat little ass up at an Air Force gang-bang at Rhein-Mein," Henley said. "Sixty days, just like I ordered him to write down. Personally I'm surprised it isn't written in crayon."

"But I..." Aine started.

"Go home, whip out those mosquito bumps you call tits, feed that baby of yours so that fat little blonde cousin of yours can give her big bovine jugs a rest, and try not to suck too much dick, you little weirdo," Henley said. He scrawled his name on the bottom of the paper, "Take CUC-V 25, go pick up that half-wit you call a husband from that shit-hole Atlas, and see if you can figure out what goes where to make another baby, and get the fuck out of my face. You annoy the shit out of me with all that singing."

I just leaned against the cloth covered wall and watched.

"As you wish, Chief Warrant Officer Three Henley," Aine picked up the paper, curtsied to Henley, grabbed her weapon and gear, and hustled out of the Conex. Henley watched her go and shook his head.

"She's a weird one, but she's a good secretary and driver," He told me. He sat down behind two field desks shoved together and pointed at the chair in front of it. "Have a seat, Cromwell."

"Yes, sir," I sat down, digging in my satchel and bringing out manila envelopes.

All of them had the names of the Atlas crew on them.

"Anything major I should know about?" He asked.

I nodded slow. "You need to move Nagle to another crew. The sooner the better."

"Her and Stillwater having problems?" He asked, leaning down to pick up a bottle. He set it on the table and dug out his canteen cup while I shook my head.

"No. Everyone else is pissed at her though. Stillwater acts like nothing happened, but..." I told him. He tapped the desk and I dug out my canteen cup.

He shook his head as he poured the whiskey into my canteen cup until it was about a quarter full. "I was worried more that Stillwater would stab her in the cunt."

"No. She's thoughtless as hell, and has undergone a complete personality change. As you know, Stillwater commands a lot of respect and loyalty from his crew, and some of them are starting to get in small groups of two or three and talk quietly about her where they think nobody can catch them." I told him. He poured coffee into his, then mine, and pushed a little box of creamer and sugar at me. I dropped four cubes in the cup and three packs of creamer, stirring it with my finger.

"Thoughtless how?" Henley asked, sighing.

"She mentions her husband in front of him at least once an hour," I said. "Mentions her honey-moon to Berchtesgaden all the time, how she's never met anyone who makes her feel the way Jerry makes her feel, and talks about how nice he is to her and on and on," I waited a second, then snitched on Stillwater, "Right before he vanished, Stillwater asked Nagle to marry him. She asked if she could think about it, and took the ring Stillwater offered."

"Aw, shit, let me guess, she's still wearing it," Henley groaned.

"Worse. They used it as a wedding ring," I told him.

Henley looked like he wanted to punch something. "Goddamn, that is the most thoughtless, self-centered shit I have heard in my life."

"It gets worse," I told him.

He shook his head and look a long drink straight from the bottle, "How? Does Jerry come out there and ass fuck Stillwater every day? How the flying monkey fuck does it get worse?"

"He had a sister who was killed in Vietnam when a sniper shot her," I said. Henley groaned, took another drink, and I waited till he was done, "The ring was hers. Some kind of family ring, it's got Gaelic writing on it."

"What does it say?" He asked.

I'd forgotten he knew I could speak, read, and write Gaelic.

"It says: courage, fidelity and love," I told him. He just groaned and took another slug off the bottle. "It's a 'girl's ring', apparently his sister Tabitha sent it to him to propose to Nagle with. He had mentioned that using the ring from a dead girl kept her spirit placated."

"More of that goddamn backwoods voodoo bullshit him and Aine babble about," He shook his head, "All right. I'll put her out at Perseus, with Kreutz, that'll let her ramble on about how great some fuckwit mechanic is," he grinned evilly, "I'll trigger a psych eval too, see what's going on in that baby-soft head of hers."

I nodded at that.

After that we went through each packet. He saved Stillwater for last, setting the thick manila folder aside. I sat there silently, sipping at the canteen cup full of Irish coffee. He read through it slowly, going back and forth several times before setting it all down and scrubbing his face.

"You think he's psychologically capable of maintaining control out at Atlas?" He poured more whiskey and coffee into both of our canteen cups.

I just nodded.

"There's something going on in the Kremlin, we're not sure what," Henley said, leaning back in the chair. "The CIA's come out and briefed S-2 like a half dozen times, half of the combat arms units are on quiet alert. I need Stillwater sharp if they try to roll on the Gap."

"That's not the problem," I told him.

"Is he going to go off without orders?" Henley asked me.

I shook my head.

"Then what's the problem?" He asked me.

"Chief Henley, sir, I need to know what happened in March," I told him flat out, "I need to know what caused those scars, what happened to his knee and how badly damaged it is, what kind of mental trauma he went through. I cannot give you evaluations like you want without that knowledge."

He just shook his head, "Sorry, Cromwell. S-2 is still saying that it's National Security, need to know bullshit. You know the deal, classified from birth and all that good shit."

"Then get Nagle the fuck out of Atlas, and maybe I can make sure he holds together," I snarled at him.

He just nodded, raising one eyebrow at my use of profanity. "That bad?"

I put my hands on the tables. "Sir, if you don't get her out of there, I'm going to shoot her myself if she talks about Jerry one more fucking time. Personally, I'd like to trigger a security review on him, a psych eval on her, and pull her Zulu Identifier until it was over."

He raised both eyebrows at the venom in my voice. We sat there quietly for a moment before he spoke quietly, "OK, why a security review on Jerry?"

"I'm just being a bitch, sir. No reason. Just, it annoys me to watch her hurt Stillwater out of sheer thoughtlessness."

"That's abuse of position and power, Cromwell," He said seriously.

"I know, sir, which is why I'm saying it here, to you," I told him. "And his knee needs surgery. The sooner, the better."

"I'll make arrangements for him to be seen at Darmstadt," He sighed, draining his coffee cup and refilling it. "Nobody said what I've asked of you would be easy, Cromwell."

I nodded. "I know, sir. I'm fully aware of that."

"You won't rethink Warrant Officer School?" He asked me. "I could probably get you a slot. You're a good candidate."

I shook my head. "I belong at Atlas, sir."

He lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair again. "I was like you, Cromwell, you know that?"

I frowned, "How so, sir?"

"Back in 'Nam. All gung-ho, don't leave my troops, mission first," he said softly. He blew smoke at the ceiling. "Came back in '73 after four years in the bush, they tried to make me an officer."

"How'd that go?" I asked him.

He laughed at that. "I got to West Point, second week there I put my fist in the face of some senator's son, put the marshmallow little fuck in ICU with one punch. They dropped me straight back to Special Weapons, sent me to Ice Station Romeo for six months."

I grinned at that.

"Afterwards, I told Uncle Sam to go suck all the dicks, got out for awhile."

"What made you come back?" I asked.

"Missy was born with a bad heart. Some cold blooded Blackbriar bitch was sitting in my front-room when I got back from one of the doctor's appointments. Told me that Missy would be in Walter Reed by the next morning, all I had to do was sign the papers and my three month old daughter would be bumped to the top of the infant transplant list," He told me.

"And here you are," I said.

"And here I am, in charge of the biggest pack of fucking half-wits that God ever shit out on this earth," He said, waving his hand. He stood up, picking up the manila folders and tucking them under his arm.

"I'm gonna take these to S-2, you find Stillwater and make sure he didn't get lost and choke on his own tongue," He said.

We left the conex together, walking past the E-1, who made himself scarce as soon as he saw Chief Henley. Stillwater was talking to Aine, who was holding him around his waist and swinging back and forth like a little monkey. Three CUC-V Blazers were leaving, all packed with pregnant women.

"Go make sure that little weirdo doesn't turn Stillwater into a fucking frog or something," Henley said. "Tell her she has to drive the vehicle, not a get a fucking broom and fly."

"Yes, sir," I said, veering off. Aine stood up on her tiptoes and kissed Stillwater's cheek then skipped away, laughing gaily at something.

Stillwater saw me coming and tried to smile, but once again, it didn't touch his eye, which was cold and empty.

"They're going to meet us at the gate," Stillwater said, taking a drag off his cigarette. "We'll load them into the Bradley, have the drivers take the CUC-V's back."

I just nodded.

"Done tattling?" He tried to smile again. It still didn't touch his eye.

I nodded.

"I don't hold it against you, you know?" He said, handing me a cigarette.

"You don't?" That startled me.

He shook his head, "I know I was goddamn lucky to get you back from Blackbriar. They wanted you to stay, go into the final phase as an instructor."

I shook my head, "No thanks. The emotional ties sound like they'd be a little strong."

"Plus you didn't want to get assigned some half-wit straight out of Mad House that you'd have to fuck," He grinned. That time there was a spark of humor.

"No shit. Probably end up with someone like you," I laughed.

That time his laugh wasn't full of bitterness or self-mocking.

"Let's go, Cromwell," He said, walking around the front of the vehicle. "Let's take care of this bullshit, drop the preggos and the two rejects at Darmstadt, and go home to Atlas." He looked up at the sky, "We'll probably stay at Darmstadt and sleep, go back to Atlas tomorrow afternoon."

"Sounds good," I told him, getting in.

When he shut the door he looked at me. "It'll be good to go back to Atlas. I'd like to sleep in my own bed."

I didn't say anything.

Just filed away that he no longer considered the barracks his home.

...just how much did she take away from you?...