Percy, and the two other experienced Airmen, were fond of pointing out to the 'rejects' that Jeff was a better Airman. I had four of the saddest airmen I had seen. Percy, and Jeff we one either side of me, the rest of my protection detail, was in a line facing us. I peered at them until they looked nervous. "You four in the middle." I pointed to them. "Do what I say, and this will only be a nightmare. Mouth off, give me less than your best, or just otherwise annoy me this will be hell." The attitudes of the younger, airmen were irritating.
"I see some of you don't think I am serious." I shouted, standing straight up. I walked over to the tallest. "Let me tell you what!" I shouted wagging my finger in his face. "You think you can shoot a rifle, but you can't even control your emotions, If I could I'd kick your access to the curb, I would, but I need any one who has a reflection." He snickered. "Did I say something fun?ny."
"There is no Airforce." He chuckled.
"That's good, this is the Marines, what you have done before today, can't even begin to prepare you for what you are going to be able to do in six months." I shouted flinging spit at him.
He wiped my spit off his face and turned. "Ok, when you are done, with your ego trip I'll be waiting."
I grabbed his shoulder. "I didn't tell you, to leave." I boomed. I pushed him down, he resisted. "I wanted 500 push-ups now!?"
"Five hundred?" He asked as if I misspoke. I squeezed his shoulder, he stopped resisting fell to his knees, and start to do push up.
"Now he has to learn the hard way." I sighed, as I put my foot on his back, and counted. "See 50, that's not bad." I smirked at him. "Now for the lesson." I slowly added weight to his back until he struggled. "Come on almost up!" I encouraged him. "499 Good job" He fell to the ground. "Well you touched the ground, you get to start over." I said overly casually like I didn't care.
He groaned, I squatted in front of him, peering into his eyes. "Or you could just agree, to be a good marine." He nodded, and glared at me, I offered him my hand to help him up, he hesitated and took it.
I turned and nodded and looked at Jeff."This is the SAW, my personal favorite, the only way it could be a better weapon is if you could mount an M203 to the damn thing." He held it, inspecting it, putting the tripod down. "It's clumsy, inaccurate but, if your taking fire, it can lay down enough surprisve fire to allow others to escape, and barks loud enough to scare most off."
"In addition to that." Percy stepped forward. "In urban tight settings, it can be lethal."
"But my favorite use for the weapon is mounted to a humve." Jeff smiled. "There, it's recoil is easier to handle, and I forget the thing is damn heavy when I spin it around." He shrugged. "I just feels good there." He shook it.
"Who Rah." I grunted, shaking my head grinning.
"We all have been on the turret, and know the SAW." Another one of the young airmen mouthed off, this time a young airwoman.
"Jeff please have her show the rest of us how to clean it." I grinned evilly at Jeff, knowing she would probably not be able to. She was, a court-ordered enrollment, all of them were. She confidently took it, took it apart, while putting it together, she missed a piece, knocking it onto the ground. "Now load it." I motioned to the belts of ammo. She did. "Very good, can I see it?" She handed it to me. "Thank you.." I said taking it, inspecting it. "You did good."
"Thank you sir." She said standing at attention.
"So it will fire?" I asked turning to Percy who grinned at me, and nodded.
"Yes sir!" She said confidently. "I mean it should sir." She took a step back from her statement.
In an explosive movement, I pointed the barrel of the SAW at Percy's head. "Bang!" I shouted as I pulled the trigger. Percy only smirked at me, everyone else jumped, and shouted. "If you had needed this weapon, you'd be dead, we'd all be dead!" I shouted. "The rest of you get a gun, help her figure out what she did wrong!" The crowd groaned. "If you figure it out by dinner, you can sleep in the garage, where there is heat." I looked at Percy. "Inspire them." I grinned.
He leapt forward, like a dog, getting in their faces. "I think he wanted that done five minutes ago pansies." He barked, he reminded me like an angry bulldog.
"Jeff let's go make lunch." I smiled at him.
"Well, that was different." He smiled at me. We walked to the kitchen and made enough eggsalad for fifteen men. Jeff and I ate, took Percy some, watched our recruits until dinner.
I bent down and picked up the missing piece and handed it to our Airwoman. "I can't believe it's been ten fucking hours, and not one of you figured out, this was missing." I shouted shaking my head. "You all are going to be sub-zero tonight!" I chuckled. "Let this be your second lesson." I sighed. "There were two of you, who could have told you this was your problem." The four glared at the two older airmen. "I told them to only offer, what they are asked. A team works together and helps each other. They go beyond brothers and sisters."
"Percy." I said looking at him. "Get them fed, and then get them in beds."
"Ok, then." Percy shouted. "Around back through the basement."
The sun was getting pretty low, despite being pretty high in the sky still, all the 'shit' in the atmosphere, made it get cold much sooner. I put my arm around Jeff's side and pulled him to me. "Thanks I was cold." He smiled up at me and snuggled into my side. "Are you really going to make them sleep outside tonight?"
"Unless it gets below 0." I chuckled. "There are prices for failure, and when they are sleeping out in the wastes alone, they will thank me." I sighed. We watched Stargate, which Percy loved, in fact he wouldn't shut up until we restarted it. Other than having 2 lukewarm airmen in the garage, and four freezing one's in the front yard, it was a normal night.
The next morning I woke up, to Jeff turning off my alarm, and slipping out of bed. "Hey, what's up?" I mumbled at him.
"I have seven more mouths to feed." He chuckled. I looked at the clock he was up an hour early. I groaned, turned my alarm back on, and fell asleep.. I woke up did my morning thing, and met Percy on the way to the dining room.
"You eat like this every morning?" He chuckled. I sniffed the air Bacon, for sure, knowing Jeff, for sure eggs, I was treated to chocolate chip pancakes.
"Not usually." I said looking at the pancakes. "Normally Bacon, and eggs, and toast." I sighed.
"Well..." Percy laughed. "You just set the bar awfully high."
"What do you mean?" Jeff asked.
"That egg salad yesterday was good, it used real eggs." Percy laughed.
"Eww." Jeff sighed.
"And eggs, bacon, and pancakes." Percy chuckled. "That''s two damn fine meals back to back."
"And hashbrowns." Jeff sighed checking on them in the oven.
"Well, they are going to earn it." I chuckled. "Let's eat." I said mentioning to the table. We ate, it felt wrong not eating with my men, this would be the only time, I ate without them. It did seem reasonable, to feed the four of us, and then the eight of them.
"What's on the agenda today?" Percy asked as he shoveled it down.
"Well, I'd say you go over the M203 and M16, just like we did with the SAW." I smiled at Percy.
"Done!" He smiled. We finished, he got the rest of the men, they ate, he took them out and showed them the M203.
"I see we learned to ask for help." I smirked at them. "Now for some live practice." They all pirked up. "Jeff please show us."
Jeff nodded at me. "It slides on to most weapons, it's a simple thing, drop a grenade in the barrel, and pump it like a shotgun." He loaded it. "Aiming it is a bit tricky, after a few trial shot's you get the hang of it." He faced the firing range pumped the barrel, and there was a bang a few hundred feet away from him.
"Damn." Someone whistled.
"The first use that comes to mind,, is to rain hell on an enemy." Jeff turned back and nodded at the group. "But there are many other more subtle uses for it, A distraction, or with enough practice, you can aim short, and nock a group of enemies down." He turned aimed just short of a blue barrel, loaded, pumped again, and the barely mostly unharmed flew back. "Tree's, buildings, and even terrian should change how you use this."
"Man after my own heart." Reynolds, one of the experienced airmen chuckled.
"Ok pick up an M203, and knock over some barrels, without blowing them up." I barked. The group barked back a few unorganized sirs, but it was the acknodglment I was expecting. Jeff watched anxiously. "What's wrong?" I asked, knowing why he looked uneasy.
"They are doing it wrong." He said quietly.
"Well, show them how to do it right!" I nodded at him.
"But, they have trained, real training." He sighed.
"But you know how to do it right." Percy said, walking over to us. "That is what matters most."
Jeff nodded at us. "You!" He said pointing to one of them. "Your doing it wrong." He barked. "Like this!" He said taking the M203 and demonstrated.
"Well, fuck!" Percy laughed. "He has come along way, since the timid little boy, that peered around that truck when I met him."
"Yea." I sighed, watching proudly at Jeff. "The very first of the New marines." I turned to him. "That makes you the 2nd."
"What are the plans for tomorrow?" Percy asked.
"You, me Jeff, and Reynolds load up in our humvee, and ride into the base at sunrise, tomorrow."
"You're going to leave them here?" Percy asked.
"I like the idea of having people here, and they aren't ready for a mission." Percy nodded in agrment. "Although they don't seem to a deathwish for hard lessons."
"Sir." Reynolds said, saluting, I nodded at him. " Did I hear we are headed out tomorrow?" I smiled at him, he was within earshot, the bangs and thumps from the M203's were loud, but Percy and I were shouting. He had seen his fair share of combat, any soldier anywhere hears his CO, use his name, it is the sixth sense, he stops what he is doing, and listens. Now what made him an expectantly good Airmen, is he came over and asked me, without asking me a question.
"Yes, we will be headed into the base, to lead the Op to take the wind farm." I nodded.
"Finally some action." Reynolds, grunted We had skipped lunch, to my pleasure, it was not my idea, or any one of my 'commanders', Jeff, or Percy, that is what i mused them as in my mind. It was the idea of Ryans, the little shit I busted yesterday. He had to talk the rest of them into it, but he did, I saw a bit of potential in him. I didn't think him strong enough for the standard, break him down and in approach, but a bit of finessing could make him a good leader.
"Babe!" Jeff turned to me, while he was cooking dinner, then he blushed.
"Ah, little Man." The Airwoman said, she went by Moodie, it was an accurate description of her, and she wore it so proud, and it was so accurate, she must have took it on as a 'fuck you' to those who called her it. There was a lot to admire in her for that, and a few reasons to avoid her from time to time. "The base commander told us, and we all don't care." She finished.
"I speak for both us old farts, you handled that M203 like a boss." Reynolds nodded at Jeff. "That is all that matters to us."
"Well, I don't care, cause I am gay." Percy smiled
Everyone besides Percy, and I, blurted out 'What?!"
Percy looked at me, a bit terrified. "How'd you know?" He muttered.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I laughed.
"Yes I do, no one has ever guessed before."
"I only know because the day, Jeff got his first kill, when you looked at me, you knew, that Jeff was more than my brother" I smiled.
"Well." Jeff sighed. "If we are going to have troops garrisoned here, all the time, I want a bigger kitchen."
"Naw, a proper chow house, and little Barricks." Ryans grinned.
"Are you turning my house into a camp?" I grunted, unamused by the idea.
"YES!" Everyone agreed.
"I mean really, it makes sense." Ryans nodded. "This place is big, secure, has power, and is a second location we can have reverse." I hated him, he was without a doubt 100% correct. With the surge of interest in the defense force, we would have more Airmen, to spare. It would be A Forward Operating Base. (FOB). Mere minutes from the Ranchers.
"That's fine, but I am not look out my kitchen window and seeing drab green or grey buildings." Jeff rumbled.
"And that's the other reason." Ryans chuckled. "He has taste." He laughed.
I took some milk, mainly to think, I took a drink out of the gallon, and got booed. "Commanders prerogative." I smirked at them, shutting them up. "Ok one patrol on the gates, one to walk the perimeter, so that's at least three teams." I said. "Id like one troop transport, and a tank, and the personnel to fill them."
"Say... about thirty?" Percy asked. I nodded at him.
"We could call it, Camp man." I heard a voice boom laughing, I was going to yell at one of the guys, until I realized that Moodie had said it. I chuckled and shook my head. She was being 'one of the guys', the woman got shit like fags did. In honesty some of the best Marines I knew were mothers. A few times I knew they fought with the same fury they would protect their own children. That was an assumption, but it seemed safe.
"So this is a thing?" Jeff asked excitedly.
"Looks like it." I nodded taking another sip and putting the gallon back.