Cadet; What Do You Call That?

[nathansinfantry]

”Easy everywhere, ready for the brace up….. Squad! Squad, atten-shun! No no no, what the hell do you call that? Morrison, left foot fifteen centimetres above the ground. Let’s do it again, gentlemen.”

Jack looked again at the bunch of raw recruits stood in front of him. With some of them, it was amazing they had even found their way to the base, let alone the parade square, and Jack had been given the privilege to turn them into soldiers worthy of the Queen’s khaki uniform. Who said army life was easy?

”Cadets” he spoke emphasizing on the fact they weren’t even ranked Private yet, ”I think you are lacking in motivation. If you don’t do it right this time, I may just have to give it to you. Squad! Atten------shun!” He held out the shun, waiting for the inevitable. ”Griggs. Do not anticipate my command. I said I was going to give you some motivation if you did not do it right, and if I don’t give you some that would make me a liar. Motivational run to the main gates and back. You have two minutes or you are doing it again until we get it under that time. Are you ready? Go!”

The group of soldiers charged off, boots cracking on the tarmac as they went hell for leather. It was quite a warm day, so the last thing they wanted to be doing was running. From behind him, Jack heard walking and he started talking before he had even turned around. ”Cadet. Run. Now. Oh, erm, hello Sergeant.”

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

McMillan watched as the lesser sergeant was attempting to whip his squad into a unit worthy of being looked at. He had the motivation for it, but McMillan didn't know if the men were willing to be motivated. He walked over as they all began to set our for a run, and the day was quite warm. The sergeant turned later than he spoke, but realized his error and it was done with, McMillan was not in the business of decreasing motivation. "Carry on Sergeant, do not let me slow you up." McMillan told him, he had another idea in mind.

As McMillan saw them, get smaller and smaller into the distance, he arrived near the parking area and cranked the jeep up, but he didn't bother backing the thing up, he just took it right over the curb and the patch of grass onto the gravel. Gave the wheel a quick spin and hit the accelerator, shortly he was passing the rag tag team of what seemed to be new recruits and gave the sergeant a big wink as he sped by. They were about a block and a half from the fire station, which was close to the gate he figured they were headed to. He swung the jeep on in and hoped out. "Think you guys could do me one solid?" McMillan asked, in the nicest voice he could, he didn't want to take any fun out of the matter and tell them, but they just looked on to see what he wanted.

"You see there are a group of rookies being...motivated, so to speak and they are running this way to handle such a matter, and in case you haven't noticed, it is a hot day..." McMillan began to smile as did the firemen. "Say no more, we are tracking Sergeant Major." the senior sergeant of the bunch said as he held up his arm and swung it around right quick to signal the rest of the men, who then swiftly hoped on top of the two trucks and the others unrolled a few hoses. McMillan looked about, five hoses might be too much, but it was hot, and McMillan figured they might need some refreshment.

[nathansinfantry]

Jack watched bemusedly from the parade square. One hand was resting atop his brow to shield the sunlight and it was already starting feel the wetness of his sweat. He was glad the 7AD got to wear summer tunics, the short sleeves were a life-saver this time of the year. He could just make out what was happening as the Jeep pulled into the tall building of the fire team. Mere seconds later, the first hose was pulled out the door, with a few more following.

A whimpering caught the attention of the Sergeant. He looked down the track, about 50 metres away was a cadet on the floor, snivelling slightly as he sported a trail of blood down his leg. It looked like one of the posh upper-city boys that hadn’t done a days work in their life. It was time to change that. Jack ran over, not to quickly, but fast enough to appear concerned. He crouched down next to the man and spoke softly, as if trying to comfort him. ”Here, you alright there?”
The young man looked up to see the wide grin of the New Zealander and attempted a smile. ”Tripped and skinned my knees,” he started in a thick, upper-class voice. Odd to have somebody like that in with the rest of the grunts. ”I think I might just need to sit out for five minutes, Sergeant.”
”You think you need to sit out for a minute, do you?” All of a sudden his voice changed, ”I think you need to harden the fuck up!” Jack gave the man a kick in his leg before rolling up the leg of his shorts, revealing a still pink scar. ”I had half a bloody roof sticking through my leg in Russia, but I still got up and fought on for my men. Carry on with that attitude, and I’ll guarantee you won’t pass.”

The cadet looked up, an expression of complete shock on his face. ”My father….”
”I do not give a damn about you father, or who he is, or who he knows! You are going to run to that gate and back now, or, you will have my boot so far up your arse, you will have to lick the shit off it when it comes back out. Am I clear?”
With barely a nod, the cadet climbed to his feet and started running lamely, letting out small whimpers as he ran. The boy had potential, and a good body for soldiering, but he was a complete pansy. That would have to be changed. Ideally, Jack wanted to be mates with all the cadets, as sod’s law indicated they would eventually be under his command, but if they wanted to survive this war, he would need to sort them out, quick.
”Faster!”

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

McMillan peeked around the corner of the door as he heard a loud voice off a bit, but the lot of them were about to hit the "kill zone" and McMillan tucked back into the station and looked about. "I'm sure you guys have set up an ambush before, let's show them how it is done!" he shouted as he stepped behind the other senior sergeant in the station, took hold of the hose to help stabilize it and yelled out "Let 'em have it!!" and with that the entire platoon of firemen opened up on the unsuspecting recruits, who merely took the brunt of what they could before falling about themselves.

The men on the hoses were smart enough to aim low as to not give anyone a concussion, but once they started to fall it was fair game. Everyone in the station was having a good laugh about it which was more than overdue and McMillan joined right in with them. Rookies were sprawling out all over the place, a few tried crawling away, they would be the ones worth taking into battle, one even tried to charge back at them, but he caught three hoses at once and went sailing head over heels, he would either win a chest load of medals, or die a foolish death, all depended on how well the enemy reacted and took aim.

The hoses sprinkled to a hush as the men threw the valves on them. McMillan walked over to see the sergeant helping the straggler. "Welcome to ambush 101, congratulations, you all failed and we passed, way to make a sergeant proud." McMillan laughed as he said it and then looked back to the lesser sergeant and the straggler, lowered his head and sighed. "Well sergeant, what do you have to say about this?"

[nathansinfantry]

Jack could not stop grinning. Every time he put some slack into his cheek, the image of the recruits in front made them spring right back up. He turned to Mcmillan and let out a deep laugh. ”I think we have taught these ladies a valuable lesson. What this lesson is, I’m not too sure, but they’ve certainly learnt it.”

He turned and looked at the lot of them. ”Gentlemen, there appears to be a problem. You are trying to get into the Desert Rats, and here you are looking like a bunch of drowned rats. Not good enough. Now, you should probably take example from See-Es-Em Mcmillan over here. He is quite possibly the best damn soldier in this entire army. As soon as you pass, and you all will pass, no matter how much of your blood I have to spill, you should find who you think is the ideal soldier, and do what he does. Mcmillan here is the ideal soldier in our divison.”
He looked at the men, and his eyes flicked between the barracks and the sun. ”I don’t want to seem like the ogre here, so, I’ll cut you all a deal. IF, and this is a big if you can all complete a marching circuit of this square twice, without messing up once, you can all go and get changed into some dry clothes, and I may even let you use the latrines. If one, and just one of you messes up…. You do not want to be in your boots. Understood? Sergeant Major, perhaps you would like to be the judge?”

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

McMillan couldn't stop smiling but tried his best to hide it. "we will just chalk it up to the classic be aware of your surroundings." he stated to have at least a minor reason if asked about his actions. He listened as the Sergeant barked at the recruits and cut them what seemed to be a pretty sweet deal, but McMillan figured it would be a great task for them the way it was worded. McMillan wasn't so sure about the ideal comment but he never argued a compliment.

"I'm no judge, but I'll spectate a bit." he stated as the recruits began marching, they had a bit of a rough start but fortunately they all were in step before they had made it ten meters. He waited until they were out of hearing range before turning to the Sergeant. He had thought about saying something about leaving his men, but it was no combat zone and he had been tending to an injured man, even though it was minor. "So you hear about Germany? Seems that the head of the snake has been found once more, and yet again they have asked me to cut it off. Did it seem to easy to get the information to you? Just doesn't feel right to me." McMillan queried as he pulled out his zippo and smokes and began sucking down some sweet cancer.

[nathansinfantry]

Jack followed the group with his eyes, looking for the tiniest of slip ups. He turned to McMillan briefly, and placed a hand on the shoulder of his friend. ”I don’t know. I really just don’t. The Nazi war machine could be slipping up, or your bollocks might be in some German’s jar by the end of the week. You’re a good man, Sir, don’t go getting yourself killed and don’t be reckless.” He stared at him for a second. McMillan was indeed one of the loners of the camp, but then again, most people shat themselves when they saw the slab of muscle he was. The man could look after himself, but it still made Jack nervous when he saw him leave off for this kind of thing. Solo missions behind enemy lines usually were not good.
”You know I’d come with you if I could, Sarge, and I know if it all goes wrong Nathan will fly out their to save you at a moments notice, but this Wolfram. He’s a tough bastard, but I think you can do it.”

He turned from McMillan, focusing on the cadets. It definitely didn’t feel right. One of the top Nazi officials just being found with minimal protection? It was almost definitely a set up. He gave a smile as the recruits stopped. At least something was going well. ”Well done, boys, we’ll have soldiers out of you yet. Five minutes. Don’t be late.”

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

McMillan just lowered his head a bit, took a drag and raised it while letting out a small plume of smoke. Jack was right, it could be either and he could end up with his tail in a jar. McMillan just shrugged it off and tried not to think about it before the time came. Tessa had been chomping at the bit to get into the action and this was going to be nothing short of it. McMillan let out a loud whistle that carried a great distance. A faint bark came from the distance as Tessa came barreling across the parade field.

"Well I'm not going alone." McMillan said as Tessa about knocked a recruit over getting there. He just smiled and knelt down. "That's my girl. I'd take you over any three of those guys any day." he whispered as he looked up at the clump of rookies leaving the area. He stood back up and finished his cancer stick, flicking it into the puddle of water from the earlier scenario. It fizzled out and McMillan almost felt as if he needed another. The assignment in Germany was starting to get to him all to much. "Hungry Sergeant? And don't call me sir, I work for a living." he said with a wink and a nod.

[nathansinfantry]

Jack lifted his sleeve, looking at the small wristwatch he wore. "Taking me over those guys? That's not much of a compliment!" he joked uneasily. There was certainly a terse mood on the field. Everyone knew where McMillan was going, what he was doing. Some joked it was who he was doing, but they got shushed, and usually beaten quickly.

He crouched down onto one knee and gently patted the dog. She sniffed his hand slowly before licking his palm, enjoying the attention his hand gave her head. "I suppose if she didn't like me, we'd picking chunks of my hand off of the ground about now. I wonder what she would make of old Wolfy?" He straightened up, rubbing his hand on his tunic before casting an eye over towards the retreating men. "I could probably take a few minutes off to get a bite, it'll be interesting to see what the cadets do without a boss for a wee while."

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

McMillan glanced at the Sergeant as he seemed to have thought McMillan spoke of him, he meant he would take Tessa over the recruits, but he didn't see the need in clarifying, he would take the sergeant over any two squads of them, but he didn't have the luxury, they wanted just a few people to go on this one. The only way McMillan got out of doing it alone was his failure last time while by himself. They ok'd Tessa immediately but it took quite a great deal of paperwork and debate to allow McMillan to take the tank he had swindled out of the armory for the unit.

"It's not as much weather she likes you or not as much as it is what I tell her to destroy and not to destroy. But I haven't said anything to her yet, so yeah, she either likes you or is only a little bit hungry." he said with a big smile. The recruits were standing about instead of returning to the barracks as instructed and McMillan had too much fun with the fire hoses to let this one pass by. He leaned over to Tessa "Round 'em up girl." and before McMillan finished saying girl she bolted toward them, snarling and growling. She danced around them with ease as they began to huddle together with false hopes of safety. McMillan just laughed and whistled again as she returned to his side. "Well lets head off to the chow hall then. Might wanna tell those guys to wash up in the meantime, this heat and that water will be pretty foul in about an hour." he stated as he turned to the Sergeant.

[nathansinfantry]

Jack nodded at McMillan. ”Corporal” he called out two a diminutive two-stripe standing over with another, significantly smaller group of recruits.
”Sergeant” came the mans reply, a voice more macho than his body would give credit for.
”When my boys come out, tell them to clean this place up then stand in formation. At ease I think, but don’t be too lenient. Understood?”
A small reply was given and Jack rotated on the spot and began walking with McMillan towards the large prefab building that was the dining hall. As usual the smell of whatever delight was being prepared wafted out of their. Although delight wasn’t the term the Sergeant would use. Food was pretty loose on it as well.

”So can you shed anymore light on what you’re going to be doing out there? Or is this too much of a hush-hush mission for you to tell me?” He raised his eyebrows with this. He stopped briefly as a group of Officers walked passed and he saluted. The men returned the motion carrying on, buried in a murmured conversation about something or another Jack was obviously to junior to know about. He held open the door to the dank room and signalled for McMillan to enter.

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

McMillan looked on as the Sergeant set his men for the next hour or so and then turned to walk with McMillan. Just as the Sergeant had done, McMillan saluted the officers as well and smiled a bit as he asked about the mission a bit more. "I can't say TOO much, they are all pretty paranoid, too much for any of our own good anyway." McMillan stepped passed Jack into the dinning hall, almost gagging as the smell of freshly slaughter cattle hit him like a brick wall, must have been one of those sick ones.

"Good God, I think I'm sticking with fruits and veggies this time." his sense of smell was confirmed as a corporal went running outside, hand over his mouth, stomach convulsing in the process. You would think they would take better care of the men that protect them. McMillan though with a frown. "Anyway, I can say that it is further than anyone would consider going, it is not going to be easy, and I'm taking the dog with me. They seem to think that since I have a lot of experience against this man that I can predict his moves." he said with a big wink. McMillan had pretty much given it away with that one and hoped Jack would not say it out loud. McMillan picked up a tray and got in the line, shorter that normal, but most men in the room could smell unfortunately.

[nathansinfantry]

As Jack picked up a tray he uttered one word. ”Germany.”
It seemed suicidal to him. Sending a single man and his dog deep into the heart of enemy territory to see if they could kill a single man with untold how many soldiers, tanks, planes, howitzers, mortars behind him. The list seemed endless and Jack began to feel a small sweat break out just thinking of it. He hated to think how McMillan must be feeling about this mission, but then again, he was worse than a ginger. He had no soul, he had no feeling.

He drummed his fingers on the tray as they walked along the steel bars and counters. He shook his head dismissively at the stupidity of the Generals. ”I didn’t like the sound of it to start with, but this. It’s suicidal Ed, that’s what it is.”’ He gave the server a small smile as she passed him a plate of fruit over the counter, but it was only a thin cover of the anger bubbling away underneath. He had never had particularly much respect for the Generals, but this was an all time low. Never had he felt so ashamed of them. He moved his head again, trying to shake the thoughts from his brain as he turned back to McMillan. ”If it was anybody but you, then I’d be organising the funeral already. But you, McMillan, you’re something special. Go and kick their Nazi arses for us all, eh?”

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

McMillan followed Jack as the line trudged along, he heard the small utterance of Germany, he paused for a brief second and took a deep breath, sometimes it just really sucked being the best qualified for things. But he didn't feel all that bad, after all, this is what he had earned, this is what he went through all that grueling training for, this is what you get when you get lucky EVERY SINGLE TIME and face the most feared German commander on this side of the war. This is what you get for trying to help your friends and end up the only man that speaks English that has even hurt him. Wolfram was a name that still got him edgy, he was just doing what anyone else would have done, the man fired on Branigan while he was still in the unit, just so happened that McMillan was the only one capable of coming to help.

He pushed his thoughts aside, besides, who else would go? "Suicidal you say? Thanks for the vote of confidence, I haven't left yet you know, it might not end up all that bad." he smiled a bit as he reached for the small plate of corn and beans, it was rare they had corn to eat so he always tried to grab a serving of it when it came through. he slid further down the line, he looked about, everyone just droned on like zombies when chow time hit, almost like they were just going through the motions. Every once in a while they would get a man through that would actually bring a little character to he place, but he was either humbled quickly after his first mission or two or killed even quicker.

"Doesn't sound like you have much faith in any of us...but I can see your point, this isn't exactly child's play either." McMillan thought back to the good laugh he had with the firemen earlier, those were the ones, the memories you hung onto with the other brothers that served next to you that kept you going. IT wasn't for Freedom, or Liberty, or even to save the bloody French, it was the man that sweat and bled and died in the arms of the medic you called over that kept you pressing the fight, that kept you from losing your mind, that kept your sights straight and your judgment clear, for without them, it was all just one big suicide mission. He sneaked out a small smile "I'll see what I can do, but you have to share a drink with me when I get back, deal?" his smile widened a bit more as he had a wave of some of the good times come rushing back to him.

[nathansinfantry]

This was to Jack's liking he let a smile come to his face as he took a bite into the apple in his hand. "You do realise that not one person, ever has promised a New Zealander a drink and backed down to survive?" He was only half joking as well.

If anybody could pull of the job, though, it would be McMillan. A commotion emerged by the door as the Private from the parade ground came charging in. He stopped for a second, looking around before running over to Jack. The Sergeant exchanged a brief pained expression with McMillan before rising to his feet. "Yes, Corporal?"
"They came out and they're causing mayhem. They refuse to listen to me!"
Jack sighed before turning to McMillan and shaking him warmly by the hand. "Take care of yourself Ed, I've got these idiots to sort out."

He turned and left the building, his voice echoing out the second he stepped out the door. "What the hell do you call that? All of you. 50 press-ups. Now!"