The heat and the parts (coolhand)

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

McMillan sat back in a rusty old lawn chair and unbuttoned his uniform top. Oddly enough they seemed to be having one of the hottest days in European history. The busted AC in the shop didn't help too much either. He put his top over the chair next to him and pulled out a cigarette, lit it up and enjoyed it's company. He reached back and grabbed his newly acquired MP44. They had hit a German SSR and had found a crate of them, most of them were damaged, but they were able to salvage one good one, and might get the other into operational order. The ammunition, oddly enough, had survived the ordeal, three whole crates of the stuff.

"Well let's see what you are made of girl." He said to his rifle as if it was second nature. He turned it every which way he could to figure out how to dismantle the beast for cleaning purposes, but he didn't know how German engineering worked, it just gave him a good excuse to get out and sit for a bit. He had heard that a man he had served a small stint with in some small county jail up north might be in the area. He figured he would keep an eye out for him. They had planned numerous escapes, but by the time they were able to get all of the resources they need for it, it was less than a month before they both were to be released. But Jackson had gotten fed up with a guard that kept pestering him and snapped his arm, along with two small bones in his hand, can't say I blame him, the guard shouldn't have put his arm through the bars to hit him with a Billy club. "He he he..." he chuckled to himself as the memories came back to him.

[coolhand]

Jackson walked around the base in search of something to do... anything was better than seeing the psychiatrist. I'm sick of talking to that guy. All he does is try to probe my mind for info on why I "snapped" in prison. So what if I broke a guys arm he was trying to break my face. He wished he was back in prison sometimes; things were simpler back then just survive and get out as soon as possible. Jackson walked around and remembered the Sgt. that was with him: a born leader it seemed with a bit of a chip on his shoulder but Jackson couldn't blame him for that. As Jackson walked past the garage, he couldn't believe his eyes; he saw McMillan sitting there in a lawn chair toying with a rifle that he seemed to have no idea how it worked. The guy looks frustrated. Whup dropped that piece hope it wasn't important. Guess I can go see how he's been. Jackson was excited for the first time since he heard gun fire in previous battles. He approached McMillan... "Well if it isn't... Geez it's hot in here!"

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

He pushed and pulled at different knobs and some things jingled around a bit. He saw something that looked as it it might help and twisted it around, then something fell out into the dirty floor. Well looks as if I'll be cleaning this thing sooner than I thought. He reached over and picked it up, shook it a bit and set it on the piece of rag he pulled from his pocket. He took another drag of cancer and put the contraption down as he heard a voice.

Holy bloody hell!! I was just thinking about you!" A huge grin came across his face as he stood up and stepped around the table and reached out to shake the man's hand. "Yeah it is a little warm to say the least. How much longer were you stuck in that hell hole after you went ballistic on that guard? Surprised they didn't shoot you down that afternoon" He didn't care too much, looks like he made it out in one piece and that is what mattered. He placed his cigarette to his lips once more and took a drag and inhaled it. He blew the smoke away, the whole time keeping his eyes trained on one of his long lost comrades.

[coolhand]

As Jackson shook McMillan's hand he took in the question of how long he was stuck in the "hell hole." "It wasn't much longer after the whole ordeal that I got out of there." They were moving me to a more secure location and they apparently weren't thinking about securing me along the way. Good for me not so good for whoever was in charge of that little operation." Jackson looked around the garage puzzled. "What's the deal? Is the A/C busted or something? At least they left that big fan. Jackson walked to the wall where the extra seats were and grabbed one up, he walked over to McMillan and took a seat beside him. Apparently neither of them liked having there backs to the door.

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

McMillan took his seat after he received the hand shake and pulled on his cigarette once more. He listened as Jackson walked over and grabbed a chair to join in the suffering. "AC...Busted...You mean it used to work?" He lifted his eyebrows as he smiled in the sarcasm. He didn't think they would have ever needed the air conditioning as far as they were from the equator, but McMillan had a tendency to jinx things if he pondered on them.

The fan mad a horrible noise, one of the fins must have been bent, it wobbled about from time to time. He finished off his cigarette and flicked toward the giant spinning retard of a fan. It went in and flew out back at the pair, "Ha ha ha!!"might not have been the brightest move but is was funny to watch. He laid down the lower receiver of the weapon and looked over to Jackson. "So how have you been staying busy? Causing trouble I assume." He smiled as the words rolled out of his mouth.

[coolhand]

Jackson watched the cigarette fly toward the fan and then towards his face. Genius He thought as he gave McMillan a annoyed yet very amused look. "You know me man just sitting back watching it unfold trying to stay alive. I found a pretty good swimming hole at one of these outlets in the river." Just haven't found the women from my dreams that go along with it Jackson continued his statement as he thought of the cool refreshing water that he could be swimming in right now. "It's a good place to relax and get lost for a while. You probably can't afford that being higher up than I am. Nobody cares about a private that's the way I like it." Jackson remembered times when he thought of advancing in rank and he even got offered promotion, but he turned them down. "I'm just passing time. Figured war was the quickest way to do it."

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

He saw the look Jackson gave him and smiled right back at him and shrugged his shoulders. Swimming. That would be great right about now, of course most things would. He looked down at his new weapon and thought of how it might fire, the MP 44 did have an intimidating reputation.

He listened as Jackson talked of being under the radar and enjoying it. Had McMillan been younger, he would have probably done the same. But he couldn't stand the thought of a young snot nosed kid giving him orders when he knew better. So he moved on up when he could. "This is partially true, but I have my privates I am found of, but hat is because they earned it by proving themselves better than the rest of the men with the same rank. There are also the ones I don't particularly care for. But I guess everyone likes and dislikes different people." He leaned back and thought of old times.

"Do you remember that Jewish kid, skinny as all get out? I heard he joined the Navy after they kicked him out of basic training. Some illness or something, but I guess not bad enough for the seamen though." He laughed as he thought of Navy jokes and how he had teased the guy, all in good fun, he had laughed right along with them.

[coolhand]

Jackson remembered the seaman McMillan talked about, the scrawny jewish boy who couldn't hack it in the army. "Yeah that cat is a long way away now man. Last I heard he was sailing in the Pacific somewhere. Probably getting shot up by some Japanesse destroyers." Jackson wiped the sweat off his brow as sweat poured out of his head like water from Niagra Falls. How long until this A/C is fixed? Oh well I'll just bear it for now. Can't wait to go swimming though.

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

McMillan tinkered a bit with his new assault rifle as he thought of the guy and being on a ship in the pacific ocean. "Didn't know he got sent off already, huh...rather quick." He shook his head a bit as he thought of all the young guys that were thrust into this horrible thing they call war. But men had to do what men had to do, well men in the military had to do as asked anyway.

McMillan pulled his sleeve up and wiped his face with it, had to raise his arm a bit. The training he had just completed bulked him up a large margin, he didn't mind having to get new uniforms. Made him look more intimidating and he was more capable of handling his own, and that of another. "So what have you got planned for the rest of the day?" he asked.

[coolhand]

"Well I'm supposed to go see the psych in about... oh negative 15 minutes but that's not happening. Later on I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be doing something but until I "get better" I'm pretty much free to walk around and do as I please as long as I don't get caught and if I do I have a pretty good excuse... I'm apparently mad." Jackson felt like some sort of mad scientist from a horror flick. Jackson walked over to a jeep or what was left of a jeep. Looks like they're going to scrap this for parts. Jackson turned to McMillan. "Actually I'm going to learn about radio stuff... maybe I'll be more useful in a fight... or maybe I'll learn about vehicles and fix this thing." Jackson kicked the jeep and the back bumper fell off; he looked at it, looked at McMillan and then he laughed. "Well maybe not this one."

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

He smiled a bit as Jackson talked of being mad. "I swear, given the chance, I think you would scam your own parents." He put the recoil spring back into place. And listened as Jackson talked of going through the training to operate a radio and maybe being a mechanic. "That all sounds pretty good, but you have to get into the class first, might not want to tell them about your 'illness' buddy." he used his fingers to make air quotes.

"I heard the third infantry division was looking for a radio man, heard they might offer a signing bonus as well. I figure that is right up your alley." he said as he leaned over and looked out of the tops of his eyes at Jackson with a look that said interested! He sat back up and finished putting his assault rifle together. and stuck up another smoke. "You smoke?"

[coolhand]

"You know better buddy. I don't smoke." Jackson looked at McMillan and thought of joining a different division. "I guess I could join up I'm sure this 'illness' will be lost... you know how the army is with paperwork." Signing bonus is attractive. This sounds like a sales pitch. He wouldn't have to sell it I would rather enjoy a place where there aren't any incompetent troops leading me and my buddies into trouble. Jackson moved towards the garage door and looked out at the hot day. Jackson grew weary of this place and was anxious to get out and back into something that made him feel alive. "Well man I guess I'll go grab my gear and take a class or two after I join up. Heard their Captain isn't a bad guy at all. You can come along if you like."

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

"I know you don't, just being polite, in a cancerous kind of way." He smiled with a quick wink. He was glad to hear that his old buddy was going to join up with a unit so he wouldn't have to go it alone. He didn't want to hear of him trying to take on a platoon and having to have a closed casket funeral. "Yeah, I heard he was a pretty good guy too, pretty strict though, nothing but business is the rumor, course the other rumor is 'Saint Patty' but I wouldn't call him that if I were you."

He wouldn't have minded going with Jackson, but he had been assigned to the Commandos and liked it there. They had just lost a lot of their men to a Welsh unit of all things, he didn't want to leave his commander high and dry, he was the closest thing they had to a second officer. Besides, the third infantry division already had a senior sergeant and two officers. "Naw, think I'll stick around with the Commandos, the third infantry division has some good leaders already, I'm the only other one in the commandos besides my Lieutenant, gotta help him when I can. Who knows, maybe in the future, but I doubt it. You stay safe out there buddy, I'll see you around." He watched as Jackson gathered his gear and headed out, he took one last drag and flicked it at the privates pack. "Watch your back out there, don't trust anyone else to do it!" He laughed a bit and set about gathering his gear as well.

[coolhand]

The cigarette would've burned his back but the day had already beaten it to the job. Jackson walked away not knowing if he'd see McMillan again... he probably would.

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Ending Moderation Post

The Following CP has been issued

McMillan - 8CP

Jackson - 8CP