Irregulaire

File and Rank

“Doctor!” I called as I went inside to check on my wounds with the only Doctor in the house, Ian. The guy was still running back and forth trying to deliver medication to those who needed them. I had to wait for several more minutes before he finally came up to me.

“Alright, what do you want?”

“I just need this wound checked out, think you can do?”

“Yes. One moment,”

I don’t remember much about what he did to that wound. Probably because he gave me anesthesia when it’s not actually necessary. Moreover, he gave me a total knock-out instead of the local one. But the fragment was plucked out of there. Strangely enough, he waited for me to wake up. Maybe because he panicked after mixing up the drugs.

So there he was, with Red and Dan opposite him, waiting for me to wake up. When I did, I saw Red speaking to him. I think it was along the lines of “Alright he’s waking up,” or something like that. She sure did fit into the role of Squad leader. Dan was just looking at me. Trying to make sure I was okay, I think. Well, it turned out Ian did mix up the drugs. But the wound did get patched up. Thanks, doc.

Later that day, around 9.30-ish, the eleven of us gathered in front of the porch. Buck’s leg was fine, it turned out to be just a ricochet. Colonel Metsker then joined us. He briefed us about what we should do with this squad. Or so I think.

“Anna, as a squad leader, you best stay out of your team. You too, Mick. You’re a second in command, right?” he said. I didn’t understand at first, but then, “If you are a Squad leader, you don’t want the hassle to lead the team. Relegate the team to someone else, and you coordinate with that person,” he continued.

“So that the squad leader gets to focus, right, sir?” I replied.

“Correct, same goes to the 2IC. Focus on assisting your squad leader,”

“Roger that, Colonel,” Red said. “That means you lead the team, Rye,”

“Me? Hell no,” Ryan said to Red.

“Hell yes, that’s an order, too,”

“I guess it’s time for you guys to have this,” Colonel said as he handed out some patches. “Put these on your vests, those are your insignias,” he continued, “give the corporal insignias to the team leaders. The rest are all privates, they don’t need any. We don’t have that many of these patches laying around anyway, we took them from the dead. Welcome to the Griesian Navy,”

We were left speechless with that. He then proceeded to get back to the house, to check on his daughter, I guess. We just stared at each other for a solid minute still not believing it.

“Hey Gunny, we’re still getting paid, right?” Red asked me, almost whispering.

“Now that you mention it, the diamonds are already with us. I left them in the car,”

“Oh, thank the fucking heavens then,”

“Let’s just pray the car hasn’t been blown off yet,” bullshit. The diamonds were with me, to keep them from being stolen.

The situation hadn’t cleared off yet, mind you. There were still gunfire, mortars, jets, and explosions going off. It was just not in on our position. Lieutenant and several of his men were doing their job as they had been told, apparently. Rattles of rifle and machine gun fire can be heard from the compound.

“So I’m a Staff Sergeant, now?” Anna said, looking at the patch she had been given.

“Yea I’m a real sergeant too,” I answered. “Dan, you be the team leader,”

“Yes, Sergeant!” he replied, with his usual enthusiasm.

I decided to take Red to check on Grace while we were on a bit of a lull. We went inside the house and saw some more Marines being treated. There was Ruud, too. Poor guy, his legs were blown off, with his torso peppered with fragments. One of them appeared to have pierced the throat. That’s what killed him. But I guess he went unconscious from the shock first, and if that was so, good for him.

There was a TV in the living room, but I figured it wouldn’t work. We saw Ian sitting in the corner, holding his head. He seemed to be tired, although I think that wasn’t the case. This here was way more than what he was used to back in the academy. Of course, there wasn’t any explosion going off, neither was this much blood. But I was sure he can hang through.

“Sorry I chewed you off earlier. Are you okay?” Red said to him, laying her hand on his shoulder.

“Well, to be frank, I’m not, haha,”

“You did a hell of a job, Doc. It’s okay, take a break,” I joined in. He needed that.

The stench of gunpowder, oil, and blood definitely hadn’t worn off, especially with several dead bodies and the wounded. It filled the air in the room along with eerie vibe of battlefield silence. But then it went off again. Gunfire. But it was not here. Several hundred meters from the battered fence of the compound, it was. I think Lieutenant met resistance and blew them all to hell. It lasted for a couple short minutes, then it stopped. We figured they will be back soon.

“Mick?” Mrs. Colonel said, emerging from her room down the corridor, “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, Mrs. Metsker, uh... We’d like to check on Grace, if that’s okay with you,”

“Alright, then, go see her,” such a sweet mom.

I went on towards her room, with her still lying down on the bed. Sleeping, I presume. Anna decided to stay outside the room. Then I stood by the bed, staring at her, thinking, what did she do to deserve this? She then woke up, kind of startled me a bit. Her eyes were then affixed on me, as if she was expecting me to be there.

“Hey, Mike,” she greeted me softly.

“Hi,” for fuck’s sake that can’t be all I can get out, “so how do you feel?”

“A bit numb,” she said, feeling her cheeks, “You?”

“Not much. Caught a fragment of a mortar round, near my left rib, but I’m okay,”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I am. Ian got it covered,”

“Ian?” she seemed confused. “You sure he got you fixed?”

“Well, he mixed up the anesthesia and got me fully knocked out, haha, but yes I think I’m okay,”

She laughed. Well, I think that makes me feel a little bit better. It was her, after all. I then reassured both of us that we were okay and headed out to the guys. Quite strangely, I don’t see the Colonel anywhere in the house. Just as I walked towards the living room, someone called me from behind.

“Hey, Gunny,” she said. There’s only one person who got to call me that.

“Yea?”

“Look what I found,” it was a crate of beer, with around 80 percent of its content still intact. “Wanna have some?”

“Of course, I do. Shall we?”

We took four cans, two for each of us. I figured we’d be sharing these with the guys. But in the meantime, we enjoyed that beer and smoked a little more in the living room.

“You figure we’d survive this?” she asked me.

“With you leading us? Come on. We believe in you, I told you that,”

“I still think I’m not that capable, you know. Like, I thought I knew everything, and it turns out I didn’t. And that’s not it—”

“But I saw you there. You commanded us like a real soldier, even after being knocked down. That, is a proof of your capability,”

“Still, I hesitate at times,”

“It’s okay. A bad leader is not the one who makes bad decision. A bad leader would be the one who makes no decision,” I told her. She looked at me and nodded.

The Colonel emerged from his room, now a makeshift Command Center, which had its doors shut. No wonder I couldn’t find him. He seemed a bit calmer than the last time, now that he knew LT took care of those enemy troops. Or so he thought. The firefight stopped right then and there, and we expected the LT to get back to the compound. Three minutes later, two guys came back. There was no sign of the lieutenant. The Colonel went towards these guys and asked for report.

“Colonel, sir,” said one of the Marines, “we were overwhelmed,” the Marine said, “We’ve got Tangos everywhere, we pulled back, and we lost the LT,”

“Lichtsteiner?”

“I think he was killed, sir. He covered our retreat,” the Marine said.

“For fuck’s sake,” the Colonel sighs. “I want a search party organized—”

“Hang on, Colonel,” Sergeant Major Weiser intervened, “We already lost a squad here, sir. We still need men to defend this area,”

The Colonel was unable to respond for a couple of seconds, seeming to think about Sergeant Major said. “Fuck,” The Colonel exclaimed.