The Story Begins Page 18

  “Permission granted, Lieutenant! Now get out there and meet the men!”

  “Roger, sir.” He turned around and headed towards the door.

  Just as he was about to walk through it the Captain posed him a question. “Is the physical conditioning at Benning still what it used to be, or have they gone soft on the newer generations of lieutenants?”

  “Well, sir, I have no idea what it used to be like but what I can tell you is that while still in college, I never scored the maximum points on any of the events that make up the Physical Training test but now maxing the PT test isn’t even a challenge.”

  “Good, that’ll help. You’ll be joining me shortly. Move out!”

  Jaden wasn’t sure that he’d understood the captain. “You mean, you’ll be joining us shortly, correct, sir?” Jaden thought he was helping correct his captain.

  “No, no. You’ll be joining me shortly,” the Captain emphasized.

  “Okay, sir,” he said then headed out the door back downstairs to introduce himself to the rest of the guys.

  While climbing down the steps, he wondered just what the commander meant when he said that the lieutenant would be the one joining him rather than the latter linking up with the rest of the company. He was soon to find out.

  Entrusting the rest of the unit to the capable hands of Sergeant First Class McHenry, Captain Peterson requested the lieutenant join him for the morning’s training session. In the span of an hour, the captain had run the lieutenant seven miles, had him do 250 push-ups and 340 sit-ups before regrouping with the rest of the company. In this manner did Captain Peterson welcome and initiate every soldier into his command.

  Because the captain’s regimen was most demanding, not everyone assigned to his unit had the inner fortitude required to see it through. When the captain called upon Jaden to join him, the lieutenant had surmised that his workout would be challenging, and though he did all that he could to be psychologically prepared, never in his wildest of imaginings could he have conceived that which Captain Peterson put him through.

  Though every soldier knew what painful initiation rite awaited the new lieutenant, not a soul had said a word. No one ever did. All newly assigned personnel discovered the hell-inspired regimen on the day that it happened, and as it was happening. It was tradition and never did the troops ever divulge the practice to any newcomer. They reveled in seeing who kept pace with their captain and the price paid in agony if one succeeded. Curious about how the new lieutenant would fare, after they had concluded their exercises, the rest of the company had idled about, anxious as to whether the new lieutenant would live up to their expectations of an infantry soldier, especially one that was to lead them. Lieutenant Ramiel did not fail them. He returned to the company area sprinting the last hundred meters side by side with the commander to triumphant cheers from the men.

  Jaden had been tempted to quit several times during the course of the hour; however, because of his sometimes misguided pride, he wasn’t one to show anything that he believed bore any semblance to weakness. That, coupled with the fact that he was a platoon leader expected to lead men, he was determined to see the hour through. If imposing his physical prowess and establishing a friendly rivalry was the captain’s aim, Jaden was determined to prove himself a match the captain would have to reckon with.

  Once they arrived at the company area, Captain Peterson, panting, turned to Jaden and said, “Welcome to the unit, LT!”

  “Thank you, sir.” He did not want to exert any more energy by saying any more than was necessary. He wished that he could have simply fallen there and slept for weeks.

  LATER THAT MORNING: Everyone returned to the company area a few minutes prior to 9:30 a.m. A formation was held and duty assignments, priorities of work, among other announcements, were made before the company was dismissed to their respective tasks.

  Jaden couldn’t be happier when the formation was dismissed and couldn’t wait to be seated in his office. He ached in places he never knew were a part of his being. Nevertheless, impelled not to show any sign of an Achilles heel, he carried on as though the hell that he had endured earlier that morning wasn’t anything atypical. He ambled over to his temporary office in the motor pool bay across from the company area, all the while hoping that his legs would not betray him. Had anyone been watching for any sign of impending muscle failure in the lieutenant, they would have been disappointed for his act was one most convincing.

  No sooner had he sat down than McHenry knocked on his door. “Come in, Sergeant,” he invited. “Have a seat.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Pulling back the chair, the sergeant sat down. “So,” the Sergeant said, smiling, “how did that small bit of hell feel like, sir? You have got to be hurting.”

  Jaden lied. “Now that’s what I call a workout. I was thinking of asking the Captain to make it a standard workout routine, you know… maybe three times a week and the other two days can be something else. What do you think?” He was believable.

  The lieutenant’s platoon sergeant looked at him dubiously, obviously unsettled by the young officer’s suggestion; perhaps even believing Jaden to have taken leave of his senses. “You’re kidding me right, sir?”

  Jaden was not a dunce but feigned ignorance. “What do you mean?” he asked, his mannerism falsely conveying a genuine lack of understanding with regard to McHenry’s question.

  “Sir, we already have one unpopular lieutenant around here, please don’t make it two.”

  “It was merely an idea. I won’t broach it with the Captain then, especially if it’ll turn me into a Krappa.”

  “That didn’t take long to get to you, did it?” McHenry said, inferring how quickly news of Krappa’s unpopularity traveled.

  “How could it? Even the Captain can’t stand the guy.” Jaden was in dire agony and did all that he could to act as normal as possible; the act seemed to pain him even more. The warm shower after the workout had helped but not enough.

  “Keeping up with the Captain was pretty damn impressive, sir. The last guy who managed that was out for three days after the fact. He went back to his barracks and tried to take a shower only to find that not a single muscle in his body seemed to be acknowledging the signals his brain was sending out. There was a complete breakdown in communication between his brain and the rest of him for three whole days. He came back to work on the fourth day but, mind you, he limped around for a couple of days more and couldn’t stand on his own for long without support.”

  “Fortitude!” the lieutenant attributed it to. “I suppose I’ve more in me than I realized.” Even though his body didn’t feel as though that were a true statement, he realized that, in fact, it was an assertion most true. He’d never been worked as hard as he had been that morning yet the fact remained he did keep up with Peterson and, unlike the last guy, the lieutenant still did present himself at work, despite his excruciating discomfort.

  “It’s not often that the Captain works the entire unit the way he did you; however, because of his training program, from the depths of hell I have to add, we always win every strength competition on the installation. We’ve even gone up against units on the other installations in Mannheim and are yet to lose to any team. Some people try to argue it’s because we’re infantrymen; they quiet down when we tell them that our support platoon isn’t infantry at all; you now being the sole exception to that.”

  “How often are these strength competitions held?”

  “It isn’t every year that they are organized but when they are, the games are usually held during the spring and summer months; sometimes in late fall also, depending on how much we all have going on. It’s nothing that’s part of any official agenda. It’s just that you always have some competitive commanders and first sergeants who want to have a little friendly rivalry, so they get on the phone and coordinate the events, which basically is simply agreeing on a venue and the events to be held. Things are always kept simple. The Captain really likes to keep things simple.”


  “That he does,” Jaden agreed, thinking back to the very brief talk they had had concerning his duties in the unit.

  “All right, sir, I’ve got to get out there and make sure the troops are actively engaged and not idling around, as is what is likely going on right now.” The sergeant looked out the window to the parking lot. “What’d I tell you, sir? Look out there!”

  Jaden observed and true enough some of the troops were idling about instead of tending to their duties. “Soldiers will be soldiers, huh!” he said, turning back to McHenry.

  “Ain’t that the truth? All right, sir, I’ll catch up with you later.”

  No sooner had McHenry taken his leave than Jaden slouched back in his chair, relinquishing command of every muscle in his body. Not only had Captain Peterson’s drill caused Jaden to agonize, it had also created a voracious appetite but, being much too sore to move even a finger, when some of the mechanics in his platoon invited him to lunch, he had declined, feigning a headache. When offered to be brought back a take-out plate, he was only too happy to accept the indulgence.

  15

  A Mysterious Call

  A couple of mornings later, Jaden switched office spaces, opting for the room opposite, a larger office with a few more pieces of furniture in it.

  The instant he unlocked then opened the door, he just about barfed at the repulsive sight; the room could have doubled as a pigsty. Strewn about the floor were empty soda cans, pizza boxes with moldy leftovers, empty tobacco-chew tins with revolting spittle-filled bottles beside them. The room was utterly repugnant.

  As he set about cleaning up and rearranging the contents therein, there was a knock on his door. He glanced up. It was his platoon sergeant. “Come on in, Sergeant. I’m just cleaning up and rearranging the furniture,” he said, pushing a book case into a corner before giving his platoon sergeant his full attention.

  “Damn, sir! Lieutenant Moore sure left you a mess, didn’t he, sir? You know, sir, you can detail this out to some of the men instead of doing it yourself.”

  “I’m a platoon leader, not a slave driver, Sergeant. I see no reason why I shouldn’t do it myself. It’s not like the furniture pieces are heavy, and it wouldn’t even be right to have others clean up for me, especially when they did not create the mess in the first place.”

  “Sir, the troops are really going to love you. You know, this is the first duty station for a lot of these soldiers, especially those in Lieutenant Krappa’s platoon. Some are probably apprehensive now but once they get to know you, they’ll realize that you are nothing like Lieutenant Krappa and that there are good officers in the army. They really don’t get to deal with the Captain so they can’t really gauge him too well.”

  “Just how bad is this Krappa? I’ve seen him at formations but haven’t formally introduced myself yet. He’s already given me a bad impression of himself but I won’t hold anything against him, not anything from the past anyway. The future, however, is yet to be determined.”

  “Believe me, sir, he’s far from what you’d expect in a soldier or a platoon leader, sometimes even in a human being,” the Sergeant said, chuckling. “Anyway, sir, I won’t take much more of your time. I just wanted to check with you concerning when would be a good time for the IT guys to come and set up your new computer.”

  “My new computer?” Jaden asked, glancing over to his desk. “Is there something wrong with the one I have right now?”

  “Roger, sir.”

  “What would that be? It’s been working just fine,” he explained.

  “Oh, I’m sure it’s working just fine. What the problem is, sir, is that it’s outdated, the desktop, software and all. God is just a few years older than that piece of junk. It’s an antiquated and cumbersome monstrosity, not to mention an eyesore that missed the last life-cycle replacements. It’s time to get it replaced. Yours is one of the few that didn’t get replaced because there was no user for the station at the time. The shipment of new laptops came in while we were in the Ukraine,” the Sergeant expounded.

  “I suppose now is as good a time as any. I’m still settling in, as you can see. Okay, now works for me.”

  “Okay, sir. Mind if I use the phone?”

  “Go ahead.”

  Twenty minutes later, atop Jaden’s desk sat a new laptop. His platoon sergeant was right. There was no comparing his new laptop with that it had been replaced; the old one was indeed an antiquated and cumbersome monstrosity, and truly an eyesore now that his eyes feasted upon the new, slick, shiny laptop lying before him. Still with quite a bit to be done, he redirected his focus to the task at hand, that of cleaning.

  Boy! If Lieutenant Moore is a married man, God help his wife, unless, of course, she’s just as comfortable in squalor as it appears this guy is, Jaden thought as he set about trashing the spittle bottles, cringing at the sight of them.

  EARLY EVENING: Because Jaden was resolved to get his office tidied up and free of filth in a day, he had spent the rest of the time moving and trashing things, wholly oblivious to the time. Then, while cleaning assiduously, he heard someone call out to him, “Sir!”

  He turned about but saw no one. Whoever it was had to have done so from behind the partly disassembled tank.

  “What’s up?” he shouted as he grabbed a bag of trash and headed out into the bay area, heading for the dumpster that lay placed outside the bay doors.

  “It’s almost time for final formation, sir,” Private Nicholson said, stepping out from behind the tank.

  Jaden looked at his watch. It was almost 1700 hours. He had but a couple of minutes to make it out to his platoon before the company commander joined the collective. Dropping the bag and running back into his office, he grabbed his uniform top and beret and dressed as he hastened out of the bay.

  Formation didn’t last long. That which was put forth was the following morning’s workout plan as well as what the priority of work was to be and then the unit was dismissed for the day.

  Jaden returned to his office to finish up.

  It was just past eight in the evening when all was as he wished it to be; the rest of the company had been long gone. He slumped in his chair that he may take a breath before returning to his quarters.

  After resting a while, he rose, donned his uniform blouse and started for the door. Having made his way to the door, he looked back at the room and was pleased with his effort; just about to switch off the lights, he noticed his new computer. With really not much to do once home other than getting cleaned up, a bite for dinner and then rest himself, he decided that he’d check his email before he set off for home.

  He was pleasantly surprised to see that Dave had written him, and much pleased that Dave’s report date had changed, making it necessary for him to report earlier than initially scheduled.

  Jaden wrote back, giving his phone number and asking that Dave give him a call once he got settled. Reflecting upon the seemingly endless hours they had spent on the subject of God, he smiled; and while it had all been assuredly engaging, fun, and interesting, he hoped that Dave would remember their accord.

  A WEEK LATER: After three weeks had past, and a few hundred dollars on a rental vehicle spent, Jaden finally received the phone call he’d been waiting for ever since arriving in Germany.

  “Good morning!” said a very pleasant voice. She sounded young.

  “Good morning!” he said, as he eagerly looked upon his computer screen, not quite sure why a gizmo as new as his computer seemed to be taking longer to boot up than he’d expect.

  “May I please speak with Lieutenant Ramiel?”

  “This is he. How may I help you?”

  “Hello, Lieutenant Ramiel.”

  “Hi.”

  “My name is Diya and I’m calling from Vehicle Processing to inform you that your vehicle is here.”

  He could scarcely believe that his ears had heard rightly. “Is it really?”

  “Yes it is, sir. You may pick it up at your convenience during our business hours.”

>   “That’s great! What time does your office close?”

  “The office is open until 1830 hours to afford soldiers sufficient time to pick up their vehicles after the work day is over, sir. We understand that not everyone can make it here during your own regular hours of duty.”

  “Great! I’ll be there sometime tomorrow. I’ve been waiting for what seems like forever for this call.”

  “I’m sure you have been. It can be slightly inconvenient having to make do without a vehicle. You’re used to having one all the time then suddenly find yourself having to either rely on others, use public transportation, or spend money on a rental car.”

  “Sounds like you’ve heard the voice of relief more than once,” he joked.

  “A few times,” she said, chuckling.

  His cell phone buzzed.

  “Thanks for the call. I’ll be there tomorrow, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  He looked at the number displayed across the cell phone screen. Not recognizing it, he conjectured as to who it might be. “Hello.”

  “Guess who?”

  It was a voice that he recognized. “Dave!” he exclaimed, excited that they’d soon be reuniting. “I wondered who was calling me. I completely forgot that I had emailed you my number. So, what’s up, dude? It’s been a while. Are you all settled in now?”

  “Yeah, I’m all settled in, bud. I don’t think that it’s quite sunk in yet that I’m now in Germany and that this will be my home for the next few years. I see the people, I hear the language but it’s like it isn’t real. It really feels surreal.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes I still can’t believe it myself. Away from my family, most of the people that I know, basically away from everything I know and have grown up with. In some respects it’s like beginning life anew,” said Jaden.

  “That’s exactly how I feel. When I arrived at the airport and heard nothing but German, I couldn’t believe that this was really happening. Maybe had I done any traveling outside of the US before now it might not have felt as overwhelmingly strange as it did, you know what I mean? I haven’t been here long but I’m definitely sure that I’m going to like it.”