Disclaimer: The Rat Patrol is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.

Oh the Trials of War

By Suzie2b

Tully was working on the jeep's transmission—again. It would act up. He would do a temporary fix. They would get to a motor pool only to be told that there were no parts available.

The wrench slipped and Tully wacked his knuckles. He cursed quietly as he scooted out from under the jeep and inspected his bloody hand as he stood up. That's when his frustration got the best of him. Tully threw the wrench and nearly hit Hitch as it sailed through the air into the rocks that surrounded the well.

Troy and Moffitt turned as Hitch cried, "Hey! Watch where you're flingin' things!"

Tully sighed. "Sorry, Hitch!"

Moffitt walked up to the private and saw blood dripping from the hand he was looking at. "What's happened, Tully?"

"It's the jeep. The transmission's shot and no one has a replacement. I don't know how many more times I can fix it. I'm afraid it'll break down in the middle of a firefight."

Moffitt reached into the jeep for the med kit and a canteen. "Have a seat and I'll clean up your hand." Tully lowered himself down to sit on the sand. Moffitt knelt next to him and inspected the injured knuckles. "What's really wrong? It's not like you to let your emotions get the better of you."

Tully grimaced as the sergeant poured water over his hand to flush the sand out of the wounds. "It's just this crazy war. We kill them, they kill us. It doesn't make much sense. It's so frustrating."

Moffitt smiled. "Well, taking your frustration out on a wrench won't help." He noticed a slight smile tug at the corners of Tully's mouth. "Unfortunately, the only people that it makes sense to are the powers-that-be on both sides. I have a feeling that if they had to actually do the fighting as we do, the war probably would have never started." Moffitt uncapped the alcohol. "Take a deep breath."

Tully did and hissed with pain as alcohol was poured over his knuckles. Then he said, "But what if everyone on both sides decided to stop fighting? That would effectively stop the war no matter what High Command thinks."

Troy had been listening to the conversation and said, "It's not that easy. There will always be the people who just can't be happy with the way things are. They live to fight for something that wasn't theirs to begin with just because they don't want the other side to have it."

Moffitt wrapped Tully's knuckles. "Let's face it. We weren't hired to understand it. And no one has asked for our opinion."

The bandage was tied off and Tully flexed his fingers. "Thanks, doc."

Troy asked the private, "Have you calmed down some now?"

Tully smiled. "Yeah. Guess I'd better get back to work. Maybe they'll have a transmission in Ukbara when we get there."

##################

Tully's jeep limped into the motor pool at Ukbara. The lieutenant in charge looked through his inventory and said, "Sorry, private, we don't have anything on hand at the moment. However, we're expecting a shipment of parts day after tomorrow. There's supposed to be a few refurbished transmissions with it."

Tully sighed. "Okay. Thank you, sir." He walked back to where Hitch was waiting. "There's supposed to be some coming in day after tomorrow."

Hitch nodded. "Well, we're going to be here for a few days at least to take care of some issues in the area caused by the Germans. Let's see if we can't keep her going until that supply gets here."

Troy and Moffitt walked into the motor pool as the privates were finishing up with the jeep. Moffitt said, "When you two weren't in the mess hall, we figured we'd find you here. Any luck getting a new part?"

Tully wiped his hands on a rag. "Lieutenant Coffer says there's some refurbished transmissions in a shipment coming in a couple of days."

Hitch said, "We've done all we can for now, sarge. She'll run, but no telling for how long. Did you find out what the major wants us to do?"

Troy nodded, "Yeah. The first thing Major Johns wants us to do is take out a supply route that the Germans are using. We'll head out there first thing in the morning and see what we can do."

##################

The following morning after an early breakfast, the Rat Patrol headed out to where Major Johns had told them the supply route was. They drove behind the rocky hills that jutted up next to the road on either side.

As they surveyed the route from a hilltop, Moffitt said, "It's a good thing the major doesn't want to use this road for allied purposes. There's no way we can stop the Germans using it without blowing the whole thing sky high."

Troy agreed as he pointed out several places along the hills and road. "We'll set half the charges along the ridge lines there and there. Then the rest can be set in the road itself. We should be able to do enough damage so the Germans won't be able to use it again. Moffitt, you and Tully start on the other side. Hitch and I will start here."

A couple of hours later Moffitt and Tully returned to where Troy and Hitch waited. Troy asked, "All set?"

Moffitt nodded. "All set."

"Tully, get the detonators set up…"

Troy was interrupted when Hitch called. "Sarge, looks like there's a convoy coming!"

Troy, Moffitt, and Tully joined Hitch, who said, "They'll be here before the detonators are ready. Are we going to let them pass through, or blow them with the road?"

Tully said, "Maybe we could warn 'em off … somehow get 'em to turn around."

Moffitt said, "If we do that, they'll just find another route and those supplies will get through regardless."

Tully shrugged. "Yeah, but that'll happen eventually anyway. I was just thinkin' that maybe, this one time, we wouldn't have to do so much killing."

Troy saw the look on Tully's face and relented. "All right. Let's see if we can run them off."

The convoy had an armed escort. The Rat Patrol did everything they could to get them to turn tail back the way they'd come. And for a moment it looked like they were going to be successful.

In the middle of the fight Tully started having trouble shifting, then the clutch failed. All he could do was let the jeep roll to a stop. As soon as the escort's commander realized that two of their combatants were stranded, he sent a halftrack to either capture or kill them.

Moffitt continued to fire the 50 caliber as Tully grabbed a machine gun out of its holster. They knew they'd never get to cover before the German halftrack was on them. They would have to hold out until Troy and Hitch could get to them.

Then there was a whistling sound after a mortar was fired from the halftrack. It hit close enough to the jeep to send it onto its side, throwing Moffitt out of the back. Tully went down as shrapnel hit him, but was back on his feet in a flash to cover Moffitt as the sergeant struggled to move.

Then the unmistakable sound of a 50 caliber was heard over the din. Hitch drove expertly between the destroyed American jeep and the German halftrack. Troy didn't hesitate to cut down the occupants of the halftrack as the rest of the convoy retreated.

At the sight of Troy and Hitch, Tully let himself sink to his knees. "You okay, sarge?"

Moffitt was finally able to roll onto his back and sit up. "I've hurt my ankle and have a headache coming on, but…" He looked to his right as Tully slumped backwards. "Tully?" Moffitt pushed himself to the private's side and realized he was unconscious, a large piece of shrapnel having hit him in the side between his ribs.

Hitch slid to a stop as Troy jumped out of the back of the jeep. They quickly loaded Moffitt and Tully into the back, then headed for the detonators.

As the supply route was obliterated, Tully opened his eyes in time to see the fireworks as rock and dirt flew high into the air.

##################

Moffitt had a slight concussion and a broken ankle, but was soon up and around on crutches. Tully had surgery to remove the shrapnel, which had caused a cracked rib. He would spend a few days in the hospital.

Two days after the supply route was destroyed, Lieutenant Coffer walked up to Tully's bunk, where he was playing matchstick poker with Troy, Hitch, and Moffitt, who had his casted leg on a chair. The lieutenant asked, "Still want that transmission, private?"

Tully looked up from his cards. "No, sir."

"Where'd you find one?"

"I didn't find one, lieutenant."

Coffer put his hands on his hips. "Temporary fixes never last, you know."

Tully said, "I didn't fix it either. It's not a transmission I need anymore. What I need now is a whole new jeep."

Lieutenant Coffer rolled his eyes and sighed. "I'll see about getting the requisitions together."