In the end, boot camp wasn't terrible. It was boot camp, a place people go to be basically trained in the art and science of soldiering. A place for people who had never been in a military. Marcus was seasoned though, and it showed.

During the first quarter, he dominated the physical preparations and assessments. He was one of a few that could remain in the front while running laps around the Castle with all of their gear. He was one of a few who didn't let the yelling of the Drill Sergeants break his concentration, remaining calm and focused throughout all of the tests. Years of war back west had engrained a calmness in him.

During the latter portions of boot camp, "Recruit Marcus André showed exceptional leadership during the urban and green side offense and defense phases, and during civilian populace patrolling", written by Ronnie Shaw the chief instructor at bootcamp. His weapons handling, and hand to hand was exceptional. The only thing he didn't excel in were the written exams. He wasn't taught until later in life how to read and write, after joining the Rangers for writing reports, so his literary abilities were limited. Fortunately he passed with just below average marks, thanks to the rest of his skills though he was placed above his peers. In the end, Marcus was promoted to Sergeant out of boot camp. He would be responsible for a squad at his first station, which he requested be a combat unit.

The Minutemen were still growing, people from all over the Commonwealth and surrounding areas were coming to enlist. Marcus found out in boot camp that the nemesis for now was the Gunners. He heard that they had blown up a central trading area in Boston, Bunker Hill, while trying to kill Col. Thiel. And relations with the Brotherhood at this point were shaky at best. Negotiations had been going off and on for quite sometime. Marcus would have his wish, as most of his peers who enlisted. Upon graduation, he received his orders. First assignment-COP(Combat Outpost) Zimonja. Officer to report to, Captain Marion, Company Commander.

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It was his first patrol in the Minutemen, not his first one ever though, of course. From his time with the Rangers, he knew what he needed to bring and what he could afford to leave behind. He watched as some of the younger soldiers, some his peers from boot camp, struggle with their load. Some thought just because they carried it all in boot, they had to carry it out here. It was different carrying it here when you weren't given mandatory breaks to avoid injury. Marcus found it humorous, they would learn just as he did. His platoon commander, Lt. Katzer, had been posted here for three months. In the Minutemen, one would be promoted to officer based off merit. Even so, he was the newest Lieutenant at the COP. Marcus wasn't his biggest fan. Until now he had engaged raiders, at COP Zimonja though, the concern was Gunners.

Until recently the Minutemen didn't have enough forces for a major offensive, but with the influx of recruits General Garvey and Colonel Thiel decided it was time. A contact patrol was Sgt. Andrés' mission, and he was enthusiastic to carry it out.

"Sir, we've got the Gunner compound in sight." One of the junior soldiers told the Lt., who then passed the 'halt' and 'get down' hand and arm signals.

Marcus took a knee, dropping his ruck sack and pulling out his map, just as his radio came to life.

"Squad leaders on me." The Lt. passed.

"What's the plan sir?" The first squad leader, Sgt. Sputtle asked.

"I️ want two from the marksman attachments to do a recon of the western side, ID an infiltration point and from there we will coordinate with higher."

All the squad leaders and the Platoon Sergeant, who was Marcus as well as second squad leader, rogered up. They then went to pass word to their men. Marcus set his men in a 360, and after he went forward to observe the two man recon.

'Ridiculous.' He thought to himself. 'These men are only basically trained, they know nothing about recon.' His specialties while in the Rangers just so happened to be reconnaissance and information gathering, later turned into intelligence to be disseminated amongst the Rangers. Needless to say, his appreciation for reconnaissance and all associated acts was great.

A loud explosion rocked the still air. Marcus peered through his binoculars. One of the men had stepped on a mine, though alive, Marcus was sure he had lost at least a leg.

"Fuuuck.." The Lt. whispered. Marcus shot him a quick glance before looking back through his binoculars. The injured soldier screamed loudly, his partner ran to aid him. Once he grabbed him by his vest and started to drag him back, little splashes of dirt appeared all around him.

Marcus immediately knew what these splashes were. 'They're being shot at..'

He only made it a few yards before one finally struck home, sending the aiding soldier to his knees. He struggled to stand back up, but couldn't. Probably a shot through the leg or lower back. The Lt. started to stand, assumingely to lead a rescue. Marcus quickly grabbed him by the collar and jerked him back into the dirt.

"What're you doing?" Marcus asked calmly.

"I'm going to save my men." He started to stand, and again Marcus jerked him back into the dirt.

"No you're not, sir. They'll shoot you on sight, then we won't have a platoon commander, and another body to grab. It's a mistake for you to go."

The officer looked appalled, and confused.

"Sergeant André, I'm leading a group of men to recover our wounded."

"Lt. Katzer," Marcus let out a brief chuckle, "you're not doing that..you're going to stay here, I'll take my squad, set in a position so we can suppress them and then another squad can go as recovery."

The Lieutenant was now clearly furious, breaking free of Marcus's grasp and shooting to his feet. Marcus realized that Lt. Katzer was one of the, 'I'm in charge and you'll do what I say because I said so' types.

"I️ will charge you with insubordination Sergeant!" Marcus remained silent, coldly staring through the man. The Lt. turned to the men immediately behind him.

"You four, with me! We're getting our boys." The four soldiers stood without question, and as they left the safety of their perimeter, Marcus crawled quickly to his squad.

"Get up, we have to move. We're going to the right flank, taking cover behind that bus. Now..that group of men," he pointed at the Lt. as they jogged the 500 meters to their wounded, "they're going to start getting shot at, and when they do, we're going to provide as much covering fire for them as possible. Understood?"

A unanimous 'Yes Sergeant.' Came from his men's hushed voices. He oriented himself back towards the gunner stronghold, and threw his arm forward to signal them to go. He couldn't help but notice the pain in his lower back and knees from crouching so long.

They ran quickly, using as much cover and concealment as possible, but in the end they knew they would be seen. Within fifty yards of the recovery team reaching the wounded, they began to take light effective fire. Marcus figured probably two, maybe three Gunners taking well aimed shots from the bridge, the dominating feature on the landscape. As long as they had men on that bridge, they would have the high ground. You didn't have to be a tactical genius to know that wasn't good.

Marcus and his squad arrived at their designated position, the wall surrounding the Gunners compound. One of the recovery team had already gone down, making a bad situation worse. Marcus turkey peaked around the bus, and with his binoculars quickly identified the shooters. His assumption earlier was correct, only two for now.

"Get ready, suppressing fire, follow my rounds!"

Marcus popped around the corner, and fired a short burst at the gunners. The rounds bounced around them, causing them to duck and cease firing. The squad, disciplined and eager, immediately started suppressing their targets. If the Gunners didn't know his squad was there, they did now as a line of ten men fired their service rifles.

Only one more man had been hit on the recovery team, totaling four wounded. Marcus was about to call for the other squads on the radio, but his fellow squad leaders had been following behind him and his squad.

"I've got a team going out to assist in recovery, they're bringing the wounded here." Third squad leader, Corporal Whiting announced.

Before he could speak, a loud continuous burst of fire impacted the bus they were using for cover.

"Machine gun!" One of the soldiers on the line yelled. Marcus took a knee, giving him better cover.

"Pick up the rates of fire! GET ME A DM!"

A designated marksman came running with his sniper rifle, arriving around the same time as the wounded and the Lt. were rejoining the platoon. The fire fight drowned out everything else, as it always had for Marcus. He was beginning to get tunnel vision, his primary focus to kill everyone in that compound.

"Son, I need you to kill that machine gunner." Marcus, shouting over the gun fire and patting the young mans shoulder.

"Yes Sergeant!" The DM replied.

"Sergeant André, what are you doing?" The Lt. bellowed.

"I'm taking the offense, sir."

"Last I checked this was my platoon, we're pulling out." His response came clear, and loud, over the gun fire.

"Sir, if we run now we'll take more casualties and accomplish nothing, these gunners will run us all over the territory and we'll take a loss. You need to lead these men." Marcus only glanced at the Lt. while speaking to him, his attention truly rested on his map.

"I am leading them, back to friendly lines Sergeant!"

Now, Marcus looked at his officer, and motioned for him to come closer with his index finger. Surprisingly, the man took a knee next to Marcus. The machine gun fire was still going in heavy bursts, and Marcus expected the Gunners were organizing for an attack. Time was precious, and it was running out.

"Sir, you need to pull it together. As you're senior enlisted, I strongly advise you take the offensive here. Our job, is to kill these scum bags. We outnumber them, if we really need to we could call for reinforcements. We may be out of artillery range, but there are multiple points of entry, and as soon as we lower that crane, we can take the bridge. Sir, this is the critical moment in battle that we turn the tides."

The officer looked at him, tears forming in his eyes.

"I'm tired of getting men hurt André."

'You've got to be kidding me..' Marcus pursed his lips, clearly annoyed with his leadership. Marcus seriously doubted the officer truly heard anything he said.

"Sir, go sit over there with the wounded. The men can't see you like this." Marcus pointed to the casualties, while looking back at his map. With a glance and lowered head the officer stood, moping towards the casualties.

Marcus looked back at the bridge, the machine gun fire was still going strong. His men, had all but ceased their suppressive fire. Before he could ask for an update, he heard a body collapse behind him. The Lt. had taken a round in the head. Marcus stared at him for a moment before he let out an audible sigh.

'Great.'

Marcus did what he wished the young officer would've done, and took charge of the platoon. Under his leadership, they crushed the Gunners within two hours, only taking five more casualties, a fairly low casualty rate for a green unit.

After the fight was over, Marcus ordered the men to sift through and find any useful information or gear. Namely, medical supplies to treat the wounded as best as possible.

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"Sergeant André, we've got the dead collected, and we've got some intel. There's a small outpost of gunners nearby, looks like they broke off a couple days ago to find a new place to fortify." The new acting Platoon Sergeant informed Marcus.

"Did a distress call go out?" He asked while reading through every single bit of information on the terminal he found inside a shack on top of the bridge.

"Couldn't say." Sergeant Sputtle shrugged.

"Well send one out, ask for backup...send third squad back with the casualties, have second squad collect the machine guns the Gunners had, take their clothes, and dress in them. Set up where they'll have fire down the long axis of the gunners reinforcement patrol..first squad line the bridge in cover, and then we'll wait..we'll send a clear message to them. Also, get on the radio and tell higher what's going on."

"Roger that Sergeant.."

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Hours later, as the sun was setting, the Gunners patrol was approaching from the east. The sun was in their eyes, the Minutemen dressed in the gunners uniforms laid still except for one man, who stood and waved the Gunners forward. Marcus had the men lay the dead Gunners around the compound to appear as if they were Minutemen corpses.

Marcus sat inside the shack which stored the cranes control terminal. He watched in silence, they were now within 200 meters. The entire patrol was in view. He counted twelve men, moving quicker now that they believed they were close to friendly lines. Marcus lit his cigar, inhaling slowly.

"FIRE!" Sergeant Sputtle yelled. Immediately, three machine guns opened up, the Minutemen on the bridge popped over and began flanking fire. The Gunners were trapped in the kill zone, with no where to go. The Minutemen caught them by surprise, but the surprise only lasted a moment for the confused Gunners. All their bodies fell limp, the gun fire only lasted ten to fifteen seconds.

Marcus exhaled, finally getting to enjoy the cigars he had purchased at Sunshine Tidings.

He hit the transmit button on his radio. "Tell the men to take anything useful, if we can't carry it, burn it or break it." Marcus looked at the lit end of his cigar in admiration.

"What about the prisoner?" Sergeant Sputtle asked over the radio, referring to the man they had captured earlier. After the Gunner Commander was killed, he and a couple others tried to escape. Unfortunately for them, they ran into third squad.

"He's coming back with us, brother. I've got some questions for him." Marcus replied.

AN: Alright, so this chapter bounced around a little bit and moved at a quicker pace than the others. I didn't want to spend a lot of time on bootcamp because it would have just consisted of Marcus succeeding at tasks most others couldn't. I also wanted to show his mindset and how he approaches squad/platoon size tactics. As always, leave a review. Good or bad, both are welcome. Thanks for reading!