This is chapter four, and I'm glad to be back on track with 'Summers & Winters'. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I've been rereading the Ambrose book, and I wish the series had fictionalized the event that was the 118 mile march Col. Sink had 2nd Battalion embark on to Ft. Benning.

This is my fictionalization of it, just to give us more interaction with the Easy Company men, before we witness their examinations to earn their jump wings.

Best,

-BB

4
Ruffians on Parade
En Route from Camp Toccoa to Fort Benning, Georgia
November 1942-December 1942

Autumn arrived at Camp Toccoa, and the 506th PIR remained diligent in their basic training as October quickly turned into November. Disgruntled complaints of Captain Sobel reached the nurses' ears but luckily, Caroline, Ruth and Holly had not had personal contact with the intimidating CO. Captain Edwards made sure her girls reported to her, not to the commanding officers of the companies.

Holly and Ruth decided that Sobel left them alone because Caroline was his superior's niece. One wrong word, for example, about women being incompetent distractions to his men could persuade Sink to reprimand him. They did earn dirty glares from Sobel if they ran into him on the base, but they never exchanged words.

Letters from June were constant and Caroline usually found herself writing a letter back to her sister at least once a week. She always had a barrage of letters from her parents back home, and her heart sank at the one her mother wrote a week before Thanksgiving.

Dearest Lina,

Your father and I are starting to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. While we are happy to play host to our friends, as always, we are saddened at the fact that our two favorite guests won't be with us this year. We've started grocery shopping, and I'm making sure there's a pecan pie at the table, so we're reminded of your favorite dessert, sweetheart.

Your Uncle Bob has been in contact, and says that you're thriving. I know I wasn't happy with the decision you made, but I am quite proud of you, my Caroline. I am proud to have you and June as my daughters, and I cannot wait to see you…whenever that may be.

God bless you.

Love,

Mom

It was her mother's words of confidence (along with the advice from Winters) that allowed her to not worry about Annabelle, or Sobel. She kept to herself and focused on her work. Her friendships with the Easy Company boys, however, flourished since they "rescued" them that night from the Bravo Company soldiers.

On Thanksgiving morning, Caroline, Holly, and Ruth cheerily sat down besides their boys at the mess hall for breakfast.

"Happy Thanksgiving!" they chorused.

They were met with sullen expressions from Guarnere, Grant, Toye, Luz, Lipton and Malarkey. They didn't return the greeting, and barely looked up from their meals.

"What's wrong? Boys, we're off today! It's a day off! What's got you so down?" asked Caroline.

"Colonel Sink may have given the 506th off today, but Major Strayer thought second battalion needed a little more experience in the field…" said Guarnere, his coffee cup landing on the table with a forceful thud.

"You girls enjoy your day off, alright? We've got to get going. C'mon boys." Lipton, with a weak smile, led the boys out of the mess hall. The girls felt miserable for them. Sink had clearly given orders, but Strayer thought it wise to go against them.

In protest of Strayer's decision, the girls did not join the nurses for the feast that Captain Edwards had arranged for them. They relaxed in their barracks until later that evening, when the boys, muddy, bloodied and exhausted came back to base. The girls went to go check up on them, only to be welcomed with the ungodly stench of pig guts lingering in the air.

"What died?" asked Holly, pinching her nose shut.

"Strayer thought it best to have us do an obstacle course contaminated with dead pig organs," said Luz. The men briefly described what they had to do; crawling under a mess of pig guts and stretched wires, therefore, getting an idea of what real warfare just might entail.

"A happy Thanksgiving to us indeed," added another one of the privates, David Webster.

"I wonder what Colonel Sink's going to say when he finds out about this," added Caroline, as Webster laughed along in agreement.

The girls stayed and chatted with them as they went in turns to go get cleaned up. Malarkey and his friend Skip Muck had gotten a card game started with some of the guys and Ruth asked if she could be dealt in. Holly had been taken away by Luz for some "private" conversation, so Caroline decided to bade the men goodnight, and go back to her barracks.

Caroline did not have to wait too long to find out what Sink thought about Strayer's eccentric field exercise. As basic training came to an end in the last week of November, the 506th began to get ready to ship out to Fort Benning for jump training.

Sink, apparently, had read some article in Reader's Digest that claimed a battalion of the Japanese Army set a world record in marching endurance. They marched one-hundred miles in the Malayan Peninsula over the course of three days. He figured his own men could top the record, and because Strayer's second battalion had "trained the hardest,"* chose them to make the one-hundred and eighteen mile march from Toccoa to Five Points, Atlanta. First and third battalion got to take a train ride.

Captain Edwards decided to have the second battalion nurses accompany their companies on the march as well, in order to provide any medical attention. The girls were not thrilled with this, but along with the equally displeased second battalion soldiers, set off for Atlanta at seven in the morning on 1 December.

It was bitingly cold, and weather conditions varied from freezing rain to powdery snow, as second battalion marched along the increasingly slippery roads.

Day one of the march ended at eleven that evening, and they had successfully marched forty miles. The nurses tended to the men, helping them rub some life back into their swollen, frozen-stiff feet.

"It is so cold out here!" exclaimed Ruth, as the three girls began to set up a makeshift camp for themselves once the soldiers were taken care of. She draped an extra blanket over her shoulders, and they huddled close to each other, desperate for warmth.

"It's got to be in the twenties. This is very cold for Georgia, of all states. Can you imagine if we were up north?" asked Holly.

That comment made Caroline think of her beloved New York City winters, spent playing in the snow at Central Park when she was a child…before life became a little more complicated. Oh, what she would give to be home, curled up in front of a cozy fire, avoiding the nasty New York weather, together with June and her parents. She may not have agreed with her mother on how she should live her life, but that didn't mean she didn't love her any less.

When Holly and June fell asleep, Caroline snuck away and found a clearing in the woods nicely illuminated by the moonlight. She pulled out a pen and leaf of paper, desperate to get some words down to her mother.

Dear mom,

Thank you for your letter. I missed you and dad on Thanksgiving, believe me. My friends and I spent the better part of the day in our barracks, instead of having Thanksgiving dinner. Easy Company, unfortunately, was forced to spend their Thanksgiving away from the feasting Uncle Bob had organized, and—

"Caroline?"

She gasped out in fear, but relaxed when the moonlight allowed her to see who her intruder was.

"Richard, you scared me. Hello."

"Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"Well, shouldn't that question be directed to you as well?"

"I asked you first," he playfully teased.

"Oh, alright. I was thinking of my mom, and decided to take a moment to write some things down before I forget them. Why are you awake, Richard?"

"Just couldn't sleep. Worried about the men. They were in low spirits tonight, but I know they'll make it to Atlanta. Let's just say, there weren't many kind words for your uncle this evening, Caroline."

"Oh, well, I'm not surprised. Honestly, the nurses aren't too pleased that we had to tag along and bandage you all up on this march!"

They shared a laugh, and Winters sat down next to Caroline on the log she was perched on.

"How've you been, Caroline?"

"I'm okay. Taking your advice has helped. She's still as awful as ever to me, but you were right. I haven't been giving Annabelle a second thought, and my days are better."

"Good. I'm glad to hear it."

"How about you, Richard?"

"Putting up with Sobel. What else is new? I will say though, he's not happy that we have you all here. Complains that you're distracting the men. Talks about it whenever he's out of earshot from your uncle."

"Wonderful. So that's why he doesn't say much to us. We'd probably distract him."

"It's Sobel. No one takes him seriously, so you shouldn't either. I don't. But please, keep this conversation…"

"What conversation?" she asked, already knowing that he was about to ask her to keep their words only between the two of them. He smiled at her in understanding. They talked for a few minutes more, until he saw her attempt to stifle a yawn.

"C'mon. I'll escort you back to Holly and Ruth."

"But I'm not…yawn…oh alright."

"Ah Jesus!"

"Fuck!"

"Christ!"

"Dear lord!"

These were the shouts of pain that the nurses and soldiers cried out when they woke up on day two of the march. They had had their share of long marches back at Toccoa, but that did not mean they weren't aching from what they'd done on day one. Each person had stiff muscles, and although the first few miles on day two were quite painful, the muscles finally loosened up, and the marching wasn't quite so bad.

At the end of day three, second battalion rested at Oglethorpe University, located right outside Atlanta. They would finish their march into the city the following day.

If spirits were low after the first two days, they'd plummeted once second battalion made camp at the university. It was a dire situation; they were exhausted and some of the men could barely move out of their tents for dinner. Caroline was a witness to this; poor Malarkey had set up his tent with Muck, and once dinner was announced, he crawled on all fours out of his tent.

Caroline rushed over to help him up, and he gratefully took her proffered hand.

"Lieutenant Winters! Will you please come over here for a moment?" she called, wanting his advice on what to do about Malarkey. He ambled over to them, and took one good look at Malarkey.

"Well, Lieutenant Summers, what do you think?"

"I think Malarkey needs some rest, but I'll leave the final call to you, sir."

"Malarkey, there's an ambulance that's already taking some men over to Atlanta. It's going to meet second battalion over there, and I think you should be on that ambulance."

Malarkey looked up at Winters in horror.

"No…sir…I'd prefer to stay with the men. I'll be okay, I promise."

"Then as you were, Malarkey. Go get something to eat."

"Thank you, sir."

They watched as Malarkey hobbled back over to the food line. Caroline tried to make her way back to Ruth and Holly, but a gentle hand stopped her from leaving.

"Aren't you going to eat?" asked Winters.

"Huh? Oh, yes. Shortly. I just wanted to go check in with the nurses."

He glanced over at the group assembled for their chow; Holly and Ruth included, giggling with the Easy men.

"I don't think that's entirely necessary right now. C'mon. Follow me."

She didn't need to be told twice as she felt her stomach rumble with hunger.

They were welcomed into Atlanta with a marching band that Strayer had arranged for, as well as a large, cheering crowd. Word, apparently, had leaked about their three day march to the press via Sink. The marching band must've improved second battalion's demeanor, for the ones like Malarkey who had been in extreme pain, easily finished the last miles into Atlanta as they marched along to the peppy music.

They spent the night in Atlanta, before boarding a train to Fort Benning, where they, along with the rest of the 506th, would finally begin their jump training. Caroline couldn't help but notice how elated Easy Company was on their train ride; their demeanors had made quite the one-eighty since the march to Atlanta. She couldn't blame them. They were finally getting to do what they had their hearts set on since day one at Toccoa.

This chapter would not have been at all possible without the information Ambrose had on it in the book. Indeed, Sink believed that his men could outdo the Japanese Army's record and I even found some neat photographs online of Easy Company during the march!

*A direct quote from page 20 of the Ambrose book, but pages 19-22 served as my inspiration to stage this chapter.

Poor Malarkey! At least he managed to 'soldier' on.

In response to the previous chapter comments…I'm trying to make this believable, and yet fictional at the same time. I've made some errors; I've made efforts to go back and fix them. There was a huge disclaimer at the beginning of chapter one…and even the series creators made factual errors themselves. What I'm saying is, we're not perfect, and shit happens. If there's an issue that needs to be addressed, don't hide as an anonymous 'guest.' Log in and let me respond to your review, or leave me a PM. Really.

'Ruffians on Parade' is another Kaiser Chiefs song. Again, rather fitting for this one, don't you think?

Can't wait for chapter five. Don't worry—I've got plenty in store for these two…

Currahee!

-BB