Another chapter another chance to read and review.
Chapter 11
It's been a few hectic days for me so far. Mostly now since both Phillips and Foster are now teaching me some of the finer points of basic mechanics. Apparently Hawk gave them the go ahead, to teach me some of the basics.
Good god it was a lot to take in on the first day. Yet they were cool enough to repeat a lot of the information they gave, especially on the tools. At least now I know what the heck these tools are. As for today Phillips was going to teach me how do a basic oil change off of a VAMP.
Also they both got word that Specialist Cover girl was coming back today. Officially she came in late last night, but was getting some much need rest before she started her day.
As for me I told Phillips that he should probably make me disappear, since I didn't want to cause any trouble. At first I thought he wasn't going to go for my plan, but instead had an idea. He decided I should get an up close and personal view of the VAMP. So he had me get on one of those roller flat boards and get underneath the VAMP.
He soon joined along with me as he went on to explain the finer points of oil changes. Soon enough he started on his visual aid lesson. I got to learn how much oil it takes in, what kind of filters it needs, where to loosen to bolts to drain old oil, and how often it should be changed.
In the mean time, Cover girl finally made it to her beloved machine shop so she can work on her tanks. Just as she loves to drive them, she also likes to tinker with them a bit. As always everyone seemed to be busy doing their duties from her observations.
She sees foster busy doing some tire rotations on one of the VAMPS. However her other lead mechanic Phillips is nowhere to be seen.
"Phillips where are you," Cover girl called out? I could see that Phillips who was next to me was sighing out loud. "Here kid hold the flash light and continue to study the oil ports ok, I'll be right back."
Phillips slid out from underneath the VAMP to meet up with Cover girl in order to draw her attention away from the VAMP he was working on with the kid.
"There you are Phillips."" What are you up to today?"" Just doing much needed and overdue oil changes on the last of the VAMPs that's all."
"Really you are just doing oil changes huh."" That's right Specialist."" If you are doing oil changes then, how come your doing it the slow and old fashion way?" As Cover girl pointed at the VAMP the Phillips emerged from. "Why aren't you using the hydraulic lifts to change it out?"
As Cover girl started to walk towards the very same VAMP." By the way where's our resident dirt devil?" "Uh who ma'am?"" The kid," Cover girl exclaimed." Uh I'm sure he's around here somewhere cleaning up as usual."
"Really Phillips is that the best excuse you can give me." Cover then grabbed on the pair of boots that extend out of the front of the VAMP. Of course as she pulled on the pair of boots, Mark comes rolling out seeing a rather angry looking Specialist.
"Get up kid!"" What the heck are you doing under there!?" I sort of froze as I kind of stood there with a little shock on my face. I was about to answer her until she started on some rant about my place being here in her shop.
At that very same time the shop phone started to ring off the hook, which was weird for Foster since he was next to it, because normally the phone would be ringing in Cover girls office. Even though he was cringing at Cover girls ranting about the kid who was trying to learn how to do a simple oil change, he still answered the phone.
"Machine Shop, Foster speaking."" Yes Sergeant Major Specialist Cover girl is here right now."" Well Sergeant Major she seems to be preoccupied yelling at the kid right now. ""Yes Sergeant Major I'll notify her immediately."
Foster then walked over to where Cover girl. "Furthermore kid when I say for you to clean up the place I mean it, is that….." Before Cover girl could finish her rant she got interrupted by Foster.
"Cover girl you got a phone call."" Tell them I'll call them back later."" I'm sorry ma'am you have to take this, it's rather urgent."" Fine whatever, kid you wait right here till I get back."
Cover girl makes her way to the machine shop phone in the middle of the shop." This is Cover girl."" Look can this wait Beach head; I'm sort of busy with a little problem right now." "Sigh, all right I'll be there in the conference room, this better not be another debriefing?"" No good I'm on my way right now."
"Ok you two wait right here, till I get back I'm not done with reaming your asses."" I got to attend to this, but I should be back in ten minutes."
Cover girl annoyingly make's her way to the conference room inside the pit. Normally she would casually walk there, but she still had to discipline the kid and Phillips for disobeying a direct order from her. So she made much haste to see what Beach head needed.
She then knocks on the conference door, only to let in by verbal say so from Beach head. She came in only to see Beach head as normal, but also was rather surprised to see Flint as well.
"Ok I'm here you two what do you need?" Beach head open up first. "Cover girl, Hawk is requesting a progress report from you on how the kid is doing."" Well that's new from you beach, I didn't know you were the purveyor of progress reports."
"Be that as it may Cover girl how is the kid coming along on his studies under your wing?"" Ok I guess, I mean the kid was dumped on me with no knowledge on anything, so progress is a bit slow. ""You had him for five months now, what do you mean progress has been slow."
"It's just that the kid is kind of a slow learner." Flint then interjected before beach could ask another question." Really Cover girl it's because the kid is a slow learner, are you sure about that?" Before Cover girl could answer Flint kept going.
"Before you should answer that Cover girl, I have progress reports here from the rest of the kid's instructors. ""To put it in simple terms for you Cover girl everyone else including Beach head here all say that kid is progressing well and in fact that he's also a rather quick learner."
"This kid had no basic knowledge of first aid, basic survival, self defense, and the use of weapons as well; however he is excelling rather well in each of these disciplines."" So don't tell me that he can't learn."
"Now Cover girl I'm going to give one last chance to come clean, or Hawk is going to hold a full inspection in next ten minutes."" He going to have kid turn on and drive a MOBAT for his personal inspection of him. ""If the kid fails to do so, it's not because he failed."" It's because you have failed him."
Shit in a way Cover girl knew the jig was up. There was no way of talking herself out of this one." All right Flint I confess the kid doesn't really know how to do anything."" And I accept full responsibly on my part."
"Christ Cover girl what happen, this is not like you at all."" I'm sorry it's just that when hawk dumped the kid on me I thought I was being punished or something."" I mean I'm not a good teacher. ""Well be that as it may, you still have responsibilities with the kid."
"So your schedule with the kid will change as well."" First you are no longer responsible in teaching the kid any mechanics, but you will teach him how to drive all of the tanks here as well any other vehicle we have. ""Both Foster and Phillips will teach him mechanics from here on out."
"Next your punishment is as it stands."" You either accept it or you'll receive a general discharge right now and be shipped out back to Illinois today." Cover girl stood there waiting to hear what options she had on her punishment first.
"Well Flint aren't you going to tell me what my punishment is first?"" No you either accept now or you're being shipping out right now. ""Normally I would tell you however Hawk is pretty steamed about all this. ""I mean five months wasted."
"That's wasted time that otherwise would have been used on preparing the kid for some missions to test him."" All right Flint I accept whatever punishment is in store for me."" Good then Cover girl you made the right choice, but first I need your signature here to verify that you are taking full responsibility."
"Ok Cover girl your punishment is as follow. ""One all liberty passes that you acquired are now revoked for six months."" Two you will have one month latrine duty to be followed by one KP duty."" Three you are also grounded for any missions in the future until predetermine."" Four you will report to me giving me a weekly progress report on the kid."" Finally number five and this is mandatory. ""You have to go and seek out the kid during your downtime and his and apologize to him."
"Wait seriously I have to apologize to him? ""Yes Cover girl I know it sounds silly, but Hawk feels that maybe you'll come out a bit more humble."" One thing as well your schedule is as follow you'll be on alternate days with the kid."" So one day he'll be with foster and Phillips and the next day with you."" I understand Flint."
"Good go then you can go back to your duties." Cover girl just took off and left without as much as saying goodbye. Well there goes my vacation I suppose. Shit why did do this? Well Courtney you're just going to have to live with it.
Lets see what time it is,… oh it 1500 well I better start thinking of my apology to the kid when I get back to machine shop.
Ten minutes later Cover girl reaches back to the machine shop." Phillips where are you?"" Coming ma'am."" I thought that I told you wait over there by VAMP with the kid."" Wait a minute, where's the kid?"" Aren't you forgetting ma'am, the kid has his next class with sergeant Low-Light at 1500."
"Great, just great, well then um you and Foster know about the new schedule for the kid right?"" Yes ma'am we do."" Good,...um hey Phillips I'm sorry if I've been rather cross with you and Foster over all this business with the kid and all."
"That's ok ma'am we both know that you were rather fluster a bit with all this."" We don't hold any grudges with you."" Ok well just go on with your day then."" Oh by the way can you both give me an update on the repairs to all of the VAMP's?"" We'll do ma'am."
Later on that very same day well practically into the early night, Cover girl was finishing up on her latrine duties. At the same time she was trying to track down the kid so she could give a corny apology to the kid.
Apparently to her they keep this kid on some rigorous schedule of his own. So tracking him down was no easy task. It finally occurred to her that the kid does hang out a lot with Strike. So she thought that heading over to Strikes quarters was a good bet that maybe the kid was nearby.
She checks her watch to see that its' 1830 and starts to knock on Strikes door. Strike opens her dorm door wondering who it might be since is like thirty minutes till lights out. "Oh it's you Cover girl what a surprise."
"Hey there Strike, um how have you been? ""I've been good so far."" So I was thinking that since you hang out with the kid a lot, he is not with you by any chance?"" Well you missed him about thirty minutes ago, when I was doing a lesson in writing today with him."
"Wow strike I didn't know you where teaching the kid some writing skills, how come?"" Well it was more or less a request from Hawk for me to do so."" I mean when the kid first got here he read at a third grade level and could barely write."
"Now he reads close to a twelfth grade level and his writing has really improved. ""Whoa way to go Strike, I'm impressed."" Well I'm getting off track here do you know where he might be, I got have a little talk with him."
"Well it's almost light out, but if you hurry quick topside his dorm is located next to the T-Shacks."" You can't miss it."" Thanks Strike have a good night." Cover girl just makes a huge dash out there while thanking Strike.
Luckily for her she knew where to go since for some reason they housed the kid top side, I guess they didn't have any room for him or something. After what seemed like a hard sprint for like five to ten minutes, Cover girl had about ten minutes to spare.
So she knocked on the kid's door while huffing and puffing for some air. Of course the kid opened the door rather slowly and cautiously with his SIG P226 wondering who heck was bugging him ten minutes before lights out.
"Oh it's you Specialist; uh what can I do you for?" I see her huffing and puffing for some much needed air since she looked like she just ran a marathon." Uh do you need some water Specialist, you look really fluster and out of breath."
Cover girl just waved no to kid, however he did came back to her with a cup of water in his hand. Cover girl was like oh fuck it give here, as she just started to gulp it down. She handed the empty cup back to kid, in which he responded asking her if she wanted another.
She was about to say no, but yet again the kid came back with another round for her. In which she took it and started to gulp it down. Now with her breath finally caught up and her face no longer looking like a cherry Cover girl finally was about to start, until the kid interrupted her yet again.
"Uh you want to come inside Specialist?" At first she was about to protest the idea, but reluctantly just shrugged her shoulders to him as she started to come in. the kid stood there a bit nervous to see specialist Cover girl in his quarters wondering what she wanted.
Shit I hope she's not here to finish reaming my ass for earlier today, Mark thought to himself about." Uh hey there kid, you know you are a hard person to track down if I must say."" But I'm getting off track here."
So" basically I'm here to tell you that your training starts tomorrow in tank driving and multiple driving vehicles."" So the first thing I want you is read this." Specialist hands me what looked like a rather mid size booklet with like maybe a hundred pages or something.
"Uh what this specialist?"" Oh it my personal how to book on driving the many tanks here at the pit."" I basically simplified all the information from several large manuals of the various tanks here."" How many tanks do you guys have here?"
"Well if you read the book kid, we have several all with special purposes."" You said that this book is a composite of several manuals."" Well how big are these manuals?"" Well kid you've seen a phone book right." I nodded yes to her.
"Well imagine about three of those stacked together as one." My eyes just widen in shock at what specialist told me. "I know it's getting close to lights out kid, but it would be a real benefit if you could stay just up maybe one extra hour and read as much as you can."
"Because tomorrow we are going to literally get started in your tank driving class with me."" Um sure thing specialist I'll get started right away."" That's good to hear, but don't stay up too late all right."
I open my door to let specialist out to go on her way which she did, but then turned around to say a couple more things to me.
"Oh one more thing kid."" I want to apologize to you for neglecting you all this time. ""I should have just at least try and teach you something rather than nothing."" It's ok specialist I know you're busy and I didn't want to become a huge burden on you and cause you any more stress."
"Still kid it's no excuse on my part."" Well then apology accepted Specialist."" Look kid you don't have to call me by my rank all time, you can call me Cover girl if you want."" Ok I suppose, well maybe one day all you guys and gals can stop calling me kid."
"Well then that's point then huh, calling you kid."" I know we can't call you kid forever."" One day you're going to have to give yourself a name for all of us to call you."" Anyways have a good read and a good night then. ""You too Ms. Cover girl."" It's just Cover girl kid no Ms. ok."