This Man's Army
Ch. 2- Mission: FUBAR
Disclaimer: I don't own anything…
A/N: I do want you to please review who should and shouldn't die in this fic, I'm having a hard time deciding to kill off characters that I love so much! Give me a reason as well!
They'd made it half a dozen miles away from the beach before anyone made a sound besides Miller rattling out orders. As they crested a hill and moved onto yet another French field the silence was broken by Lee standing in front of Caparzo at the back of the formation.
"Caparzo keep staring at my ass and I'll put a hole in yours."
"How the hell does she see that?" Caparzo asks Mellish who chuckles.
"Eyes in the back of her head. All women can do that," Wade explains from his spot next to Miller at the center of the formation.
"How do you figure?" Mellish asks Wade looking at Lee curiously.
"My mother and sister do it all the time, they always know when I'm screwin' around behind their backs!"
Lee smiles shacking her head at the boys and turns around and grabs Caparzo's cigarette and takes a long drag on it before handing it back to him, blowing smoke out her lips.
"You wanna explain the math of this to me? I mean what's the sense of risking the lives of eight of us to save one guy." Reiben asks though he's constantly scanning the area around the front of the formation.
"Anyone wanna answer that?" Miller asks looking from the map to the area around him.
Wade hunches forward as they climb yet another large hill and says,
"Reiben, think about the poor bastards mother."
"Hey Doc, I've got a mother, you've got a mother, Sarge has got a mother. Shit, I bet even the Captains got a mother." Reiben looks back at Miller who is giving him a dubious look, "Well, maybe not the Captain but the rest of us got mothers."
" 'Tis not to reason why, but to do and die," Lee rattles of with an ironic smile.
"Da-dadu-da-dadu-da. What the fuck is that supposed to mean? We're all going to die?" Mellish snaps at Lee. Before Lee can retort back Miller explains for her.
"Lee's talking about our duty as soldiers, we all have orders and that supercedes everything including your mothers."
"Yes Sir," Lee says looking at Miller in curious awe.
"Even if you think the missions Fubar sir?" Reiben asks his eyes still trailing the landscape around them his finger near the trigger of his gun. Miller smiles slightly, folding the map and putting it in his pocket.
"Especially if you think the missions Fubar."
"Sir, I have an opinion on this matter," Jackson states in his strong southern twang.
Miller's eyes dance with amusement even as the rest of his face stays neutral,
"Well then by all means share it with the squad."
"Well, from my way of thinking, sir. This entire mission is a misallocation of valuable military resources."
"Yeah, go on." Miller says waiting for Jackson to get to the point.
Jackson continues on, completely serious.
"Well it seems to me, sir, that God gave me a special gift and made me a fine instrument of warfare."
"Reiben, pay attention now," Miller says and points his thumb at Jackson, "This is the way to gripe. Continue Jackson,"
"Well, what I mean by that sir is that if you was to put me and this here sniper rifle anywhere up to and includin' one mile of Adolf Hitler-with a clear line of site, sir. Pack your bags fellas wars over."
Everyone but Reiben smile shacking their heads.
"That's brilliant bumpkin," Reiben says sarcastically. He pauses for a minute thinking, "So what about you Captain? You don't gripe at all?"
"I don't gripe to you Reiben. I'm a Captain, there's a chain of command. The gripes go up, not down, always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officers. So on and so on, I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you. You should know better, you're a ranger."
"Well, I'm sorry, sir, but lets say you weren't a Captain or that I was a major. What would you say then?" Reiben tosses a quick look over his shoulder to Miller who looks at Reiben in disbelief.
"Well in that case, I'd say: This is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir, worthy of my best effort, sir. And more over, I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Private James Ryan and am willing to lay down my life and the lives of my men, especially you Reiben, to ease her suffering." Miller rattles of exaggerating his sirs.
Reiben looks disappointed but the rest of the squad is smiling.
"He's good." Mellish says smiling and shaking his head.
"I love him," Caparzo says with a smirk and then a kiss at Mellish who snorts with laughter.
The silence once again resumes as they continue towards Nueville.