Into Africa
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I own no Castles. Or Becketts. Rating: K+ for language. Time: The present day, but in an alternate universe.
Rick found Dr. Fields in the hospital pharmacy. Rick knew at once that Fields wasn't the type of man who would climb Everest barefooted. Or at all. He was short and chubby with a receding hairline. When he saw Rick, he saluted clumsily. "Good afternoon, sir."
Rick returned to salute. "First, Captain Fields, if you're going to salute, salute properly. Not with your thumb hanging down. Secondly, I'm a captain and you're a captain. I am senior to you and your commander. That said, we're pretty informal around here, so I'm Rick and you're Myron. Unless I get really mad at you and then you're Captain Fields and I'm sir."
"Yes sir. Um. Rick."
"So, what are you doing here?"
"I ran into a Major Wells at Fort Bragg, he's a doctor too. He told me that in Africa there are a lot of medicines that are not usually used a lot in other places that you'll need a lot of here. I'm trying to find some."
"The major was right. I have a sergeant in Dakar getting treated for some intestinal parasite almost unknown outside of the Sahel. But, what I wanted to know is why are you, someone obviously not in the best physical shape, doing going on a Special Forces mission in Africa. Hell, why are you in the Army at all?"
"My wife." Fields said quietly.
"Jesus. How bad can your wife be if this is better than being with her?"
Fields looked embarrassed. "When I first married Grace, I knew she was kind of set in her ways, but I figured we'd work out an equitable partnership. I loved her a lot back then. But, the longer we were together, the more controlling she became. She started complaining about things. And demanding that I make changes in my life. I resisted, at first, but I'd usually give in. I figured that if I made a few changes, she'd settle down and be happy with me.'
"But that didn't happen, did it?"
"No, sir. That is, Rick. Every victory over me left her wanting more. And, I was…She has a very wealthy family who had helped me a lot when I was just out of med school."
"Obviously things went south someplace along the line." Rick observed.
Fields nodded. "Marie."
"Marie?" Rick asked, seeking clarification.
"She was a nineteen-year old student nurse. We had, um, an affair."
"And Grace found out about it."
Fields nodded again. "A couple of doctors in the hospital where I had surgery privileges caught us…together. They told Grace and she filed for divorce."
"Let me guess. Marie took off?"
"How did you know?"
"Who wants a lover who's about to lose everything in a divorce. I assume you lost everything."
"Grace had the money to pay for all the lawyers in New York. She fought about everything, claiming everything we had was actually hers. And her family pressured the hospital where I had surgical privileges into dropping me. And she also told all of her friends to stop seeing me professionally. I had a Fifth Avenue clinic with more patients than I could handle, and suddenly I was nobody and nothing. And after she got everything in the divorce, her lawyers kept hounding me, claiming I had a hidden bank account, or going after my patients and offering to represent them pro bono if they wanted to sue me for malpractice. I was going crazy. What few patients I had, I couldn't see because of all the court appearances."
"And this led you to the Army?"
Fields nodded. "A friend of mine was an Army Reservist. He told me the Army was always looking for doctors. And he told me about the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. It'll keep Grace from being able to sue me as long as I stay in the Army."
"And you ended up in Niger?"
"I told them to send me where I was needed."
Rick put his arm around Myron. "Myron, that was the dumbest thing you've ever done. I know that's so because if you ever did anything dumber, it would have killed you. But you do have balls, my friend. You really do. So, come over to the team house with me and have a beer." Rick thought of something. "How long have you been in the Army, Myron."
"A bit less than six months."
"We may have to teach you a few things, Myron. And teach you we will."
The next morning, Captain Rodgers went to see his commanding officer. Thankfully, the civilian wasn't there. "Rick, an Air Force C-17 is bringing in your Ranger platoon this afternoon at about 1400 hours. I have some info on their commander for you."
"A C-17 for a Ranger platoon? What are they bringing?"
"Not just the platoon, but a lot of building materials for you to set up your base. The rest of the bird is loaded up with material for the base here, or other units. But your platoon leader is a Second Lieutenant Hugh Glass."
"A butter bar? That's the best they could do? I know he's a Ranger and all that, but Christ."
"Just relax, Rick. Glass spent four years enlisted in the Second Ranger Battalion, got an Army ROTC scholarship to the University of Oklahoma. Graduated in three years and got commissioned. You probably won't get a better platoon commander."
"He'll do, then."
The colonel smiled. "He'd better. He's what we've got. So, you have any ideas about the mission?"
Rick pulled out one of the satellite photos he'd gotten the night before and put it on the colonel's desk. "The mesa is pretty round, as you'd expect. What they think is the old Roman fort is here, at the north end where it's mostly rock. The southern half or so, where the only good way to climb up is, is right here. "He tapped the map. "The southern end is probably sand or dirt since there's some growth there. I want to build two bunkers here, "he pointed at the photo," to cover the entrance, then the command bunker here, the medical bunker here, the generator bunker here, then supply and personnel bunkers, around here. Of course, this could change when we get there. There might be two inches sand over solid rock. I'll just have to see."
"Okay, we'll see what we get. But Big Army is being very generous with building materials for you. Or maybe Senator Souder helped. What's next for you?"
"I've got a very green Army doctor who would probably be more of a danger to himself than the enemy if it ever came to that. I need to take him to the range."
"Before I forget, your command is now known as Task Force 86."
"Any reason for that number?"
The Colonel shrugged. "It's a good number between 85 and 87."
Once out on the range that had been bulldozed outside of the base, Rick checked Fields out on the M-4 carbine and gave him one of Rick's personal M1911A1 pistols since the doctor wasn't authorized a weapon. Surprisingly, once Fields managed to get his stomach out of the way when shooting prone, and got over the noise and the recoil, he turned out to be an adequate shot.
"It's not that surprising, Rick. As a surgeon I have to use complex medical devices and I have to have good hand-eye coordination."
"You ever have a patient try to kill you while you were operating?"
"No."
"Then you need to keep practicing. The simplest things become very hard to do when someone's trying to kill you."
Rick and the rest of his team were present when the C-17 carrying the Ranger platoon landed and taxied to the hardstand. The rear doors opened and troops came filing out, looking around just like tourists. The first one off the plane was the platoon commander, Lt. Glass.
"Do we salute out here?" Glass asked Rick.
"It's not a habit I'd get into, or let your people get into, Lieutenant Glass. What's your platoon like?"
"We're fat, sir. This may be the only Ranger platoon in all creation that'd not just at our TO&E strength, but above it. I have one more machine gunner in my weapons squad than I'm authorized. Plus I have three medics attached. As far as experience goes, myself, my platoon sergeant, all three medics and all of my squad leaders have been downrange. So have about a quarter of the rest of my people. We're good to go, sir."
Rick, Mr. Reed, Fields and Glass watched vehicles exit the aircraft. First off were four ATVs.
"We figured it'd be easier to get a fire team or a machine gun team from place to place using ATVs, sir."
Fields looked at Rick questioningly.
"An ATV is an all-terrain vehicle, Myron. Think of them as a couple of motorcycles welded together. Sort of."
Fields just nodded.
Next were four armored HUMVEES.
"We have four armored HUMVEES, sir. The first two have Ma Deuces with CROWS mounts, the third has a 40MM automatic grenade launcher, also with a CROWS and the last one has…"
"Something I didn't know the Rangers had in their TO&E. Care to explain how you got an M134 minigun?"
"Um, it sort of fell off the back of an Air Force rescue bird, sir."
"I don't want to know, do I, Lieutenant?"
"Probably not, sir."
Rick nodded. "Okay, Lt. Glass. Get your people settled in. In about an hour you, your platoon sergeant and your squad leaders report to the team house, over there." Rick waved vaguely behind him. "I'll bring everyone up to speed."
Rick looked at Dr. Fields who was obviously bursting with questions.
"A Ma Deuce is a .50 caliber heavy machine gun, the M2, or Ma Deuce. A CROWS is common remotely operated weapons system. It allows you to fire the machine gun from inside a vehicle. A minigun is a six- barrel machine gun that fires either two thousand or six thousand rounds a minute."
"Thank you, Rick."
An hour later, the team house was full of people, all of Rick's team. Glass's Rangers and Dr. Fields. Rick had put a large blown up photo of the mesa on the wall.
"Okay, people, the mesa is about one and a half clicks from north to south and bit less from east to west. If you look at the south end, you'll see the mesa has collapsed, leaving a debris field that can be climbed. It's steep, but the locals have been climbing rocks around here for a couple of thousand ears, so they've gotten pretty good at it. I propose to site two machine gun bunkers here and here. "Rick tapped the photo. "We should be able to get anyone over six inches tall in a good crossfire and throw them back down." Rick went on and described where he would put the command bunker, the medical bunker and all the other things he planned.
"I worry about the hill to the east of us. It's damned near as tall as ours, with a rock spire that can actually overlook us. It's just over six hundred meters away, so it's in range. So we'll worry about that when we get there."
When he was done, he asked if there were any questions. Lt. Glass raised his hand.
"Yes?"
"Could I ask you a question alone, sir?"
Rick shook his head. "If it's important enough to ask, we should all hear it."
Glass waited for a moment then spoke. "Do you know who exactly is on the archeological team?"
"No. I know a Doctor Kate Beckett is leading it. Is it important?"
"My sister is working on her master's in archeology at Duquesne. She does not approve of my career choice." The men in the room laughed.
"I'm sure with a platoon of Rangers, you'll be safe from her. "Rick replied.
More laughter.
Sergeant Xochomillo, one on the squad leaders, spoke over the laughs. "Don't bet on it. I saw a little one hundred-pound haole at Schofield Barracks deck her two hundred-pound hubby. And he stayed down."
The meeting broke up.