"Though I walk through the valley of shadow and death I shall fear no evil, because I am the meanest motherfucker in the whole damn valley"

-American infantry in Vietnam

II

The last boot contacted the ground about 40 seconds after I hit dirt. About ten seconds too late. For the Mobile Infantry, speed is everything, and you can't afford to be too late… or too early. Most of the time when a Cap Trooper buys his farm it's because he'd stood still for too long, or he rushed and overlooked something. I needed to get things back on schedule, but make sure not to overdo it.

"Ok men, Command has tasked us with seizing area mark 4QFJ06. Platoons will divide into four groups to each take one side of the grid. Platoon A is in charge of the left flank. Gomez, go there now and string your men in a line the length of the side."

I heard a "Yes Sir" and Gomez was jetting away followed quickly by his platoon. I turned back to the remaining Roughnecks and gave out similar orders to platoons B and C. I sent my Sergeant with platoon C to guard the top of the grid, and turned to platoon D's 2nd lieutenant Boll.

"Boll, position your platoon along the South Line. You'll need to be careful, intel says there's a large bug mound near your area. Move trooper!"

"Can do Lieutenant! Alright you dogs, you heard the boss! On the bounce and by the numbers, gogogo!"

Soon the only sign that they had been there was the vapor trail left by their jump jets. Besides myself there was now only one other person in the drop zone. Junior Officer Mike Bearpaw was a Cadet assigned to me by the O.C.S. back on Sanctuary. I was tasked with judging him and filling out on his Form 31 whether or not he was commissioned officer material. Time to find out.

"Mr. Bearpaw."

"Sir?"

"You and I have a special job. You see, while everyone else fights to maintain the set perimeter, we are going to sweep back and fourth through the inside of the perimeter, killing any bug we see and closing all holes we find." Bearpaw paused, and seemed to think for a moment. I could tell he was having some difficulty with the concept, so I decided to ask him what was wrong.

"What's the matter trooper, Bugs make you wet your suit?"

"No Sir! It's just that…"

"Hmmmm? Speak up Bearpaw we have to move soon."

"Sir! This area seems really large for two troopers to patrol, Sir!"

"You think so huh? Son, let's start moving and I'll be happy to explain some things to you."

Jumping hard will set off the suit's jets. I did so and so did Bearpaw, and we began flying in a general northerly direction.

"Mr. Bearpaw, you've experienced the life of a Cap Trooper as a grunt, and now you're bucking to try out as a leader. Now there's a reason why two unlucky S.O.B.'s have to patrol this large area all on their lonesome, can you guess what that reason may be?"

"Uh…"

"Stop right there! Don't even try and top off that verbal static, I will tell you right now that you can't. But don't worry about it, because no grunt can figure out the answer to my question. That's because the right answer is a well kept secret amongst officers. Listen real hard soldier, I'm about to share that secret with you."

I had to wait a few seconds to continue, because we had spotted a group of bugs standing on a hill directly in front of us. In perfect unison, Bearpaw and I landed amongst them and fried them with our hand flamers. Then we blasted a nearby hole and moved on. Continuing on, I said,

"The truth is Mr. Bearpaw, assuming that I pass your Form 31, as an officer you will never have enough soldiers to properly do what's asked of you. Do you honestly believe that in the chaos of war, command has the capability to judge exactly how many soldiers are needed for every single little scenario that comes up? Certainly not, it's impossible. The area will always either be 'too big' or the soldiers 'too few', and if the Big Wigs really screwed up an ugly mix of the two. That is the way wars have always been fought, and always will be fought."

Again I had to cut myself off, this time to answer a question from my Sergeant about closing bug holes directly outside of the perimeter. I told him to smash anything that was in visible range of his area. Then I continued on with my lecture, all the while being on the lookout for enemy activity.

"However, since wars have to be won by somebody, certain tactics were developed to compensate for this unfortunate truth. The most prevalent of these is a quick response to case by case scenarios. Ultimately, a soldier has to use what he's got, and he has to do it quickly and efficiently. Success in battle does not depend on your ability to throw a huge number of people at a single problem, usually because you don't have that opportunity. Rather, your victory depends on whether or not you have analyzed your tactical situation correctly and responded to it accordingly. The key is in quality, not quantity. And if you screw that part up, then you better get the heck out of Dodge, or dig in and prepare yourself, because things are gonna get real ugly, and real fast".

We reached the Northern line, and I spoke briefly with my Sergeant and Platoon C's 2nd lieutenant, told them to straighten out their line, and headed back South for the second sweep.

Now that we were closer to the middle, I ordered Bearpaw to set his suit's Y-rack on automatic. I did so myself, and when I hit the ground a few seconds later my ears were greeted with the friendly CHUFF! of the explosives being fired by the weapon.

And it is an interesting weapon, based on the designs of the old XXth century mortar. During my experience at Boot Camp, then Sergeant Zim had pulled one out of a storage room containing such remakes of outdated weaponry and showed us how to use it. This was so that we may better understand the weapon we would be using later, and it did help. The demonstration certainly taught me why the Y-rack could only be fired on the ground, only an idiot would shoot that thing off in the air and then try to deal with the recoil. The automatic setting allowed for a trooper to cover his back without having to take his focus away from his front. You just had to make sure that you didn't hit the fella next to you. Bearpaw and I were close enough to each other that we didn't have to worry about being in the blast area.

Now that was something that made me feel uncomfortable about this whole damn operation. We (the ground troops) were a lot closer together than we were used to. An MI is used to having his space, and here we were, practically in each other's suits! But that's what the plan called for. After we had established and gutted our square, reinforcements were supposed to arrive en masse and with heavy equipment. Then we would continue to hold the area until the Command Center had been established in the middle of the square. At that point, the Roughnecks would be relieved by another company and could catch a break, at least until we were recalled to assist in the assault on the tunnels. That was why we were here after all wasn't it? Klendathu was one giant POW camp, and hundreds of our comrades sat waiting directly underneath us even now. My thoughts were interrupted by Boll:

"Hey el tee, you remember that bug mound you warned me about earlier? Well the thing is moving now, like some kid threw a rock at a bee hive. My troops are gunning th…"

The message was interrupted briefly by swearing and then an explosion.

"Shit, sorry boss, Bugs didn't want me to finish my message. Anyways, things are getting hectic, and we could sure use some help down here. You know, the special kind?"

I knew exactly what kind.

"Mr. Bearpaw, when we hit the South line in few seconds I will stay to assist 2nd Lt. Boll. You will turn around and head back North, and when you arrive have the Sergeant break off and assist you with mopping up."

"Yes Sir!"

I sent a brief message to my Sergeant explaining the situation, and got the affirmative back. By this time we had arrived at the Southern end of the perimeter, and I jetted off to Boll's position.

I grabbed my rocket launcher, and there was a clicking sound as I loaded the first shot, a nuke.

End II