The next morning, more Easy men show up. Talbert arrives with Shifty, Smokey and Blithe. Joe Liebgott (Joe #1 a.k.a Lieb, the Jew-guy-that-got-mad-when-reminded-he-is-a-Jew) showing off his Nazi flag. Talbert counters him by showing off a German raincoat. Apparently, today is Show-off-your-souvenir-from-dead-German Day. Joe Toye (Joe #2, the Joe-with-chiseled-abs-and-sexy-voice, not that Ray is going homoerotic) talking to Luz about how Winters saved him from grenade in Brecourt assault yesterday (Damn, this Winters person is start to resembles angel).
Ray sits with most of Easy around the World War One memorial statue, watching them talking and/or gossiping, mostly about the notorious Lt. Speirs. Lesson learnt: do not receive any cigarettes from the Lieutenant if you don't have a dead wish. There's a rumor that he's hosing down German POW after he's offering the cigarettes. Beside him, Blithe laying down and blinking weakly. Frank showing off his "collection" of dead German's watches ("They all ticking, unlike their previous owners"). Blithe looks appalled. Ray wants to slap Frank in the head and makes a mental note to protect his belonging from Frank's scrounging ability.
Ray is a little bit concern with Blithe. The kid looks distant. His eyes looking the sky, empty. He looks exactly like Walt after he accidently shoot civilians in Iraq. Blithe's voice is very soft, almost like a whisper when he talking with Frank and Dukeman. Although Blithe is not in his squad, they're still in the same platoon. Ray will keep his eye on this kid.
Lt. Harry Welsh, 1st Platoon leader, hollered "Let's go! 1st Platoon! Easy's moving out. On your feet!"
Ray gathers his squad member. He stands between Luz and Perco. They look like the Three Stooges of Easy.
Welsh continues to yell "Listen up! It'll be dark soon. I want light and noise discipline from here on. No talking, no smoking and no playing grab-fanny with the man in front of you, Luz". The men grin; glad that their asses are save for today. Luz looks disappointed. Grab-fanny with its complicated scoring system is his pride.
Hoobler asks, "So where are we headed to, Lieutenant?"
"We're taking Carentan. It's the only place where armor from Omaha and Utah Beach can link up and head inland. Until we take Carentan, they're stuck on the sand. General Taylor's sending the whole division."
Luz cut in, imitating General Taylor, "Remember boys, give me three days and three nights of hard fighting… and you will be relieved." The men laugh, including Welsh.
Welsh yelled, "1st platoon, fall behind Fox Company. You people from 2nd and 3rd Platoons, follow us. Shake a leg."
Luz continues his imitation of General Taylor, "Another thing to remember, boys: flies spread disease, so keep yours close." More laugh erupts.
Welsh grins and shakes his head, "Oh Luz."
When you're scared to shit, give it to George Luz to ease the tension.
Ray officially declares that walking to Carentan is no Road Trip. He miss his pimp shade, he cannot sing, he cannot smoke, the mosquitoes are big as an elephant and Frank asked every version of "Are we there yet?". Ray swears if his midget of a friend asks one more time, he will kick Frank into the swamp.
Winters moved along the line to check his men. He asked for their condition and said words of encouragement, like "Hang Tough". That must be his tag line. Winters said it with genuine sincerity; Ray could not help for being inspired and looked at him with awe. Maybe New Kids on the Block's hit single in the 90s was inspired by this man? Well, maybe not.
They lost F Company again. Ray was in discussion with Welsh when Winters came. Winters taps Ray's shoulder, "You okay, Ray?"
"Yeah, pretty much, Sir, considering this FUBAR situation."
"FUBAR?"
Ah, shit! Ray makes abbreviation again. The Lieutenant's mind is too innocent to know abbreviation that contains profanity. "Err…FUBAR, Sir. Fucked Up Beyond All Repair."
Winters pinch the bridge of his nose, try not to laugh. He got cool officer reputation to maintain.
Ray and Welsh grin.
"Okay, Ray. If you say so. Welsh, did you send somebody?"
"Yeah, I got Hoobler and Blithe out there now."
Lt. Nixon approaches them, "Why are we stopped, Dick?"
Winters answers glumly, "This is about officers crapping out on their training, Nix. Come on. Let's get this show on the road." Winters and Nixon then walk towards the woods where Hoobler and Blithe went.
Ray watches the Golden Duo of Easy walking away. He can't believe that a man who had "Dick" as a nick name can be so respected, competent, reliable and confident. One word from him, all Easy men will comply without a word. It's like if Brad & Lt. Fick can produce a kid (not a good mental image, Ray admits), that will be Lt. Winters.
D-Day plus six. Finally they reached outskirt of Carentan. Fortunately, Easy's lead by Winters. Unfortunately, the city is highly invested by German's paratrooper, Fallschirmjaeger. So, apparently, today's fight will be one hell of Paratrooper Showdown. (Well, shit. Ray starts to use rhymed words)
Ray is as nervous as hell. He missed the Brecourt Assault on D-Day, so this will be his first real combat with equal opponent. He's been involved in several combat and ambush in Afghanistan and Iraq. His opponents at that time were mostly unorganized and their warfare capabilities are far below his. But Winters is nowhere like Encino Man and no Easy men has manic tendency like Captain America. Ray will confidently follow his order.
Welsh and Luz leads in front of him when the hell break loose. Machine guns pinned them down and forced them to take cover in the ditch. Ray starts to panic. They're fucking sitting duck. Then, the Superman in the form of Lt. Winters gets up from the ditch, running up and down the road, screaming, kicking and pulling the men to get off their sorry asses. He even removes his helmet and bonking it to the men's helmet, breaking them from their shock.
Winters keep shouting, "Get up! Get up! You are in the open! Move out, men! Follow me!" Now that is a true leader. And also pretty fucking ninja.
Ray gets up, run forward, and yelled, "Ooh - rah, Baby! Get some!"
Luz yelled back, confused with the unfamiliar battle cry, "What the fuck, Person?!"
Ray doesn't care. What he care is how not to disappoint Lt. Winters and his fellow Easy men. He provides covering fire for Hoobler, Luz, Liebgott and Tipper who conduct house-to-house sweep. He sees another ninja action, this time in the form of Lt. Welsh that throwing grenade through the window at machine guns operators and then reloads his rifle. Shifty, that was pinned down by this particular machine gun gives thumbs up. He continues his sniper action as if he just playing video games. Without any sniper scope, he never missed; always hit the Krauts in the head. Super awesome!
Then the German artillery joins the party. Shell after shell bombards the city. Sgt. Lipton shouts warning so everyone cleared the road or they'll got zeroed. Ray sees before his eyes, one soldier takes direct hit of the mortar. The legs blown off completely and he falls to the ground like a rag doll. The mortar sent shrapnel and rocks everywhere. Bull lifts the fallen soldier out of war zone.
Another mortar hits. This time, it blows Lipton across the street, into a wall. Ray doesn't have time to check on Lipton. He rushes towards Malarkey and Skip. There he sees a seriously badass Irish priest giving the last rites for both American and German dying soldiers. In the middle of the street. Under fire. What the hell?
Malarkey shouts, "Crazy fools, the Irish!"
Ray yelled back while he shots a sniper who aiming for the priest, "Yeah?! Says the Mick who groping dead Krauts under fire looking for a Luger."
What happened next is like a blur. Ray's body moved without thinking. Duck, aim, shoot, run, lead, throw grenade, covering fire. He feels alive. Adrenaline rushed in his veins. He got shot in the left hand, but it's only a ricochet. No biggy. He even didn't feel anything. He never feels like this in Iraq or Afghanistan. He feels like a fucking warrior. If only Brad can see him now.
They're moving again, heading east toward high ground. The city has been cleared from the German, but they expecting counter attack, since Carentan is as much important to the German as it is to them.
Ray walks behind Blithe. That kid worries Rays. Doc Roe told Ray that Blithe has experience hysterical blindness during the attack of Carentan. That kid was so scared; he lost his sight during the battle. That's so fucked up. Then, again, Lt. Winters saved the day. He talked to Blithe, and suddenly, Blithe's vision is back.
"It's spooky, Person. I never saw something like that", Doc said to Ray while patching Ray's wound. "All Blithe needed was somebody to talk to him for a minute and calm him down. Look after him, 'kay?"
Ray still watching Blithe when Frank start to bitching another version of "Are we there yet?". Ray cannot believe he befriend this retarded midget.
"Hey, Luz. How far are we going?"
Luz exhales spectacularly, "Oh, Jesus Christ, Frank. I don't know. Until they tell us to stop."
Hoobler is kind enough to answer, "High ground. There's high ground up ahead."
Oblivious with exasperated glance from Ray and Luz, Frank continues to bitching about why Easy is always in the front or in advance even though there are nine companies in the regiment. Ray wants to answer "because Easy is the best, dumbass", but before he can open his mouth, German machine guns from the higher ground are showering them.
Welsh hollered, "Contact right! Get in the hedgerow! Bring it around! Right there! Stay low! Luz, get down here with the radio! Sgt. More, Sgt. Person! On me!"
Ray has to drag Blithe to the hedgerow since that kid frozen to the spot. He continues firing toward the higher ground, while Blithe cowering into fetal position and shaking besides him. Shit, this kid is surely fucked up.
"What the fuck that Krauts are singing?!"
"How the hell I know, Luz? I don't understand German. I only need to know 'Ich liebe dich' to get under a German skirt when we're jumping to Berlin."
"You're a fucking pervert, Ray"
"Yeah?! Like you're not?! You'll fuck anything with skirt, even if it's a goat."
Luz is wise enough to not answer this. They're sharing a foxhole that night. They supposed to take turn to get some sleep, but both of them are too wired to close their eyes. That the foxhole is too similar with a grave and the Krauts singing out loud in their line are not helping either.
"Anyway, what the hell happened to Blithe, Ray?"
"He scared his ass out. Doc said he got hysterical blindness during the attack."
"Jesus!" Luz stays silent after that. Very un-Luz-ly.
"What's the matter, Luz? Do you want to say something to your dearest pal, Ray-Ray?"
Luz makes a weak smile. "I almost killed a family, Ray?"
"Come again?"
"You remember when me and Hoobler did that house-to-house sweep, right? Back in the city? We're both outside this house. Hoobler keep pushing me to throw grenade through the window, before we entering the house. Somehow, I didn't feel like it. I kicked the door, and there were this family, a woman, a kid and an old man, hugging each other. Shit, Ray! If I throw that grenade, I might kill them. But what if there's Krauts in that house? I'd be dead by now because I was hesitating!", Luz throws his hands to his head.
For a minute, Ray doesn't know what to say.
"But you didn't kill them, George. And you didn't die either. You follow your spider sense and you save a family. That's all that matters now. "
"Spider sense? The hell was that?"
"Er…instinct, you might say."
"Then why the hell don't you say that, Ray? You keep using these bullshit words, you messed up hick."
Suddenly, they heard a scream.
"The fuck? That sounds like Floyd's. Stay here Luz. I'm gonna check it."
"Luz, got smokes? Want this candy shit?"
"Nah, I'm alright."
It's D-Day plus 7. Ray and other Welsh's NCOs are gathering for briefing. Last night has been very eventful.
Lessons learnt #1: Do not use German poncho while waking up your friend for guard duty.
Talbert was using his dead-German-souvenir poncho while guard duty and knocked Smith's helmet with his Colt to wake him up. Smith, still hazy from the sleep, decided to bayoneted Talbert, hence the screaming that Luz and Ray heard last night. Dressed as a Kraut + waking a nervous trooper = kebab incident. Noted.
Lessons learnt #2: If you're scared, do not…Ray repeats…do not pour your fucking heart out to Lt. Speirs.
Blithe, the poor kid, stumbled to the Sparky Lieutenant and, out of the blue, tell the LT how scared he is. The kind LT gladly gave his brilliant advice (sarcasm intended) such as: "The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier's supposed to function. Without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends on it." Ray would love to shout "Thanks for the morale boost, Sir", but Ray doesn't have a death wish. So he kept his mouth closed.
Conclusion: Being Easy men is never dull.
Welsh starts to explain their situation, "We don't know what they've got." Well, that's old news, Ray thinks. They never know what they faced until the Krauts shooting at them right in the face.
"We may be attacking a weaker force. Possibly more Paratroopers"
Hoobler grins, "And you know how they can be."
Welsh smirks and nodded, "Fire and maneuver. That's the name of the game. Dog and Fox companies will be on our left flank, moving with us. Any question? Good. Let's make 'em holler."
Perco look at his "souvenir" wrist watch and says, "it's 9:30 in the evening back home. Must be.."
His rambling is cut short by the Kraut's mortars. They all take cover in their foxhole and start shooting back. Malarkey and his mortar squad return the fire to the German line.
Winters (forever a great leader) moves along the line, shouting instruction and encouragement.
"Watch for silhouettes on the horizon! Find your target! Mortar, keep low! Perconte, get your man in order! I want fire superiority! Guarnere, keep them pinned down!"
Ray keeps firing the Krauts, when he hears Blithe shouting, "No, no, no!". Blithe is failed to muster up his courage and become more and more panic, cowering in his hole.
From the corner of his eyes, Ray can see Winters reach down to Blithe, shaking the kid's shoulder, and shouting while he himself shooting the Krauts, "Come on, Blithe! Stand up! Get on your feet, soldier! You can do it. Hit those goddamn Germans, Blithe! Rip it at them, Blithe!" Apparently Winters can curse when he wants to motivate his men. The effect is amazing. Blithe slowly stand up from his hole and starts shooting.
Ray hears shouts from the bushes next to him. He sees Welsh running out of the bushes to the open with McGrath, bringing Bazooka. It looks like they try to shoot a Panzer tank that currently headed towards their line. This is crazy. Ray commands his squad to provide covering fire for them.
One shot from the tank pass through their head, blasting the trees. Trees shrapnel hitting their helmets Shit! That was fucking close. Welsh and McGrath maintain their position in the open, and finally, shoots the tank right in the unprotected part. Easy men shout their joy.
Then, Ray sees the most beautiful sight in his life. A parade of US' Sherman tanks come to the party and blasting the Panzers . The German soldiers scurrying away.
Frank yells, "That's right, you sorry asses! Run!"
Ray wants to kiss the Shermans.
D-Day plus 25 and Easy finally pulled back from the front line. They Ray wants to shout to General Taylor "so much of three days and three nights, asshole!" and shove his boots to the General's ass.
To say that they stink is a major understatement. Ray feels like a pig shit. This is the longest time Ray is not wiping his ass without proper toilet paper, shower, or "reading" some "skin magazine". Even in Iraq, he always has toilet paper, shit box, baby wipes, and Juggs, albeit the old edition, is not contraband. He cannot understand why porn magazine is considered as contraband in this era. It helps to boost morale and ease the combat stress (scientifically speaking), for fuck's sake.
They're heading to a field camp north of Utah Beach for hot food and hot showers. Then wait for transportation to back to England.
"Hey Ray. Do you think Blithe will survive that shot? Well that kid's rotten luck is surely surpasses yours. Lessons learnt guys. Do not volunteer for scouting."
"Point, Frank. That kid finally found his balls for once, and he got shot in the throat. But I think he's gonna make it. Doc's patched him good."
"Wow, look at those replacements. Shit, they looked like they just finished breastfeeding from their Ma."
"Shit, Frank! Now I have to burn the image from my mind!"
"You know guys, the first thing I wanna do when we arrived in England is to find some skirt to have fun with. Oh…And find some good booze"
"Yeah, George. That's the first thing in everyone's to-do-list. Good luck find a decent one. Do us a favor to use the Army issued 'prophylactic kit'. Don't wanna pissing needles aren't we?"
"Thank for the unnecessary sex ed, Ray."
Frank and George starts to detailing their 'to-do-list when we're back in England'. Ray shuts his eyes and tries to take some needed rest. He will make his own to-do-list later.