Disclaimer: The Rat Patrol is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.

Reconstruction

By Suzie2b

The 15th Engineer Combat Battalion, commanded by Colonel Wallace, was four hundred men strong and had set up a temporary camp just outside the walls of Ras Tanura.

As Colonel Wallace seated himself in Major Gleason's office, he said, "Thank you, major, for hosting our camp. I imagine it would've put quite a strain on things if we weren't prepared to house ourselves."

Major Gleason nodded. "I appreciate your understanding, colonel. I've got someone working on a way to accommodate your men for showers and meals. It'll be a little crowded, but we'll make do."

The colonel acknowledged with a nod. "I understand we're here because the Germans did a number on one of your mountain roads."

"Yes, sir. It's a major supply route and the sooner we get it back the better." Gleason handed Wallace a map. "I've circled the location. They blasted a seventeen kilometer stretch of the road at Atar Pass, making it impassable, and there's no way around it that doesn't add days of travel."

The colonel looked at the map as he said, "I see. Well, I'd like to send four of my men up there to survey the situation so we can determine how many men and what equipment will be needed. Do you have anyone that can get them there and back?"

Major Gleason smiled. "I certainly do, colonel."

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Sergeants Troy and Moffitt met Privates Hitchcock and Pettigrew in the mess hall after their meeting with Captain Boggs. It was crowded because of the battalion's camp, so as soon as Hitch and Tully were done with their breakfasts, Troy took their briefing outside. As they walked to the motor pool, Hitch asked, "So, what's our assignment?"

Troy explained, "We're escorting a four man survey crew to Atar Pass."

Tully asked, "Are they finally getting ready to fix that supply route?"

"Yep, we'll be gone three or four days probably. Are the jeeps ready?"

Hitch replied, "Took care of it yesterday, sarge."

Moffitt asked, "Tully, did you remember to check the 50? I was having problems with it jamming."

Tully nodded. "Took care of it. It's ready to go."

Hitch and Tully drove off base and over to the 15th Engineer Combat Battalion's camp. Troy asked one of the men there, "We're looking for Sergeant Rodgers."

The private pointed to a truck. "He's over there getting ready to leave."

They stopped next to the truck. Troy and Moffitt got out of the jeeps as Troy called, "Sergeant Neil Rodgers?"

A head popped out from inside the back of the truck. "That's me!" He hopped out of the vehicle and said, "You must be our escorts."

"Yep." Troy stuck his hand out. "Sergeant Sam Troy." Rodgers shook the offered hand as Troy continued with the introductions. "This is Sergeant Jack Moffitt." He pointed to the men in the jeeps. "Privates Mark Hitchcock and Tully Pettigrew."

Rodgers' men stepped up and one said, "We're ready to go, sarge."

The sergeant nodded and said, "This is Corporal Matt Smith." He indicated the other two. "Privates Chuck Brown and Robert Jones."

The corporal asked, "How long will it take to get to Atar Pass?"

Moffitt replied, "With the truck it'll take pretty much all day, but we should make it before nightfall."

Sergeant Rodgers said, "Yeah, well, we can't survey without our equipment." He glanced at the large truck. "And this was the only vehicle available to us."

Moffitt smiled. "Shall we get going then?"

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Just before they reached the pass, Troy stopped to send Moffitt and Tully ahead to scout the area. Rodgers got out of the truck and asked, "What's going on?"

Troy said, "Hopefully nothing, but I want to make sure the area's clear before we go in."

"I was told that spotter planes checked it out and didn't see anything."

"That was yesterday. I want to know if anything's going on now."

Rodgers nodded. "Understand. How long do you think it'll take?"

Troy looked at his watch. "Maybe a half hour. Then we'll find a place to set up camp."

About thirty minutes later the jeep returned and Moffitt reported, "We didn't see anything. I'd say it's safe to go on." Troy nodded and Moffitt continued, "We did find a nice spot to set up camp though."

Troy smiled. "Lead the way."

Camp was quickly set up and Tully started some dinner while Hitch gathered firewood. Even though the sun was quickly setting Sergeant Rodgers and Corporal Smith were out on the destroyed road. Rodgers pointing and gesturing as Smith took notes. Troy stood nearby on watch. Moffitt was going over his charts and notes, making sure he knew what was supposed to be in the area. He wasn't a fan of surprises.

Privates Brown and Jones sat near the fire assembling their survey equipment so it would be ready for the next day. Hitch dropped an armload of dead branches for the fire and said, "Rodgers isn't wasting any time getting started."

Brown smiled, "Yeah, he's pretty anal about his work. As long as there's enough light for him to see he'll work on the preliminaries."

Private Jones observed, "You four appear to be a pretty tight unit. Been together long?"

Hitch said, "Long enough. What's it been, Tully, a year?"

Tully stirred the chili and beans as he thought, then said, "Yeah, something like that. Moffitt's been with us about six months."

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Tully was the last one on night watch. As the sun came up, he saw the men in camp start to wake up and move around. A short time later Tully could smell the eggs and coffee cooking—his stomach growled.

It wasn't long before Rodgers and Brown went to work. Then Moffitt appeared at Tully's side and said, "I'll take over here. You go get some breakfast."

Tully was delighted to see that it was the powdered eggs with the little chunks of dehydrated spam mixed in. As he scooped the last of the eggs and spam onto a plate, he thought it was funny that something that looked somewhat nasty before it was cooked could taste pretty decent. Or maybe he was just used to it now. Tully poured some of Hitch's strong coffee into a mug before he went over to a rock near the now dying fire to sit down.

Troy poured himself the last of the coffee and said, "When you're done eating, Tully, I want you and Moffitt to take Smith and Jones to the other end so they can start surveying."

Tully swallowed before he said, "It'll be a rough ride, but we'll get 'em there and back again. What about clean-up? The last one who eats usually does it."

Troy smiled. "I'll have Hitch take care of it. You can make it up to him tonight after dinner."

After the ride to the other end of the bombed section of road, everyone got out and rubbed their aching backs as Moffitt said, "I'm glad you missed the bigger holes, Tully."

He smiled and pulled a machine gun out of its holster. Looking at Corporal Smith, Tully said, "Hope your equipment survived the ride."

The corporal said, "I'm sure it's fine. It's been through some pretty rough stuff."

While Corporal Smith and Private Jones went about their work, Moffitt pointed to a hill on the side of the road. "Tully, keep a look out from up there. I'll stay here with our surveyors."

The day passed with no problems to report and Tully got them back to camp in time for dinner.

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At around noon on the second day of surveying, Troy asked over a K-ration lunch, "So, how much longer will this project take?"

Sergeant Rodgers replied, "We should be done by the end of today. A few more measurements and pictures and we'll have what we need to plan for the rebuild."

"Good. We'll head back to base in the morning then." Troy stood as he finished his food. He looked around with a frown. Something had the hair on the back of neck standing up. He walked over to where Hitch was on watch. "See anything?"

The private swallowed the last bite of his lunch and said, "Nothing, sarge." Hitch knew the look on Troy's face. "Got a feeling?"

"Yeah. Could be nothing, but keep your eyes open. Wouldn't surprise me if we're being watched."

A few hours later, Tully brought the jeep to a halt next to Hitch's and said, "I'm sure glad that's the last time we have to take that ride."

Moffitt got out gingerly. "One more trip like that and I believe I'd need a chiropractor."

While Privates Brown and Jones took care of the equipment and stowed it in the truck, Sergeant Rodgers met Corporal Smith. "I take it you finished up?"

Smith nodded as he handed a roll of film and a clipboard to the sergeant. "All done…"

Before he could finish his sentence a shot rang out and Jones fell out of the back of the truck. Everyone ducked for cover and searched for the shooter.

Tully had ducked down next to one of the truck's back wheels and heard Jones groan. "Stay still, Robert."

"Call me Bob."

Another shot imbedded itself in the seatback of one of the jeeps.

Tully shifted the matchstick to the corner of his mouth. "Okay, Bob, where're you hit?"

"Lower back." There was a hesitation, then Jones said, "I can't move my legs."

A bullet hit the rocks near Hitch.

Brown could be heard inside the back of the truck. "What can I do to help?"

Another bullet ricocheted off the lowered tailgate, just inches from where Jones was laying.

Tully said, "Just keep your head down, Chuck, and stay outta sight. You can't do anything that won't make you a target."

Troy called out, "Anyone see anything?"

The answer from everyone was "no."

After quite some time the shooting stopped and after nearly a full minute of silence, Tully took the chance and went to grab Jones. As he got to the injured man, a bullet hit the dirt next to them. With one smooth pull Tully had Jones up over his shoulder and was running for better cover as bullets hit the ground around them.

Tully was just feet from a boulder when he felt a sharp pain in his left calf. He dropped Brown as he fell, then Tully dragged himself and the unconscious man the rest of the way to cover.

That's when the shooter made the mistake of showing himself just enough for Hitch to see the movement and take a shot.

Turned out to be a German motorcycle patrol and the dead man's partner could be heard getting away.

After checking to make sure that the German scout was indeed dead, Hitch went to the truck. "Hey, Chuck, you okay in there?"

A shaky voice said, "Um … not really."

Hitch quickly climbed into the back to find Private Brown with a shoulder wound and a bullet hole in the canvas covered side of the truck. Hitch helped Brown to his feet. "Let's get you outta here." He stuck his head out and called, "Some help here!"

Troy and Rodgers rushed to help Brown out of the truck while Moffitt checked on Tully and Jones.

Tully looked at Moffitt worriedly. "Will he make it, sarge? He said he couldn't move his legs."

Moffitt pulled the shirt up and examined the wound in Jones' back. "I don't know, Tully. He's very badly hurt. Externally there's very little bleeding. Internally, who know what kind of damage there is." He noticed Tully's bleeding leg and moved around next to him. "You've been hit too. You should've said something."

Tully tried to pull his leg away. "I'm okay. Just help Bob."

Moffitt tore open Tully's pant leg as he said, "I'll clean and dress the wound, but there's nothing else I can do for him."

"Can't you take the bullet out?"

"If by chance the paralysis is temporary, I wouldn't want to risk making things worse by trying anything."

Troy knelt next to Moffitt with a med kit. "What have we got here?"

Moffitt replied as he got gauze out of the kit. "Private Jones has a bullet in his back and apparently can't feel his legs. Tully took one in the calf."

"Brown's been hit in the shoulder."

Moffitt began to wrap Tully's leg as he said, "We can't stay here, Troy. Depending on how far that scout has to go to report we could be in real trouble before it gets dark."

Troy sighed. "Yeah. We'll pack up and get out of here as soon as possible." He looked down at Jones. "What can we do for him?"

"We'll need to stabilize him so he can't move around if he regains consciousness. The less movement overall the better."

"Okay, I'll have Rodgers and Smith work on that while Hitch and I get the gear stowed. See what you can do for Brown's shoulder."

In the span of one hour Troy and Hitch had things packed away and the camp site policed. Rodgers and Smith had fashioned a hammock from a blanket and rope in the back of the truck for Jones.

Moffitt brought Tully broken tree limbs and rope. "See if you can put together a stretcher while I take care of Chuck."

Tully quickly had a makeshift stretcher put together and Moffitt used folded blankets to pad it. Troy and Moffitt then tied the injured man to the stretcher and carried him to the truck where Rodgers and Smith took over. They set the stretcher on a blanket that had been laid out on the floor with ropes tied to either end. When they carefully pulled the ropes, which had been slung over the truck's framework, the blanket wrapped around the stretcher, making a sort of cocoon that was maybe twelve inches off the floor of the truck.

Tully and Chuck were helped into the back and sat at either end of the hammock. As the truck moved out of the mountains and into the uneven desert, they kept the hammock from swaying too much.

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They drove through the night and arrived at the base hospital in Ras Tanura a little after sunup. The wounded were examined and taken into surgery.

Later that day Tully was released into Charley's care, but he had to swear to use the crutches he was provided with. Tully hesitated to make that promise, but Charley assured Doctor Baker the crutches would be used.

Private Brown would spend some time recuperating in the hospital, not only from the bullet wound, but from the broken shoulder it had caused.

Private Jones would survive the internal injuries, but would forever be in a wheelchair due to a damaged spinal cord.

Atar Pass was again secured. The 15th Engineer Combat Battalion would be able to move in the men and equipment needed to start the work required to reopen the supply route. They would be taking plenty of reinforcements to keep them safe.

Colonel Wallace was again in Major Gleason's office. It was the evening before the handpicked unit from his battalion was to head for Atar Pass. They were having brandy as the major said, "I wish things would've turned out differently, colonel."

Wallace sipped his brandy and nodded. "So do I, major. However, this is war, and sometimes things happen no matter how good we are at our jobs. Private Brown will recuperate here while the work goes on at Atar Pass. When that's done we'll take him back to our base."

"What about Jones?"

"As soon as he's able, Private Jones will be flown to France to recuperate and start physical therapy. Then he'll go back to the states for further treatment as necessary. How's your Private Pettigrew?"

Gleason said, "He'll be out of commission for couple of weeks, but he'll be fine." Gleason shook his head. "It's a shame about Jones. I feel for him and his family."

Wallace swirled the dark brown liquid in the glass. "Sometimes the reconstruction is more complicated than we'd like."