Hat's Off!
March 1942
It is possible to be too good at your job. That's what I keep wondering. Our team is the only one with a 100% mission completion record. I attribute that to Troy and his crazy plans that always seem to work out. Sure, we've had some close calls but somehow we manage to pull it off. We've become such an unwelcome menace to German supply lines that they refer to us as Desert Rats. They think it's an insult, but we've embraced the name and consider ourselves honored to be such a thorn in the Germans' side.. Even our guys refers to us as "The Rat Patrol."
We are definitely at the top of Captain Dietrich's most wanted list. We've shut down his convoys on so many occasions, I think he has a personal vendetta against us, especially Sarge. Every time Dietrich thinks he has outsmarted us Rats, Troy devises a way to thwart him. It certainly keeps things interesting.
Our success has caused the Germans to offer a reward for our capture or death. Not sure how I feel about having a price on my head. It doesn't stop me from doing my job and seems to make us that much more determined in our efforts to disrupt German plans. However, it is causing problems for the other LRDP teams. Several times other teams have been identified by Arabs as being us, with that information sold to the Germans. Those teams have been taking a lot of the heat while we carefully go about our business. Several have been captured but we've managed to rescue them. Some have been wounded and narrowly escaped.
Once, another patrol was used as bait by Dietrich in an attempt to ensnare us. So far, Sarge is too smart for him. I can see how the Germans would be confused. All the American teams look alike. We drive the same jeeps, two soldiers in each, our uniforms are the same, we all wear combat helmets. There is nothing to set us apart from one another, even to those trying to collect the reward. And there aren't that many of us. The majority of patrols are British with eight men each. They also drive trucks.
Two days ago, we lost an entire team because of the confusion. Their location was discovered by some Arabs who sold the information to a German colonel. They were ambushed, killed, and it was announced the infamous Rat Patrol was no more. They were pretty surprised when we showed up last night to prove the "rumor of our deaths had been greatly exaggerated," to paraphrase Mark Twain.
We were all pretty shook that others died because the enemy thought they were us. I wonder if the Arabs had to refund the bounty since they got the wrong guys.. None of us want it happening again but what can we do to distinguish ourselves from the others? We discussed taking some measure to set us apart.
Some ideas included painting a star on the side of the jeeps to match other American vehicles; painting the whole jeep a different color, perhaps tan to match the desert; putting us back in olive drab uniforms, but the sun would only bleach them in a few days; or maybe painting a rat on the side of the jeeps, but that seemed a bit much. We needed to come up with something so others wouldn't die or be captured because of mistaken identity.
Currently, we are all sharing quarters in a Benghazi building near the temporary headquarters. When we are not on assignment, Troy usually wears his slouch hat on base. We were getting ready to go grab a couple of beers and I was rummaging in my footlocker for a clean pair of socks when Cotter noticed the kepi given to me by the French resistance fighters I helped train. He asked me to put it on and had me stand next to Sarge. He grinned and said the hats would certainly set us apart from other teams.
At first Captain Boggs was skeptical, especially about my kepi. The red color would stand out like a target in the desert, and I would have to be careful. However he cleared it all the way up the chain of command, so we now have a way of distinguishing ourselves from the other teams.
Tomorrow we head out to destroy a convoy. It will be a great way to break in our "new look." We are hoping it will be led by Captain Dietrich so he can see us up close and spread the word to other German officers in the area. He'll probably raise the bounty on our heads since we will be more recognizable.
Have to say I prefer the kepi over the combat helmet. It's a lot cooler and the brim shades my eyes more. It's also a good opener with the ladies as I discovered when we finally got around to going for those beers.