Chapter 190: Interlude
Tuesday, January 17th, Morning
(Song lyrics in italics)
The Sergeant stood by the rear of his tank and looked around, as they were about to depart their forward operations based. It was another day and another patrol. The days have run together, and things have gotten worse. The tempo of operations was stepping up. There was less downtime.
The Lieutenant, the Platoon Leader, was walking down the column of vehicles. He would stop and talk to each vehicle commander. Lieutenant Weller was a good officer; the Sergeant reflected, he cared about the soldiers under his command.
Lieutenant Weller stopped in front of the Sergeant. Weller looked at him and nodded.
"How are you and your crew doing, Sergeant Garrison?" Lieutenant Weller asked.
"We're doing well, Sir," The Sergeant said.
"So, is your crew ready to go?" Lieutenant Weller asked.
"Yes, sir, we're ready," The Sergeant said.
Lieutenant Weller nodded, "Well mount up; we're getting going," he said.
"Yes, sir," The Sergeant said.
Lieutenant Weller moved on to the next vehicle. The Sergeant nodded and looked over to the front of his tank. On the gun tube was the name Damage Plan on it. The Sergeant nodded and climbed up onto the hull of the tank.
The Sergeant looked at the driver's hatch. Letty popped her head out of the driver's hole, her crewman's helmet was on her head, but her goggles were up.
"Get ready, Letty, we're getting going," The Sergeant said.
"Already?" Letty asked, sarcastically.
"Already," The Sergeant said.
"Yes, Sergeant," Letty said and dropped back down into the driver's hole.
This is what I brought you, this you can keep
This is what I brought, you may forget me
I promise to depart, just promise one thing
The Sergeant climbed up onto the turret. He looked over his other two crewmembers. Palmer was standing in the loader's hatch with his crewmember's helmet on. He looked at The Sergeant and nodded.
In the commander's hatch, Tarheel stood, he wore the commander's crewmember's helmet. Tarheel nodded and looked at The Sergeant.
"We're getting ready to head out," The Sergeant said.
Palmer nodded, "Join the National Guard; you'll have a good time, have money for college," he said and slid down into the turret.
Tarheel nodded, and took off the crewmember's helmet, placing it out of the way. Tarheel slid down into the turret. The Sergeant took off his helmet and stowing it in the bustle rack.
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep
This is what I brought you, this you can keep
This is what I brought, you may forget me
The Sergeant climbed into the commander's hatch. He reached over and grabbed the crewmember's helmet, pulling it on. After securing the chin strap, he clicked his mic as a check.
Ducking down into the turret, The Sergeant looked over the crew. Tarheel was getting situated in the gunner's seat. Tarheel pulled on his crewmember's helmet. The Sergeant looked at the back of the crewmember's helmet, with Tarheel's family crest.
"What were you saying, Palmer?" Tarheel asked.
"Saying how they talked me into the Guard," Palmer said.
"Yeah, I've asked myself that same question," Tarheel said.
"You didn't have to join, Tarheel," Letty said.
"True, but I felt I needed to do more than what I was doing," Tarheel said.
"You didn't have to join, Tarheel," Letty said.
"True, but I felt I needed to do more than what I was doing," Tarheel said.
"Right, you just wanted to shoot the big gun," Palmer said.
"It has that added benefit," Tarheel said and chuckled.
"Right," Palmer said, as he loaded the co-axial machine gun.
"That's the reason," Tarheel said.
"Such a boy's reason," Palmer said.
"That's my reason," Tarheel said.
Palmer pulled back and looked over to The Sergeant, "What do you think Sergeant?" he asked.
"We all joined for own reasons," The Sergeant said, as he loaded his M2A1 heavy machine gun.
"I guess," Palmer said, hit the knee switch for the ammo stowage compartment. The armored bulkhead opened up, and the loader removed a round from the rack and slammed it into the gun breech. "MPAT loaded," Palmer said.
"Roger," Tarheel said, as he indexed the fire control computer.
Palmer nodded and climbed up into the hatch. He loaded the M240B machine gun and charged it. "I'm good to go," he said.
"Power," Letty said, as she started up the tank's turbine engine. "I'm good to go," she reported.
"Good to go," Tarheel said.
The Sergeant stood up in the commander's hatch. He looked over to the lead tank. Lieutenant Weller's tank, D11, was called Darkhorse. All the tanks had nicknames starting with their company letter.
"All vehicles, move out," Lieutenant Weller ordered over the tactical radio.
The Sergeant nodded; another patrol was ahead of them. "Roger," The Sergeant responded.
Nodding his head, he clicked over to the intercom, "We're going," The Sergeant said, "Driver, follow the vehicle ahead of us, at the normal following distance."
"Roger," Letty said.
The Sergeant looked down and saw Tarheel adjust himself in the gunner's seat. He leaned forward and looked through the gunner's primary sight.
The Sergeant watched as the vehicles ahead of them pull out. As the following distance opened up, he got back onto the intercom. "Driver, forward," The Sergeant said.
The tank lurched forward. Standing in the commander's hatch, he grasped the commander's machine gun as he seized the machine gun for support, after stabilizing himself, as the movement evened out. He reached up and pulled his goggles down over his eyes.
I promise you my heart, just promise to sing
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep
"Letty, you could have started us off easier," The Sergeant said.
"A little hyped up, Sergeant," Letty said.
"Too many monsters?" The Sergeant asked.
"Something like that, Sergeant," Letty said.
The Sergeant shook his head, as he heard over the intercom "A Bellendaine!" as they crossed the base fence line. It was Tarheel.
As they cleared the gate area, Tarheel slewed the turret off to one side. Palmer stood up in the loader's hatch, taking hold of the machine gun and rotated it to cover his search sector. The Sergeant did the same with the heavy machine gun, covering his sector of the tank.
This is what I thought, I thought you'd need me
This is what I thought, so think me naive
I'd promise you a heart, you'd promise to keep
"Tarheel, what does A Bellendaine mean?" Letty asked.
"Why do you ask?" Tarheel replied.
"Every time we cross the parameter, you say it," Letty said.
"She had a point there," Palmer said.
"It's one of my family's war cries," Tarheel said.
"Oh! What does it mean?" The Sergeant asked.
"To Bellendaine," Tarheel said.
"What's a Bellendaine?" The Sergeant asked.
"It was a rallying point for my family when we were border reivers," Tarheel said.
"What are border reivers?" The Sergeant asked.
"Cattle rustlers, basically, but also did sheep and general ruffians," Tarheel said.
The Sergeant chuckled, "That explains why you became a tanker," he said.
"I guess," Tarheel said.
"Alright now, let's focus on our zones, and try not to fall asleep," The Sergeant said, as the patrol kept on rolling.
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep