The Story Begins (18 page)

“How could it? Even the Captain can’t stand the guy.” Jaden was in dire agony and did all that he could to act as normal as possible; the act seemed to pain him even more. The warm shower after the workout had helped but not enough.

“Keeping up with the Captain was pretty damn impressive, sir. The last guy who managed that was out for three days after the fact. He went back to his barracks and tried to take a shower only to find that not a single muscle in his body seemed to be acknowledging the signals his brain was sending out. There was a complete breakdown in communication between his brain and the rest of him for three whole days. He came back to work on the fourth day but, mind you, he limped around for a couple of days more and couldn’t stand on his own for long without support.”

“Fortitude!” the lieutenant attributed it to. “I suppose I’ve more in me than I realized.” Even though his body didn’t feel as though that were a true statement, he realized that, in fact, it was an assertion most true. He’d never been worked as hard as he had been that morning yet the fact remained he did keep up with Peterson and, unlike the last guy, the lieutenant still did present himself at work, despite his excruciating discomfort.

“It’s not often that the Captain works the entire unit the way he did you; however, because of his training program, from the depths of hell I have to add, we always win every strength competition on the installation. We’ve even gone up against units on the other installations in Mannheim and are yet to lose to any team. Some people try to argue it’s because we’re infantrymen; they quiet down when we tell them that our support platoon isn’t infantry at all; you now being the sole exception to that.”

“How often are these strength competitions held?”

“It isn’t every year that they are organized but when they are, the games are usually held during the spring and summer months; sometimes in late fall also, depending on how much we all have going on. It’s nothing that’s part of any official agenda. It’s just that you always have some competitive commanders and first sergeants who want to have a little friendly rivalry, so they get on the phone and coordinate the events, which basically is simply agreeing on a venue and the events to be held. Things are always kept simple. The Captain
really
likes to keep things simple.”

“That he does,” Jaden agreed, thinking back to the very brief talk they had had concerning his duties in the unit.

“All right, sir, I’ve got to get out there and make sure the troops are actively engaged and not idling around, as is what is likely going on right now.” The sergeant looked out the window to the parking lot. “What’d I tell you, sir? Look out there!”

Jaden observed and true enough some of the troops were idling about instead of tending to their duties. “Soldiers will be soldiers, huh!” he said, turning back to McHenry.

“Ain’t that the truth? All right, sir, I’ll catch up with you later.”

No sooner had McHenry taken his leave than Jaden slouched back in his chair, relinquishing command of every muscle in his body. Not only had Captain Peterson’s drill caused Jaden to agonize, it had also created a voracious appetite but, being much too sore to move even a finger, when some of the mechanics in his platoon invited him to lunch, he had declined, feigning a headache. When offered to be brought back a take-out plate, he was only too happy to accept the indulgence.

15

A Mysterious Call

A couple of
mornings later, Jaden switched office spaces, opting for the room opposite, a larger office with a few more pieces of furniture in it.

The instant he unlocked then opened the door, he just about barfed at the repulsive sight; the room could have doubled as a pigsty. Strewn about the floor were empty soda cans, pizza boxes with moldy leftovers, empty tobacco-chew tins with revolting spittle-filled bottles beside them. The room was utterly repugnant.

As he set about cleaning up and rearranging the contents therein, there was a knock on his door. He glanced up. It was his platoon sergeant. “Come on in, Sergeant. I’m just cleaning up and rearranging the furniture,” he said, pushing a book case into a corner before giving his platoon sergeant his full attention.

“Damn, sir! Lieutenant Moore sure left you a mess, didn’t he, sir? You know, sir, you can detail this out to some of the men instead of doing it yourself.”

“I’m a platoon leader, not a slave driver, Sergeant. I see no reason why I shouldn’t do it myself. It’s not like the furniture pieces are heavy, and it wouldn’t even be right to have others clean up for me, especially when they did not create the mess in the first place.”

“Sir, the troops are really going to love you. You know, this is the first duty station for a lot of these soldiers, especially those in Lieutenant Krappa’s platoon. Some are probably apprehensive now but once they get to know you, they’ll realize that you are nothing like Lieutenant Krappa and that there are good officers in the army. They really don’t get to deal with the Captain so they can’t really gauge him too well.”

“Just how bad is this Krappa? I’ve seen him at formations but haven’t formally introduced myself yet. He’s already given me a bad impression of himself but I won’t hold anything against him, not anything from the past anyway. The future, however, is yet to be determined.”

“Believe me, sir, he’s far from what you’d expect in a soldier or a platoon leader, sometimes even in a human being,” the Sergeant said, chuckling. “Anyway, sir, I won’t take much more of your time. I just wanted to check with you concerning when would be a good time for the IT guys to come and set up your new computer.”

“My new computer?” Jaden asked, glancing over to his desk. “Is there something wrong with the one I have right now?”

“Roger, sir.”

“What would that be? It’s been working just fine,” he explained.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s working just fine. What the problem is, sir, is that it’s outdated, the desktop, software and all. God is just a few years older than that piece of junk. It’s an antiquated and cumbersome monstrosity, not to mention an eyesore that missed the last life-cycle replacements. It’s time to get it replaced. Yours is one of the few that didn’t get replaced because there was no user for the station at the time. The shipment of new laptops came in while we were in the Ukraine,” the Sergeant expounded.

“I suppose now is as good a time as any. I’m still settling in, as you can see. Okay, now works for me.”

“Okay, sir. Mind if I use the phone?”

“Go ahead.”

Twenty minutes later, atop Jaden’s desk sat a new laptop. His platoon sergeant was right. There was no comparing his new laptop with that it had been replaced; the old one was indeed an antiquated and cumbersome monstrosity, and truly an eyesore now that his eyes feasted upon the new, slick, shiny laptop lying before him. Still with quite a bit to be done, he redirected his focus to the task at hand, that of cleaning.

Boy! If Lieutenant Moore is a married man, God help his wife, unless, of course, she’s just as comfortable in squalor as it appears this guy is, Jaden thought as he set about trashing the spittle bottles, cringing at the sight of them.

EARLY
EVENING: Because Jaden was resolved to get his office tidied up and free of filth in a day, he had spent the rest of the time moving and trashing things, wholly oblivious to the time. Then, while cleaning assiduously, he heard someone call out to him, “Sir!”

He turned about but saw no one. Whoever it was had to have done so from behind the partly disassembled tank.

“What’s up?” he shouted as he grabbed a bag of trash and headed out into the bay area, heading for the dumpster that lay placed outside the bay doors.

“It’s almost time for final formation, sir,” Private Nicholson said, stepping out from behind the tank.

Jaden looked at his watch. It was almost 1700 hours. He had but a couple of minutes to make it out to his platoon before the company commander joined the collective. Dropping the bag and running back into his office, he grabbed his uniform top and beret and dressed as he hastened out of the bay.

Formation didn’t last long. That which was put forth was the following morning’s workout plan as well as what the priority of work was to be and then the unit was dismissed for the day.

Jaden returned to his office to finish up.

It was just past eight in the evening when all was as he wished it to be; the rest of the company had been long gone. He slumped in his chair that he may take a breath before returning to his quarters.

After resting a while, he rose, donned his uniform blouse and started for the door. Having made his way to the door, he looked back at the room and was pleased with his effort; just about to switch off the lights, he noticed his new computer. With really not much to do once home other than getting cleaned up, a bite for dinner and then rest himself, he decided that he’d check his email before he set off for home.

He was pleasantly surprised to see that Dave had written him, and much pleased that Dave’s report date had changed, making it necessary for him to report earlier than initially scheduled.

Jaden wrote back, giving his phone number and asking that Dave give him a call once he got settled. Reflecting upon the seemingly endless hours they had spent on the subject of God, he smiled; and while it had all been assuredly engaging, fun, and interesting, he hoped that Dave would remember their accord.

A
WEEK LATER: After three weeks had past, and a few hundred dollars on a rental vehicle spent, Jaden finally received the phone call he’d been waiting for ever since arriving in Germany.

“Good morning!” said a very pleasant voice. She sounded young.

“Good morning!” he said, as he eagerly looked upon his computer screen, not quite sure why a gizmo as new as his computer seemed to be taking longer to boot up than he’d expect.

“May I please speak with Lieutenant Ramiel?”

“This is he. How may I help you?”

“Hello, Lieutenant Ramiel.”

“Hi.”

“My name is Diya and I’m calling from Vehicle Processing to inform you that your vehicle is here.”

He could scarcely believe that his ears had heard rightly. “Is it really?”

“Yes it is, sir. You may pick it up at your convenience during our business hours.”

“That’s great! What time does your office close?”

“The office is open until 1830 hours to afford soldiers sufficient time to pick up their vehicles after the work day is over, sir. We understand that not everyone can make it here during your own regular hours of duty.”

“Great! I’ll be there sometime tomorrow. I’ve been waiting for what seems like forever for this call.”

“I’m sure you have been. It can be slightly inconvenient having to make do without a vehicle. You’re used to having one all the time then suddenly find yourself having to either rely on others, use public transportation, or spend money on a rental car.”

“Sounds like you’ve heard the voice of relief more than once,” he joked.

“A few times,” she said, chuckling.

His cell phone buzzed.

“Thanks for the call. I’ll be there tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

He looked at the number displayed across the cell phone screen. Not recognizing it, he conjectured as to who it might be. “Hello.”

“Guess who?”

It was a voice that he recognized. “Dave!” he exclaimed, excited that they’d soon be reuniting. “I wondered who was calling me. I completely forgot that I had emailed you my number. So, what’s up, dude? It’s been a while. Are you all settled in now?”

“Yeah, I’m all settled in, bud. I don’t think that it’s quite sunk in yet that I’m now in Germany and that this will be my home for the next few years. I see the people, I hear the language but it’s like it isn’t real. It really feels surreal.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes I still can’t believe it myself. Away from my family, most of the people that I know, basically away from everything I know and have grown up with. In some respects it’s like beginning life anew,” said Jaden.

“That’s exactly how I feel. When I arrived at the airport and heard nothing but German, I couldn’t believe that this was really happening. Maybe had I done any traveling outside of the US before now it might not have felt as overwhelmingly strange as it did, you know what I mean? I haven’t been here long but I’m definitely sure that I’m going to like it.”

“It’s going to be fun, I’m sure too,” said Jaden, glancing at his watch.

“I just hope that we get to enjoy being here. With a couple of ongoing wars, we’re both likely to find ourselves either in Afghanistan or Iraq sooner or later,” lamented Dave.

“Inevitably, yes. But until then I won’t worry about that,” Jaden said.

“Since I brought up the subject, can you believe that though I just got here I’m already hearing rumors that we might be deploying in the very near future? Supposedly that’s the reason why some other soldiers and I had to report here earlier than initially ordered to.”

“That’s a hell of a ‘Welcome to Germany,’ dude!” Jaden said, hoping that it really was but a rumor.

“You’re telling me!”

“Is this an uncorroborated rumor, or does it have a factual basis?”

“I can’t say for sure but we do have a 45-day field exercise coming up in a few days and most of the guys believe it’s in preparation for the real thing.”

“Damn it! Maybe Germany won’t be that much fun after all.”

“We’ll find out, won’t we?”

“Yeah, time will tell.”

“Hey, is your car here yet?” Dave asked, changing the subject.

“As a matter of fact, it is. I was actually getting off the phone with that office just as your call started coming through. I’ll be picking it up tomorrow.”

“How long did it take to get here? The only rental I could find was a manual and I don’t handle manuals well.”

“I don’t think too many Americans do,” observed Jaden. “Anyway, it took around roughly four weeks. And don’t worry about the rental, you’ve handled it okay to this point, you’ll keep doing fine.” Jaden looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost 0930 hours. “Dude, I’ve got to go and get the day started – address the different platoon sections and get the day’s game plan rolling, okay? I’ll call later on, sometime before heading home, all right?”

“Actually, I’ll call you again once I get my phone. I’m calling from the office right now.”

“Okay, that’s fine. When do you plan on getting one?”

“It’s on my get-it-done-today list. There’s a cell phone store adjacent to the Post Exchange. I plan on picking one up during lunch. It may take about a day to get activated.”

“Okay, we’ll talk when your phone comes on line. Out here!” Jaden said while reaching for the notepad that lay at the front end of his desk.

“Roger!”

Jaden hung up then set about fetching his platoon sergeant.

THE
FOLLOWING MORNING: Lieutenant Krappa didn’t live in Army housing, preferring to rent an apartment from a local landlord; the apartment was within earshot of Taylor Barracks. Needing a ride out to Taylor Barracks so that he could pick up his vehicle once he turned in his rental, Jaden thought to ask his fellow lieutenant if he might give him a ride out there once the day had come to an end. Jaden hadn’t had much cause for interaction with Lieutenant Krappa and asked only because the lieutenant lived out that way. Though others would have cheerfully given him the ride, not wishing to be a bother to any for they would have had to go out of their way, he opted to ask Lieutenant Krappa instead.

Preceding first formation, Jaden stopped by Krappa’s office. “Lieutenant Krappa, do you have anything going on at the end of the day?”

“Not particularly. Why?”

“Do you mind following me out to BFV and then dropping me off at Taylor Barracks after I return my rental?”

“When were you notified of your vehicle’s arrival?” Krappa asked stiffly.

“Yesterday,” Jaden answered, unsure of what bearing that had upon a simple yes or no question.

“Is there a reason you didn’t ask yesterday as soon as you found out?” Krappa asked, shaking his head disapprovingly at Jaden’s timing. Jaden wasn’t afforded an opportunity to answer as his fellow lieutenant continued, “Fortunately, I don’t have anything too significantly important to do after work that I couldn’t postpone until later; though it’ll take a bit of reshuffling in my schedule.”

It was known to all that Lieutenant Krappa was very much a homebody with not much, if any, of a life; and this, the troops had decided, bore direct correlation to ascribed personality traits they had collectively determined were anal retentive. As such, Jaden couldn’t help but wonder if Krappa’s implying that he actually had something to do was factitious. His patience now waned.

“Krappa, it’s a yes or no question. We’re not playing 20 Questions here!”

“All I’m saying is that you need to plan these things out. You just can’t expect me to drop everything I’ve got going on and take you over to Taylor,” the Lieutenant grumbled. “We are in the army so we should be good planners, planning out our every day while keeping in mind that we may need to adjust fire in case something unexpected comes up, such as your request, for instance. It’s a good thing that I can quickly adapt and rearrange my schedule at the drop of a dime.”

“That’s totally marvelous, dude!” Jaden said sarcastically. “And because you’re such a meticulous and efficient planner, I take it that you will not have any trouble working my request into your schedule,” he said snappily.