Dust Devils - A Girls Und Panzer Story

Chapter 4

The rest of the room resumed brainstorming. Soon, they had them, vaguely, in a desert theme.

T-44 - Oasis

IS-3 - Juniper

M5 Stuart - Nomad

Puma - Mirage

ACIV - Acacia

Cromwell - Yucca

VK 30.02 M - Arroyo

Jagdpanzer IV/70 - Mesquite

Buchanan finished writing them down.

"Great names, guys," she said. "Memorize yours and others. The last thing you want to think during a match is to hear these callsigns and say, 'who's that?'."

The time spent in the room was short. As soon as names were figured out, the team was led to the garage, where they saw many crates. They gathered around Buchanan, crowbar in hand.

"This is something more for loaders, but I imagine that everyone will get a kick outta this."

She wedged the crowbar into the crate and popped it open. She dropped the tool and reached within, pulling out around. There were sounds of amazement from the team.

"This is your American Tankery Association-sanctioned 75mm armor-piercing round. Also called Panzergranate 39 if you're that type of person. Will the loader of the VK please come up?"

A freshman from the crowd walked up. Though Valarie was just a grade above her, she couldn't help but notice how much of a babyface she had. Though, she would be saying the same thing about herself in a few years' time.

"Hold this," said Buchanan.

The freshman was given the shell and held it up with some difficulty.

"Just by looking at her face, you can tell how heavy it is. The thing weighs thirty-two pounds. For loaders, it is not just important to have the strength to lug these shells, but to also have the proper form to load them quickly and effectively." she lectured. "That is something that takes time to develop. Time that we don't have in abundance. For now, though, let's get our vehicles loaded."

Each crew was shown the crate that had their ammunition. Slowly, one by one, they were hauled into their vehicles. Some had an easier time than others. For the crew of the M5 Stuart, it was a breeze.

"These 37mm shells weigh like nothing!" Mia said, commander of the Stuart.

"Yeah, I was afraid of getting sore," remarked Olivia, the loader.

"How many do we have to load, total?"

Mia checked the paper on the crate.

"147."

"Oh..." uttered Olivia.

Just shy over three pounds, the ammo for the Stuart were not at all taxing on the human body. It was the quantity that made the loading process laborious. Still, they had an easy time loading, something that could not be said for the IS-3 crew.

"This is an endurance man...not only is the ammo in two pieces, but the projectile is also god-damn fifty-five pounds and we gotta do this twenty-eight times!" exclaimed Jeremy, out of breath.

Ray passed one of the projectiles to Ryan, who stored it on the appropriate rack.

"This is something we just gotta get used to," he said.

Valarie and her crew had a relatively more comfortable time, though those twenty pound 85mm shells definitely wore them down as they worked. Each girl was careful not to overexert themselves while loading, and as they did, they chatted about their upcoming match.