" All I have is my honor and a tolerance for pain."
-unknown
***
1 Week Later
She'd trained with Easy now for about a week. She'd also have the misfortunate timing of meeting their CO Herbert Sobel. It might've been her 3rd day, when the door to their billet shot open at five in the morning, and his loud booming voice echoed throughout the barracks, telling everyone to stand at attention at their beds. The girl rolled out of bed and stood at attention at the end of her bed next to Liebgott. Sobel began marching back toward the entrance to the billet and the noticed the young girl at the end. She saw his face turn red, nostrils flare, and his pace increase as he hurried over to the young medic. He stood in front of her, and she stood rock cold.
" And who in the hell are you?" he asked.
" Private Charlotte E. Tarvers, sir. Combat medic." she answered, hoping her wording sounded somewhat right.
" And Private Tarvers, what are you doing in my company?" he asked her.
" Performing my duty as a combat medic, sir." she answered. Sobel sniffed. He'd known he was getting a female combat medic, and he knew of her qualifications, but he wasn't gonna let her pass that easily.
" You may be a female, but I won't let your reputation, represent Easy's. Understand?" he said, coldly.
" Yes, sir." she answered. She didn't even bat an eye. Sobel snorted. He looked at the girl's hair, in braids down her back, past her shoulders. He noticed how big the shirt was on her, and the shorts as well. He stepped back and faced 2nd platoon.
" I suggest we all get ready for breakfast early today." he said and then looked at the young medic, unfazed, " And I suggest you find a way to make sure that hair doesn't pass your shoulders, Private Tarvers." She cringed at the memory, now about 5 days later, and hoped that by shoving her hair up into her helmet, it would satisfy Sobel to say the least. The bugs were annoying, so were the flies and mosquitos and as everyone stood at attention, the whole group all felt it. Charlotte wasn't ready for it when Sobel came flying around the corner and snapped at them.
" You people are at the position of attention!" he yelled, and everyone stood up a little straighter. He moved swiftly down through the company, medics included on the side. That meant Charlotte and Eugene were standing off hands held firmly to their sides.
" Private Perconte, have you been blousing your trousers over your boots like a paratrooper?" he snapped as Perconte locked his gun.
" No, sir." he answered quietly.
" Then explain the creases at the bottom." snapped Sobel.
" No excuse, sir." he answered firmly.
" Volunteering for the parachute infantry is one thing, Perconte. But you've got a long way to prove that you belong here. Your weekend pass is revoked." Sobel said, his manner firm and tough, overpowering any of these privates.
" Name?" Sobel called.
" Luz, George." answered George. She remembered him, he was the funny one.
" Dirt in the rear side aperture. Pass revoked." spat Sobel, and Charlotte's mind was boggled about how fast that actually happened. She squeezed her hand a little tighter, the knuckles white. Sobel turned and walked to the edge of the company and overlooked the group, he glanced over at Eugene and Charlotte who were both staring straight ahead.
" Tarvers." he said, coming over as Charlotte saluted him.
" Sir." she said quickly.
" Open the satchel." he said pointing to the medic one around her shoulder.
" Sir." she nodded and took it off her shoulder opening it up. He began picking through the bag, throwing contents onto the ground and soon turning the entire bag over and emptying everything onto the ground. He looked back up at the girl sharply.
" You want someone to die on that battlefield, I suggest you organize your med bag, Tarvers or we're gonna have more dead than alive. Weekend pass revoked." he said and threw the bag on the floor. She had organized the satchel that morning, but he didn't care, she knew. Charlotte knew better than to lean down and start cleaning it up again. Sobel turned and stopped to look at Johnny Martin, but rightfully decided against it. Even Sobel didn't want to get involved in messing with the man. He turned instead and glanced at one of the Sergeants, Carwood Lipton.
" When did you sew on these chevrons, Sergeant Lipton?" he asked, inspecting the fabric.
" Yesterday, sir." Lipton spoke.
" Long enough to notice this." grimaced Sobel holding a longer string in front of his face.
"Revoked."
" Sir." answered Lipton as Sobel moved past him.
" Name."
" Malarkey, Donald G." he answered.
" Malarkey? Malarkey's slang for bullshit, isn't it?" Sobel said.
" Yes, sir." Malarkey answered confidently.
" Rust on the butt plate, hinge spring, Private Bullshit. Revoked." Sobel tossed the gun to Malarkey and moved swiftly passed him. Charlotte nearly snorted.
" Name?" now Sobel just sounded exhausted by this all.
" Liebgott, Joseph D, sir." answered Liebgott.
" Rusty bayonet, Liebgott. You wanna kill Germans?" egged Sobel. " Yes sir." he answered quickly.
" Not with this." answered Sobel, giving him a light smack in the head with the 'rusty' bayonet. Charlotte knew his bayonet was not rusty, she slept next to him in the other bed for the past week and he shined it every night. Sobel turned and moved to the front of the company.
" I wouldn't take this rusty piece of shit to war, and I will not take you to war in your condition. Now thanks to these men, for their infractions, every man in the company who had a weekend pass, has lost it. Change into your P.T gear we're running Currahee." he snapped before turning and walking away. She noticed the sneer in the word men as Sobel looked directly at her. Lieutenant Richard Winters turned smoothly and nodded. Winters had yet to formally talk to the young medic now in their unit, but he was hoping to soon. The girl already held promise.
" 2nd platoon fall out. We have 2 minutes." he spoke clearly.
" Fall out!" another voice yelled. Charlotte immediately dropped to the ground and started shoving the supplies straight into the medical bag no matter what dirt and other things lay on it. A hand appeared on her shoulder, and Winters was there. Charlotte had never met the man yet, but his eyes said enough. He already knew and withheld the respect she needed.
" I'll catch up, sir!" she said through the chaos and he nodded. She finished shoving her supplies into the bag and turned and made her way to 2nd platoon's bunk. She raced in the door and to the bed. All the boys around her were hurriedly stripping off their uniforms into their shirts and shorts underneath. Charlotte threw the medical bag to the bed and started unbuttoning her shirt quickly to reveal the paratroopers' shirt underneath.
" I ain't going up that hill." Perconte said firmly as Charlotte yanked off the uniform shirt.
" Hey Perconte, what are you thinking of? Blousin' your pants?" snapped Johnny Martin walking in and tying his shorts as he came into the bunks.
" Shut up, Martin, all right? He gigged everybody. Even Tarvers, and she's the most organized out of us all, you know that!" snapped Perconte back. Charlotte rolled her eyes.
" Yeah? Well, you should know better." Martin said turning and looking firmly at the Italian.
"Don't give him, no excuses."
" Excuses?" countered Perconte. " Why don't you come here, look at these trousers, get down and you tell me if there's a crease on 'em?"
" Alright, let's go on the road. In P.T formation. Let's move, move, move." came Lipton's voice through the bunk. Charlotte pulled the cargo pants off revealing the shorts and hurried out of the bunk before she'd be yelled at. You did not want to be yelled at, not now, not this early into boot camp. Charlotte hopped out the door of the barracks and fell in line next to George Luz.
" Hey, kid, figure out the CO yet?" he said, running a hand over his hair.
" Yeah, he likes to freaking torture us." she muttered, pushing her hair up into a poor looking ponytail, a snarl on her face, as she prepared to death glare Sobel the next time she saw him.
" Got that right." Luz answered.
" Oh, Easy Company." a man called from ahead. Charlotte looked ahead past Liebgott's head as he lead the company towards Currahee, the '3 miles up, 3 miles down' mountain she'd been hearing about for the past week which also towered over the entire camp.
" Eh, while you're running, don't worry, we'll take your dames to the movies for you!" the man ahead of the group called. Liebgott sneered at the group.
" Yeah, good, they need some female company!" he hollered.
" Hey, lil lady, wanna join us? Go somewhere with real men?" the group ahead of Easy laughed.
" I'd rather have the ability to gouge my eyes out, than pretend to want to talk to you, but hey not all dreams come true." Charlotte hollered, her voice carrying over. Easy Company let out a laugh. The boys took off forward hitting the backs of the other soldiers who didn't have their weekend passes revoked, which only made Charlotte giggle quietly to herself as she watched it play out. She hurried after the boys, careful not to bump mistakenly into the ones that didn't have to run.
Where do we run?
Currahee!
And what does 'Currahee' mean?
We stand alone!
How far up? How far down?
Three miles up, three miles down!
And what company is this?
Easy Company!
And what do we do?
Stand alone!
Charlotte's legs were smaller than the guys, their strides also close to what felt like 10x's bigger as the group ran. She was next to Bull Randleman, one of the stronger more built members of Easy, but it only made him tougher as a person, which she was glad about, because he had a more reasonable pace that she stuck with.
" You've got 13 minutes to get to the top of this mountain if you wanna serve in the paratroopers!" Sobel yelled his voice making sound waves bounce through the girl's ears as he yelled it beside her.
" Hi-ho, silver!" Sobel yelled, his pace picking up as he raced forward. The man's pace quickened immediately as he raced to the top. Charlotte gritted her teeth, as she picked up her pace. The path narrowed and different groups started to slow why others took off. Her last platoon had forced her to do double the amount of running the guys had done for their flat 5 mile runs, which made her do 10 because of her gender, so adding an uphill wasn't that big of a difference to her. She picked up her pace, darting past some of the guys, sweat dripping slowly down her forehead and cheeks as she did so. The sun boiled her already tanned skin, as her tiny feet had to push extra hard just to keep a somewhat normal uphill pace. She rounded the corner and as she did so, saw Winters yelling encouragements only a few feet from the top.
A soldier, whom she didn't know the name of, tripped next to her and fell to his knees. She glanced back and saw the man attempt to stand, but collapse again to the ground. She saw Sobel's eyes on her as she looked back up, stopped on the mountain. She spat a nasty curse to herself in French, before turning, bending down and putting the man's arm over her shoulder and slowly helping him up the mountain the best she could. The two stumbled, other men giving the two looks as she attempted to help him. They reached the top, both smacking the cylinder under Sobel's gaze before turning and slowly descending back down. Sobel only grumbled.
The soldier went straight to the infirmary once they reached the bottom and Charlotte collapsed right then and there on the ground by herself away from the guys. She sucked in some of the air she realized she hadn't needed until now, before turning her head when a shadow cast over her.
" Up on your feet, Private Tarvers!" Sobel yelled. She pushed herself, painfully from the ground and stood at attention in front of him.
" Did you or did you not hear me when I said you may not help any man, for he should get up on his own?" he asked forcefully.
" No, sir." truly she really didn't, she was just doing the humane thing.
" Well, private, looks like you're running Currahee again, this time without helping anyone." Sobel said, crossing his arms in front of her. Her stomach dropped.
" You have 1 hour, Tarvers, before I should see your ass in the dinner line at exactly 1930 hours." he hollered, making some of the guys returning or some who had already made it, look in their general direction.
" Now!" Sobel hollered.
" Yes, sir." she answered back, with an annoying calmness to herself as she turned and took off towards Currahee, her run toward it, before she disappeared into the woods, filled with adrenaline, anger, and confidence as she raced up the mountain.
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thanks for reading!
sorry for the late update! i was on vacation in the mountains with no service and now i finally have some service to update! thanks again!