Defense of Hill 781 Read Free Page B

about his ability to walk unlimited distances, suffer sleepless nights in the cold and wet, thump his chest and bellow the guttural sounds so endearing to all real infantrymen and so offensive to those who wished they were. But he had not thought there was anything wrong with that. After all, he had been taught the very same things when he was a young officer—unless, and the thought was sobering—unless those who had taught him had also ended up in a mess like this. Maybe he had embellished some of those war stories a bit too much, but to consider that to be anything worse than minor exaggeration …, well, that seemed a little hard. He hadn’t meant to hurt anybody’s feelings, even if they were miserable pantywaists. Always’ head began to hurt from all this thinking.
    “Sergeant Major,” Always seized the initiative. “It seems to me that if this is Purgatory, and mind you I’m not convinced yet of anything I’ve heard, then I seem to recall that it’s only a kind of transitory post, sort of a temporary duty station, until I can complete my business and get on to my permanent assignment.”
    “Right, sir.”
    “Well then, just what are my terms of duty here?”
    “Do you mean how long are you here for and what do you have to do?”
    “Precisely.”
    “As I said, sir, I know a few things about what’s going on but not all of it. How long you’re here for is up to you. The purpose, as the Chief put it, is ‘to teach you the error of your ways.’”
    “You mean I’m to be punished for my, uh … well, my ‘arrogance’?”
    “No, sir, not really punished. That’s not the way the Chief works. It’s more like He wants you to appreciate what some of those other guys, those guys you made a habit of belittling, do. He feels that you never will really have a place amongst them in heaven unless you first learn what an important contribution they make.”
    “And can you tell me, Sergeant Major, just how do I gain that appreciation?”
    “Colonel, that remains to be seen. I’ve a general idea of the plan, but I really don’t know all the details. To be quite honest, sir, I think I’ve done my job of bringing you in on the problem, and probably the best thing we can do now is to proceed further on into Purgatory, the National Training Center that is, and you can see for yourself what’s in front of you.”
    For a second Always thought of overriding the sergeant major’s suggestion, but there seemed to be an essential wisdom in the thought. For the moment he had absorbed about all that he could. Besides, he was tired of standing and, having always been an aggressive individual, he was eager to plunge ahead and see for himself just what was in store for him.
    “Very well, Sergeant Major. Do you have a means of getting me there?”
    “Certainly, sir. Even in Purgatory a lieutenant colonel is still a lieutenant colonel. I’ve brought a jeep. If you’ll follow me I’ll take us on in.”
    As the two men left the shade of the overpass, the hot desert air seemed to thicken. A dust devil ominously swirled up before them, and a fiery blast of heat and sand burned their faces.
    Always hesitated only for a moment, then squared his shoulders and walked over to the jeep. Protesting at every bump, the vehicle slowly made its way across the sand-covered trail that wove through the mountain ranges ringing the vast, bleak expanses of Purgatory. He stole one last glance at the deserted Manix railhead as a Las Vegas-bound mortal sped his way across the overpass, rushing to sample the vices that lay before him.
    The drive through the high desert was hot and uncomfortable, but it gave the two men a chance to talk. Lieutenant Colonel Always learned that, in recognition of his stature in life, he was to be given command of a battalion-level task force. Although it would be fundamentally a mechanized infantry battalion, he would have attached to it two tank companies to give him an armor punch, and would detach two of his