Deadly Charisma (Pt. 2)
As everyone returned from Exodus the company decided to forgo the PT session on the actual day of return. Instead we all simply met in the company’s back room at 0900. In come the troops, the first one that caught my eye as a slightly chunky white private with her hair done in cornrows (against Army regs as being faddish) PVT Hick, the second was a short and skinny little blonde kid who had obviously frosted the tips of his hair bleach white (same problem as above) SPC Raver, and the third person was a man wearing SSG chevrons who was crouched on top of a chair like a bird of prey while chewing tobacco and glaring at the troops as they trickled in. Now from my description of the cream of America’s youth above you might assume that I noticed the two soldiers with the odd hair because I am some sort of goose-stepping fascist who is so anal that I starch my condoms. I assure you that I am the opposite. Long years of mental conditioning in the military simply ensure that I notice these things even when I don’t give two small damns about them.
In addition to these bravos there were perhaps another 12 or 16 soldiers who came in that day who were unknown to me. Some of them will come up later in these missives I assure you but they just didn’t stand out as initial impressions.
The platoon sergeant (referred to as PSG hereon) SFC Decree seemed largely unconcerned with the return of the soldiers after their leave and unconcerned with me as well. He told me I would probably be working for SSG Calangelo and pointed toward the glowering man perched on the chair. Taking a closer look I saw a man of indeterminate age with tanned skin and close cropped black hair. He was obviously athletic (you could tell just from his body posture), impeccably groomed (even for a soldier and no I am not gay), and pissed off about something.
As he left his chair to come into the PSG’s tiny office with us I recalled that 1SG Gregarious had in fact mentioned this man several times but I was unable to recall many specifics beyond, “He is one hell of a character”. SSG Calangelo stalked into the office (he never just *walked* anywhere) and slammed the door shut behind him, immediately firing off a string of invective regarding the poor discipline, low quality, and questionable lineage of the troops in this platoon. SFC Decree simply said something to the effect of, “Hey you have all the time in the world to fix them!”. I took the opportunity to introduce myself and received a polite but curt acknowledgement before he collected himself and strode out of the office.
This meeting left me very apprehensive because I had noticed that SSG “C” had what is known as the “tower of power” on his Battle Dress Uniform (BDU). The tower of power is a series of special skill badges worn on and over the left breast pocket. His listed achievements such as the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB), Pathfinder, Airborne, and Air Assault. I am just a typical military intelligence geek. I suck at Physical Training (PT), I looked like a bag of used chewing gum in a uniform, and my combat skills were well… nonexistent. In the military intelligence community it is a big deal to possess even *one of the tower of power badges and this guy had 4! My thought was that he must be some kind of jack-booted hardass. I knew I was fucked.
To be continued….