Out with the Old...

(Source)

It was cold, it was wet, it was, in a word, miserable. Charlie Company was dug in along a line which had been held by the Germans up until a couple of days ago. Many of the positions had been dug by the enemy, but the Americans had spent a lot of time improving those positions, especially the overhead cover, or the lack thereof. Helped to keep out shell fragments, but it didn't do all that much to keep the rain out, nor did it do a damned thing to keep the cold out.

Captain Alphonse Josephson studied his platoon leaders: Jackson of 1st Platoon, Paddock of 2nd Platoon, Childreth of 3rd Platoon, and Jacobsen of Weapons Platoon. Josephson had his doubts about Childreth, but the other men were solid.

It's not that Childreth was a bad officer, but he was unlucky. His decision to let two of his men wander off into no-man's-land to fill canteens had been rather boneheaded, but for now he had to work with what he had. He wasn't very impressed with Childreth's platoon sergeant either. He was letting his lieutenant make stupid mistakes and getting men killed as well. He wanted to make a change.

"So that's the deal guys, we're here for a while. The rest of the regiment is tied down in Aachen, in fact, division is taking it in the teeth there. They are kicking Kraut ass, but it's coming at a cost. I asked at battalion about the prospects for us being used in Aachen, the major said, and I quote, 'No f**king way.' So we're in the trees for the foreseeable future."

"Sir, any intel on what the Krauts across the line from us are up to?" 1Lt Kent Jackson asked the question, it was something that Josephson had planned on talking about anyway, so might as well talk about it now.

"Yeah, the guys on the other side of the hill, so to speak, are from the 983rd Grenadier Regiment, 275th Infantry Division. They've been battered and rebuilt a couple of times. Seems the rest of their division is to the north, they've moved the 983rd here to give them some combat experience."

"Kinda like us..." 1Lt Paddock chimed in.

"Exactly Nate, but from what we've seen in the way of prisoners so far, they've got some pretty young kids in uniform. As young as 15 according to the S2."

"Damn sir, they're eating their seed corn." 2Lt Herman Jacobsen had grown up on a farm in Iowa, so he tended to use farming analogies.

"Yup, the Krauts are all in at this point. It's that or quit, I haven't seen much 'quit' in those boys over there. They're worn out, ill clothed, poorly supplied, but the bastards have a lot of fight left in them."

The captain continued, "I plan on nothing more complicated than aggressive patrolling over the next few days, give the men some experience and keep the Krauts too busy to attack us. Bastards' philosophy seems to be, 'When in doubt, attack.' Yes, they are good at that. But our job is to grind them down. Eventually our supply situation will improve, theirs will only get worse. We have an Air Force, they don't. Well, I haven't seen many Kraut planes overhead, but I see a lot of ours when the weather is good. Which today," he paused and looked to the foggy skies, "ain't so good."

The men all had a sardonic laugh at that, then the captain dismissed them with the exception of 2Lt Childreth. "A word Morgan."

"Sir?"

"I'm giving you a new platoon sergeant..."

"But sir, SSgt DuBois and I..."

"Are a disaster waiting to happen. Quite frankly Morg, I don't think DuBois is doing you any favors, he makes bad decisions and I know you've been covering for him. Do you want to make First Lieutenant someday? Captain? What are your plans when the war is over? Do you plan on staying in the Army?"

"Well, yes sir, I worked very hard for my commission. The Army has been my dream since I was a kid, I..."

"DuBois is going to get you killed Morg, I've seen it before, the man is a sorry NCO. So he's gone, if you like, send him to me and I'll fire his ass..."

"No, no sir. I'll do it. He's been my platoon sergeant since early August, I should be the one to tell him."

"Are you sure you can do that Morg?"

"Yes sir. He's gone, I'll send him back to you for reassignment."

"Negative, straight to battalion, Sergeant Major Hamilton is expecting him."

"In the meantime I'll have one of my squad leaders..."

"Nope, see First Sergeant Saeger before you head back, we've got a new guy, SSgt Bob Poole who's just out of the hospital and needs an assignment. He was hit pretty bad on D-Day but he's back, I asked for him personally. He's a good man, he's been with the division since May of '42, he's an old hand. You need him Morg, trust me."

"Okay sir, if you say so. I'll send DuBois to battalion and when can I expect Poole?"

"He's going back with you. Anything else on your mind lieutenant?"

"No sir."

"Very well, dismissed."

The cold made his bones ache, "I'm getting too old for this shit Mort."

1Sgt Morton Saeger just laughed and shook his head, "Ain't we all Bob, ain't we all?"

"So what's this platoon like? What's this DuBois' problem, Cap'n don't like him?"

"He's sloppy Bob, he's gotten men killed through bad decisions. His platoon is the worst in the company, the men are sloppy, Lieutenant Childreth is an okay officer, a good platoon sergeant could make him a great officer. DuBois will get him killed, probably himself as well. He ain't a bad guy, he's just f**king lazy."

"Got it, is that my new platoon leader?" Poole said, pointing at a young officer coming towards them.

"Yup, that's your new boss. Get him up to speed fast Bob, we don't have much time."

2Lt Childreth walked up to the First Sergeant and nodded, "Mornin' First Sergeant, is this..."

"Lieutenant Childreth, this is SSgt Bob Poole, he ain't much to look at, but he's a good NCO. Take good care of him okay Sir? We go way back, don't we Bob?" 1Sgt Saeger slapped Poole on the back, hard.

"Yes sir," Poole put his hand out, Childreth shook it, "the First Sergeant is older'n dirt. He's been around since Christ was a corporal. So they say..." Poole winked at Saeger when he said that.

"Um, right, okay, let's get going Staff Sergeant. First Sergeant." 2Lt Childreth nodded at Saeger, wondering what to make of all the good old boy antics. The older NCOs scared him at times. As they walked and before he could say a word to his new platoon sergeant, SSgt Poole spoke up...

"So sir, anything special I should know before I meet your platoon? Anything you don't like, stuff you do like? It's your show L.T., I don't want to mess things up or step on any toes."

"Um, no, just do your job I guess. Let me know when I screw up, but..."

"Roger that sir, in private, never in front of the guys. Mama Poole didn't raise no fool."

"Right. Okay. By the way, as of today, it's our platoon." Morgan Childreth already liked this new sergeant. Spoke his mind, didn't fool around. We shall see, he thought, we shall see.

Morgan Childreth fired SSgt Joseph James DuBois as gently as he knew how. As he'd never fired anyone before, he was surprised at how hard that was. SSgt DuBois went to battalion, where they made him a supply sergeant. He was caught falsifying records two weeks later. Though it was a matter of poor bookkeeping, and not attempting to defraud the Army, he was brought up on charges anyway. He was subsequently court-martialed and reduced in rank to Private First Class.

During the Battle of the Bulge, PFC DuBois went missing in action, his body was never found.