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| US Army Signal Corps Photo |
So yeah, this is the Old AF Sarge (AF stands for Air Force, but as The Chieftain pointed out, it could very well stand for summat else as well. I qualify in both respects). It ain't Lootenant Paddock nor the Cap'n nor any of the Germans. It's plain old me, coming to you with the latest in what's going on with this here storyline.
Well, it's "catch my breath" time is what it is. A lot of new recruits have to be integrated into both Charlie Company for the Amis and 5th Company for die Deutschen. Both sides have seen heavy fighting over the last few weeks, mostly against each other. As I've mentioned here and there, I don't know if that happened in real life, but both units did fight in the Hürtgenwald and via the magic of "artistic license" I matched them up against each other.
I want, at some point, to get back to the Brits and the Poles. But I don't see that happening until the end of the year. Mostly because there is a very "big deal" battle scarcely a month away and I want both of my main companies up and ready to fight. Not to mention which, the story which really started all this, Weird Dreams, will see one set of characters, on the German side, coming back into the fray.
So on the book front, that's what is what.
Me and the cats are still in a bachelor phase as The Missus Herself is deployed to one of our Forward Operating Bases (FOB), the one located on Chesapeake Bay, 'bout 400 miles south of my location.
Since the bloody marvelous and "oh I love it so" blankety-blank time change of last weekend I have discovered that the feline staff do not have a "set my clock back one hour" setting. They go by the light outside as to when it's time for chow.
Mind you, they aren't pushy about it but cats have this marvelous power of waking one up just by staring, I will sense their feline eyes upon me and open my own eyes, whereby they go into "well, seeing as how you're awake, why don't you feed us" mode. Which on the weekends occurs round about 0700 local. On a work day, it's more like 0500.
On the weekend I can easily go rack out for another cuppla hours. During the week my brain goes into "well, seeing as how I'm awake, I might as well start working" mode. So I have been rather tired as of late. Not to mention tiresome. (Hey, I thought we weren't going to mention that?)
Anyhoo, no war today, Juvat should be along tomorrow, and The Muse should be returning from her 48 hour pass Monday afternoon. At least she'd better or I'll have the MPs out looking for her. Hey, this stuff doesn't write itself ya know.
Yours in war and peace,
The Sarge
P.S. Take five, smoke 'em if you've got 'em. (Gee, can I even say that these days?)
Lazaurs, my Norwegian Forest Cat, decided that 0400 was Cat Feeding Time. Nothing could make him understand that no, it wasn't.
ReplyDeleteHe has spoken!
DeleteYeah, you can still say "smoke 'm if you got 'em, cuz mosta the young folks think of something other than tobacco, anyhow. They pro'ly wonder though why you don't say "smoke it if you got it".
ReplyDeleteGot a cat what ain't so patient, but does have the power to wake me just with a look. The look says, "feed me, or I'll put my mark on yer clean skivvies!"
Time change sucks for the most part, but it don't really much matter nohow, cuz I mostly run by moonlight anyhow. Conversely to most folks, that means my days git longer in the winter. Too many years of night guard duty.
A break from war is a good thing, as the new CO has really got to get in tune with all the old and new personalities in the company anyhow.
Kinda funny how you've given them life, such that we can all feel their pain, and sorrow. Each time they come down from the hill, I'm almost as worn out (shell shocked) as they are. Somehow, it's therapy. Can't go and talk in group about the shit I've been part of, but reliving the "trenches" through your writings somehow revives in me that human quality of empathy, and the "yes, I do give a shit!"
Young folks today haven't a freaking clue as to what the horrors of war really are. I get the feeling they will, though.
God Bless You, Sarge. What you are creating, through your writings, is more powerful than you can even imagine!
Thanks Patrick.
DeleteI can imagine there are smiles in Charlie Company just like those in that photo Sarge, good luck with the new faces. Like Patrick and Martha said, a break is a good thing. As to the horrors of war in this country the social media postings of one side about "lists" and "punishments" roils my stomach, just leave me alone and I'll bother no one. If ya don't then.........
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
DeleteOur new to us cats didn't take kindly to waiting for breakfast. They certainly do have a way of waking you up and prodding you to feed them on their schedule. Really enjoy the story and hate waiting but I'm sure it will be worth it. Great stuff keep it coming!
ReplyDeleteCats are often mentioned in literature as being patient. I have yet to witness that in my feline staff!
DeleteCats indeed.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.artthatmakesyoulaugh.com/workszoom/492405/demando-cat#/
...and much more--
https://www.artthatmakesyoulaugh.com/workszoom/567978#/
Heh.
DeleteNice.
(Don McCollor)...Don't quite have that problem. My "Kitten" [all 14 lbs. of her] has an iron cat dish. Each morning a 24+ hour of dry cat food is doled out. She rations it out (but the several night hops off the bed and the steady crunching sounds does tend to wake one up)...
DeleteThat's a sizeable feline!
Delete(Don McCollor)...not fat, but big (and strong). A shorthair calico of unknown breed (female of course [the redheads of the cat world]). She, like me seems to be left pawed, but she can swing a mean set of right hooks too. Trying to match wits with a cat tends to keep an older man alert...
DeleteOh yes, I have some experience in that department!
DeleteI am really enjoying the series. Well Done!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteHey AFSarge;
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in, very few people smoked...Most of the Soldiers dipped, it was nothing to see someone with a log of copenhagen in their rucksack or in their Track(M113) or in their jeep(M151 then the Hummv) I did neither, having been exposed to the chain smoking of my Dad and Mom then Stepmom...I couldn't stand it, so I never started. They would float the cans back and forth of someone ran out and if someone was going to the PX or making a run to another site during maneuvers, they would stop at one of the little shops in the towns we went through, before they closed around noon...you know how it was back then and either buy some smokes on the economy or if they were lucky they would find some dip or chewing tobacco. Good Times, LOL I can't discuss cats, I am unfortunately allergic, although I do have a lab mix though that is as goofy as hell as labs tend to be, LOL
Lab mixes are very interesting dogs, The Nuke has a pit bull/lab mix who has a very interesting personality, the dog is all muscle and timid as Hell. Loves to swim and is very good at it. Her other dog is a chow/shepherd mix, also a nut but a very beautiful dog. They both like me, and I them.
DeleteThey like you? They must be good judges of character.
ReplyDeleteVery perceptive they are. 😁
DeleteRE: "Smoke them if you got them" Funny how one product, deemed dangerous and poisonous and just bad for you, has been replaced by another product that is far more poisonous, deadly, and just really bad for you, but now that's 'legal-ish.' I mind tobacco smoke in a closed room, but fresh smoke outside, from a distance, has too many good memories, and, again, from a distance, doesn't really smell bad at all, from a distance (up close or closed in, different reaction.)
ReplyDeleteBut that other stuff, the DL? it does not smell any better from a distance than from up close, and the toxicology of it is wildly crazy dangerous, making tobacco seem more like the .25ACP of the smoke-it world.
Bleh. One of those things that runs against my inner libertarian (old school, not new school version) feelings.
Now, as to cats, or dogs, yep, Once a cycle is created it is wrong for huumans to mess with it. And they have great ability to show displeasure while at the same time adoring their personal household godling/servant/playtoy.
My dog will, from under the covers (yes, he sleeps under the first layer of my covers, not too bad except when he gets off the bed to change positions and the top layer goes with him) start sighing and humphing if I don't get up quickly enough or at the right time. Even worse is if I feel his stump start wagging, because that means he's winding up to attack. How can a 110lb dog wind up and leap under the covers and start mauling me awake? I don't know, but he does. The jerk. Whom I love. The little sheet.
Never mess with the schedule of the feline/canine staff!
DeleteWell, you can, but at your peril.
I anxiously await each new chapter...
ReplyDeleteThanks Brad.
DeleteStill reading the story in one week increments. Really well done, there are very few day to day discrepancies and those there are are minuscule in size. Great job.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow is in the hopper and since you've probably taken a peek, great minds think alike.
Very true.
Delete“Smoke them if you’ve got them, and bum ‘em if you don’t!“
ReplyDeleteHeh.
DeleteSarge, rabbits are no more forgiving of the time change than cats.
ReplyDeleteHeh, did not know that.
DeleteYou have furthered my education! 😁