HA2 12.2 – Takeo Pulls a Muscle
It was pretty normal occurrence that a member of a family could recognize family member who returned home at night, even if they didn’t get up from their bed to check who had just entered the house.
In many case, they identified the incoming person by the sound of their footsteps or the way they unlocked and opened the door. This identifying capability was the result of hearing the same sound and unique pattern for many years, both consciously and unconsciously.
In the Band of Brothers written by Stephen E. Ambrose, it was told that similar to those family member, members of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st US Airborne Division was also capable of identify their squad member even if they had no clear visibility on them.
When they were under the darkness and couldn’t see a face or insignia of someone who was more than ten meters away from theirs position, the original member of Easy Company could still recognize each other from the sound of their footsteps, the way they walked or jogged, the way they cleared their throat, kneeled or leaned on the wall, scratched their butt, or even from the silhouette of their still shoulder. This was the result from the long march and combat simulation at night that they had gone through together for countless time.
However, with the birth and rapid development of NVG, this simple but effective identifying capability had disappeared. Even among the modern infantry unit who specialized themselves in night combat or night hunting, it mostly had ceased to exist.
Overall it was not bad trade off, as NVG would enable even regular infantry to fight effectively at night. Even so, some tier-one unit and special force were still put a great deal of effort to maintain the old school identifying capability. This was also one of the reasons why they adopted the doctrine of small squad. It was to increase the level of intimacy and familiarization among its member.
After taking a deep breath Hide calmly closed his explanation, “Lack of intimacy and familiarization among its member, was the main reason why I could infiltrate the security formation in Villa Tigera.”
After slightly nodding his head Takeo asked, “Do you mean they totally didn’t recognize you?”
“Nope,” Hide firmly replied. “I walked among them, but no one realized that I was bogey. One of them even casually kneeled right next to me and presented his throat into my reach.”
Shizuka who so far was only listening decided to join the conversation. “In short, good equipment and excellent skill are not enough to produce an effective team.”
“Correct,” Hide firmly replied. “The tactical unit that guarded Villa Tigera had better skill set and equipment compared to regular infantry, but a single bogey wiped them out to the last man because they had no cohesive means to recognize their own teammates without seeing their face or hearing their voice.”
“I see,” Shizuka firmly replied.
After a moment of silence Hide then said, “Well, we already got enough warm up. Let’s increase the pace.”
A question mark instantly appeared in Takeo’s forehead. “Increase our pace? Don’t we already walk fast enough?”
“We don’t.” Hide turned his gaze to Shizuka as he asked, “You got it, right?”
“Yeah,” Shizuka casually replied. “Average speed of jogging in flat terrain is 6.4 – 9.6 km/h. To cover 16 km in 90 minutes, we have to run.”
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“Damn!” Takeo softly cursed while panic filled his face. “Hide, I don’t think I can do it.”
“It’s too late to stop now,” Hide calmly replied. “Just do your best. We will adjust our pace with yours.”
“You won’t be able to finish the march in time if you adjust your pace with mine,” Takeo said in complicated tone.
“Well, this is not just endurance training, but also a means to shape us as teammates.” After a moment of pause Hide continued in a serious tone, “So, run or we will drag you.”
Takeo still wanted to argue, but he swallowed back his words at the last second. Then, steel determination filled his face. A second later, he started his run while Shizuka and Hide closely tailed him.
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After pushing himself beyond his limit, to the point that he silently put his life on the line, Takeo managed to reach second water stop while still standing on his own. However, from his pale face, heavy breath, and shaking leg, it was easy to tell that he would drop ‘dead’ to the floor at any second. Even breathing looked very painful from him.
Prior to tonight exercise, Takeo always thought that his initial day in Hiking Club was the most painful physical exercise he had throughout his whole life, and he was really proud of it because he didn’t give up halfway. However, compared to tonight endurance training, that exercise was nothing but a joke.
After taking another gulp of mineral water from dispenser in the water stop, Takeo stole a glance at Hide and Shizuka. Other than slightly heavy breath and huge amount of sweats that drenched him from head to toe, Hide had no other issue. As for Shizuka, she was perfectly fine and only had light sweats in her forehead and cheeks.
‘These two are not human,’ Takeo muttered before turning his gaze to Hide. “How far do we get?”
Hide immediately checked hand-tally counter in his hand before replying, “12 laps of 400 meters track, so it’s 4800 meter.”
“Not even a third of the total distance, and only 30 minutes left,” Takeo dejectedly said.
“Yeah.” Hide slightly nodded before asking, “How is your body?”
“My heart, my lung, and my legs are hurt like hell.”
“Well, it’s not endurance training if it’s not hurt like hell.”
Takeo nodded and said, “Got it.”
“Tell me honestly, can you continue?”
“I can,” Takeo weakly replied, but his eyes were full of determination.
And so Hide firmly said, “Very good.”
“But we will fail to complete this training, if we stick with my pace.”
“If we fail, then we fail,” Hide casually said. “Nothing wrong with that, as long as you already put everything you have on the line.”
“I’m also cool with that.” Shizuka casually looked at Takeo as she continued, “As long as you didn’t give up halfway.”
“Well, enough for the water stop.” Hide took a deep breath before continuing, “Let’s continue the laps.”
Wasting no time the three resumed the endurance training. The formation was still the same as before. Takeo was in the leading position, while Hide and Shizuka tightly tailed him. Everything went smoothly for the first few minutes, until suddenly Takeo fell to the floor.
“My leg!!” Takeo painfully screamed as he rolled on the floor while trying to reach his left calf.
Without delay Hide approached Takeo and strengthened his left leg. “It seems you pull a muscle on your left calf.”
“Yeah, and it hurt like hell,” Takeo said before gritting his teeth.
From Takeo’s savage expression Hide could tell that he was in hellish pain, but he played it cool as if it was nothing.
“No worry. It won’t kill you,” Hide calmly said.
At the same time anxiety was clearly visible on Shizuka’s eyes as she kneeled next to Takeo. “Do we have pain killer here?”
“We do,” Hide said, “but we won’t need it.”
“Hide, it’s a major muscle pull,” Shizuka said in a drop dead serious tone. “It needs professional treatment. We have to lessen Takeo’s pain before bringing him into nearby hospital.”
“I will handle it. Help me hold his shoulder down. We have to straighten his body before I can treat him,” Hide calmly said, and when Shizuka only responded by giving him a puzzle look he immediately rebuked her, “We have to hurry.”
“Okay.”
Shizuka still had some doubt, but she moved fast enough to comply with Hide request. She swiftly positioned herself behind Takeo before pulling his shoulder down and then held it against the floor. Takeo tried to resist with everything he had, but actually it was not his intention. It was because t the pain in his left calf was so unbearable and his body tried trashing around on its own, as desperate measure to lessen the pain.
Fortunately, Hide and Shizuka were far stronger than Takeo, so the two could put him under control in no time. Hide then used his left knee to hold Takeo’s right ankle, while putting Takeo’s left leg into his right thigh and held it with both hands as straight as possible.
Then, as Hide put his finger at a spot behind Takeo’s left knee and pressed it hard, Takeo felt that the muscle knot in his left calf slowly loosen up. The pain was also gradually dissipated. Slowly but surely, Takeo’s expression became relax.
“Hide, it is fine now. You can release the pressure behind my left knee,” Takeo calmly said.
“Nope,” Hide calmly said. “If I release the pressure now, your muscle will knot back. I have to give your leg some treatment before releasing the pressure.”
“Okay,” Takeo didn’t fully understand what Hide wanted to do, but he fully believed him. “I’m ready.”
“Very well, but before that I need to confirm something,” Hide casually said. “Before we joint Hiking Club, I told you to change your shocks every day. Do you do it?”
“I do.”
“Good.”
Wasting no time Hide used his right hand to take Takeo’s left shoes off and then gently gave his left foot a gentle massage. As Hide did that, Takeo felt that the muscle in his left calf was slightly moving, and it was also feel so good.
In total, Hide was massaging Takeo’s left leg for 10 minutes. He went from sole, heel, calf, and all the way up to his thigh. After that he asked Takeo to just lie down lazily in the floor.
*****