Chapter 8
Fort Moore, 36 hours previous
1st Sergeant Dirk Cabral strode purposely toward the room his company had been assigned to use for briefing and debriefing, as well as any classroom training. Currently, Dirk needed to get to a briefing on planning for level ups, and making sure the company could mesh well and cover any weaknesses they might develop down the road.
As much as a given officer, especially Captains to Colonels might refer to a given unit as being theirs, for example “my company” or “my men”, the actual burden of these concepts fell on the broad shoulders of the senior NCO corps in the US Army.
Officers had to be able to give orders that would inevitably cost men their lives, so they couldn’t afford too much direct attachment with the men and the intricacies of their lives. This was one of two areas that US forces differed from other conventional militaries of the world, and in Cabral’s mind, these two things gave the US military it’s strength.
Junior soldiers knew that they might have to follow some orders that didn’t seem like very good ideas, but they knew their NCO’s would do everything possible to make sure they accomplished the objective in the smartest, least suicidal way possible.
Thus why Dirk had taken such an interest in coming up with a long term plan for how the whole company could level and cover each other’s weaknesses. He had a vested interest in making sure each of the members of Savage Company could return to their families once everything was safe. Nobody knew how long that might take, but so long as the US military continued to defend their installations, the effect on civilians would be minimized. From what he’d heard, some of the major population centers had been subject to air raids and there’d been some casualties, but nothing like he would expect if the enemy decided to go all out rather than limiting its attacks to military installations and police headquarters.
In other words, if Dirk could find a plan that’d allow them to become strong enough, fast enough, Savage Company would never lose a soldier, and by extension, none of those soldiers' families would die. The weight on Dirk’s shoulders was heavy indeed, the pressure of basically the whole world depending on him.
Dirk’s secret was that he loved the intense pressure. He’d been an SOF guy for longer than most soldier’s careers lasted, and he thrived on challenge. The last few years before the system, he’d started to think about retiring. Soldiering was ultimately a younger man’s game, and the years had started to feel like they were catching up. Nothing gave him the thrill he’d often experienced in his younger days in Ranger Bat or with the operational detachment teams during the pacific unification war. He’d essentially seen it all, and there weren’t many challenges left unfaced.
News of the returnees changed everything. Suddenly there was almost limitless potential for impossible life and death situations again, and very soon the US Army would mobilize to meet these challenges head on. When Dirk had submitted his request to transfer to the newly formed SRG’s, he’d almost ended up with a desk job somewhere in the back rooms at command. He’d had to clarify, and then threaten retirement when higher-ups hadn't wanted to put him back out in the field. Fortunately Lieutenant-Colonel Davis, the SRG commander had been able to pull some strings. Dirk hadn’t known the man personally, but apparently Davis knew of him, and his reputation. It’d been enough to get him under CPT. Matt Williams, Which was perfect for Dirk.
He would train the captain as he had several officers before to be aware of the needs of their men, and how to actually gain the men’s trust. Most West Point grads had some bad habits about how to integrate with the men, and without the right direction, most officers kept these bad habits throughout their careers. Dirk would correct that for one last captain, and hopefully get a little excitement in the process.
After this meeting, He’d need to go over the latest tactical analysis and planning documents sent down from base command, and then devise some training exercises to make sure Savage company would keep its edge now that they’d all been through actual combat. But that would have to wait until this planning session was over.
Dirk Cabral stepped into the room and instantly felt the temperature increase a few degrees from having nearly 120 men in a room the size of a small university lecture room. He’d have to remember to split further meetings into each platoon and then meet outdoors if he needed to address the whole company.
“At Ease” a voice called. Instantly the side conversations and small talk died, and the whole company stood and took the position of ‘Parade Rest’, standing with feet shoulder width apart, arms folded behind the back, hands making a rough diamond shape, face at a 90 degree angle to the chest, and eyes forward.
Dirk took a bit of pride in how well disciplined the company was. He’d recognized the voice of SSG Alexander Davis calling the men’s attention. There was an old saying about an inspection ready unit not being combat ready, but that didn’t mean Dirk would allow them to lose all discipline.
Since the unit was on a US base, and there wasn’t an active attack, calling the company to at ease for the NCOIC or attention for the XO or CO was the proper move. Dirk walked to the front of the room before giving a response “Take Seats”
After everyone was seated, Dirk dived into the contents of the briefing. “As you all know, we’ve had the opportunity to analyze our classes and spend the attributes we acquired from our first encounter with the enemy. The Captain and I discussed what would happen at this point in great detail before the invasion.”
“While we can’t, and wouldn’t want to force any of you to spend your points in a specific way, we believe that from a tactical and warfighting perspective, it can be to our advantage to plan out our future development as a company. This will afford us the opportunity to make sure we cover each other’s weaknesses, and present a strong, unified front when we next meet the enemy. To that end, I’ve designed a form you can fill out letting us know what you’d like to specialize in, above and beyond your initial class.”
“This way we will do our best to help facilitate your desired advanced classes and mastery goals. I’ll have the Platoon leaders pass these out now, and you’ve got the next 20 minutes to consider this and fill it out with your current character sheet and your growth plans. This won't be permanent, and we don’t want you to think you are being locked in to a specific development path, rather consider how we can best use any resources we come across to further the strength of the company as a whole.” the First Sergeant briefed.
“In addition to this initial assessment, understand that we’ll need to begin making plans to outfit ourselves. The US government has a limited supply of equipment capable of taking out high level threats, and until her citizens can pay taxes with system currency, we’ll be limited in what we have access to beyond our current Mk 2 Exo-Mecha suits. Fortunately, the captain has seen fit to issue $3000 system currency units to a company fund, which should hopefully give us enough to purchase some very basic equipment until we can get a steady cash flow system going.” Cabral continued.
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“You will continue to be paid at the current rate appropriate for your rank and time in grade as per usual via US Dollars. We’ve also learned that the system may award monetary rewards as well as item and gear drops depending on our performance. You will be allowed to keep this money and spend it as you see fit, though I personally recommend spending it to better ourselves. However, any item or gear drops are to be turned in to Supply. A supply NCO will document what you bring, and when we have a better understanding of the system economy, and access to a system node, you will be given 50% of the value of anything you turn in. This will allow the US government to acquire a stock of supplies to help the population level and survive once the system fully integrates earth.” Dirk finished.
He handed a thick stack of papers to 2nd Lieutenant Garrow to hand off to the platoon leaders, before focusing on the second section of the meeting. He went through what he’d prepared while waiting for the soldiers to fill out the paperwork. Eventually all the forms were returned except for a couple last minute stragglers, and time had run out.
“Thank you for being quick with this. Any soldier who hasn’t turned this in has just volunteered for gate duty tomorrow. I’ll expect the last couple sheets at the end of the meeting. Please turn them into myself as I’d like to speak with you personally about attention to detail and being on time. Now, that was ultimately something the captain, and to a greater extent, I myself wanted to get out of the way sooner rather than later. The real subject of this briefing is to go over our training and duty rotations for the next few days. This is subject to change at any time, so keep the lines of communication with your team leaders and squad leaders clear so you can be on top of the latest.” Dirk lectured.
“First, we will be having 3 rotations of 3 exo-mecha pilots. Since the captain is away, and may be over leveled to use one by the time he comes back, the interim commander and I have decided to select 2 individuals for pilot training. If you are interested, speak with your squad leaders, as they’ve been given the criteria for the position, and you will require their approval before you will even be considered. Savage 1, Savage 2, and Canary 1 will take first rotation, Savage 3 & 4 along with myself will take second rotation, and Savage 6, Canary 2, and a rotating pilot from the other shifts will take third rotation. Platoons will be assigned the same rotation as their pilots, with the exception of 7th Platoon, who’ll be part of the third rotation permanently.” Cabral assigned.
“Each rotation will perform training, guard, and rest duties, and in case we are invaded again, everyone will need to be on 5 minutes readiness at all times. Prepare accordingly as we may test the invasion warning system and drill as myself and the XO, as well as higher command deem necessary. First rotation heads to the barracks for rest duties. Second rotation heads to the PT field for training. Third rotation will take active ready positions at exo-mecha Hanger 1.” Cabral continued.
“That will be all. Company Dismissed.” he finished. Soon the last few soldiers who hadn’t turned in their paperwork in time headed toward the podium for their individual chats, and the rest of the company hurried to their assignments. He hurried through these meetings, counseling each soldier as he saw fit, and letting them know what his expectations were before releasing them.
As Cabral headed for the PT field he had a slight jump in his step. After the lackluster performance by the enemy during the first round of invasion, command had decided that the next round would likely be much harder, and they were implementing some training where the two exo-mecha pilots would team up against the regular infantrymen for war games to encourage the un-armored soldiers to find ways to team up against the stronger, heavily armored machines. It would also serve the purpose of keeping the pilots in the right mindset for mowing down waves of lesser monsters or summoned soldiers, which was their strong suite.
Cabral had foreseen the need to stay in the briefing room a little longer, and had instructed Savage 3, SSG Davis to start without him, presenting the exercise, but letting the men think there would be only one exo-mecha. Cabral would change and join the exercise at just the right moment in Savage 5. It would serve to help the men remember not to let themselves get complacent.
8 Hours later, after running several variations of split asset ambushes, Dirk was satisfied with what they’d accomplished. As the After Action Reports, or AARs started coming in to his pers-e-com, he knew they had a lot to work on, but his men had been reminded not to be lulled into a false sense of security. In Cabral’s experience, that was the one thing that got men killed the most often. The grew complacent. Especially after a few days of peacefulness settled over them. It was especially dangerous since they were in the US on a well developed and established base. It would be small things at first, like the stragglers at the briefing, failing to pay attention to the time, or a soldier would light up a cigarette while in a covert support by fire position. During peace, nobody paid the true price for these mistakes, but in combat, these things would get men killed.
As soon as Cabral had a moment, he reviewed the applications for the two pilot slots. Captain Lyndis had decided that they would each pick someone from a list of thoroughly vetted candidates. However, part of the vetting process would be that the applicant’s entire chain of command, as well as any subordinates would need to recommend them. This ment Cabral and Soto both had to review a fair list of candidates and find the ones they felt most deserving.
Cabral was surprised to open the first application packet and find a name he wasn’t familiar with. A SPC. Justin Wallace was being recommended from SSG Davis’s 3rd Platoon. Cabral felt he’d heard the name before somewhere, but couldn’t quite pinpoint it.
Fortunately there was a simple solution. Part of 2nd Lieutenant Garrow’s class had included access to a sort of system enhanced data storage and filing system. The First Sargent pinged the second lieutenant via pers-e-com. “Garrow, I wonder if you can quarry ‘CAMEIN’ for information on a specialist Justin Wallace. I don’t recognize him from the company roster, and he’s being submitted for pilot training.
Company Automated Military Experience & Information Network, or ‘CAMEIN’ for short was Garrow’s baby. Prior to gaining a class, 2LT Garrow had headed up the company’s drone swarm team, gathering intel and plotting routes, or following HVT’s as the need may have been. Now he spent most of his time in the XO’s office, uploading information into what Garrow referred to as a company VI of sorts. Dirk hadn’t said anything since thus far the usefulness of CAMEIN spoke for itself, and the company was short an XO while Williams was away, but soon Lyndis and he would need to discuss filling the drone team lead position, since without drones, the company would be blind when enemy decided to attack.
Of course the individual drone swarm pilots were still available, but without someone trained as an officer who knew what feeds to show, and when to show them, it would be a literal ocean of information that would be unmanageable in the heat of the moment. Garrow had hopes he could upgrade the VI to run the swarm feeds for him, but that wouldn’t be happening until the company got access to a system node.
Dirk sighed, adding that to his long list of high priority items to take care of as soon as all the urgent ones were resolved, before going back to read the other packets. It wasn’t long before Garrow responded.
“First Sargent, good to hear from you. The specialist was the survivor from the gate the elves took. His whole unit took a beating as you know, and a lot of the men didn’t make it. Base HQ decided to break the SF company up, and re-assign the MP personnel to the SRGs. The specialist requested to stay with us, and General Mayes saw fit to grant the request. As such it went over your and the captain’s heads, and ended up as a report on the XO’s desk. Based on what he went through, and his resilience, I can see why he was recommended. I had been building some advancement projections into CAMEIN, and you should see the scores she’s giving him as a pilot. Granted, who knows how accurate the sims are since we don’t have much data on exactly how the system works, but I think any pre-system computers would be telling us to give the specialist a chance.”
First Sargent Dirk Cabral considered for a moment, before a massive grin split his face. Assuming the other conditions were met, he’d just found his pick for pilot trainee. If the kid wanted to try out, Dirk would personally see if Wallace had what it took.