Firestorm - 25. FS Chapter 25

“Yes, for him it was, the bastard shot all three of us on the boots, then scares me to death” Troy complained, “Mum, someone just swore”, we heard Tom say from up on the tower platform, “What are you doing up there, young man?” I asked as I looked up, “Mum and I were watching with the binoculars” Tom replied, “Come down now please Tom” Angela said to her son, and soon Tom was racing down the stairs.

“Right tomorrow, we will be doing one more exercise, this time I want you Cadets to hide and if you can get away with it, like I did, shoot for a boot. I will be monitoring your progress from upstairs, and Corporals Hays, Masterson and Gregson will be your targets, as they try and locate your positions, the difference tomorrow will be that you will find a position to hide and you will stay there, you are not to move around” I announced, as I noticed three unhappy Corporals looking at me.

“Straight after breakfast tomorrow, we will have an exercise in getting your camouflage right, and how to stay well hidden, before you are given compasses, and you set off to find a place to hide. Because there are twelve of you and only three Corporals searching for you, I will ask you to restrict your distance from the base of the hill to 500 metres, so we can get the exercise completed in time for lunch” I announced.

“Right once afternoon tea is finished, I want you to clean your rifles, and store them away in the box, out of the damp air, and so they are secure, then you have the rest of the afternoon free to relax. Dinner will be at 1800, followed by showers and lights out at 2100 hours, silent reveille will be at 0630 in the morning” Troy announced to the Cadets, as I headed upstairs to the tower, taking my sniper rifle with me, which I had left in the locked jeep. When I heard soft footsteps coming up the stairs, I knew that it was Tom, as I scanned the property with the sniper scope.

“What are you doing Uncle Mitch” Tom asked me when he reached the top, “Just checking the area to make sure that everything is the way it should be, by the way, when you go down the stairs in future, make sure you take your time and go quietly, as the sound echo’s in the valleys, and we need to stay as quiet as possible, ok?” I said to Tom, “ok Uncle Mitch” Tom replied with a big smile, as he picked up the day binoculars, and climbed onto the firearms box and started to scan the area as well.

“I can see army people Uncle Mitch” Tom said as he pointed due west of our location, “that would be the main compound, where we had lunch today” I replied with a smile, as I activated the earpiece, Mitchell to Mike, do you copy, over” I said quietly, “Receiving you Mitch, how are things at the bird’s nest, I was monitoring your comm’s earlier” the Warrant Officer replied, “We did a search and capture exercise, and I managed to paint the boot of three Corporals, then scare the hell out of him, as he walked right past me” I replied.

“Sounds like I missed out on all the fun, training here is going very smoothly, thanks to all of your advanced planning, and the unit commanders are taking on their roles very well. The two intruders have been picked up, and we are in total lock down now” Mike replied, “We have another exercise early tomorrow, where the CUO’s have to hide, and the Corporals have to find them, and avoid their boots being painted again” I said.

“Ok, we will start day navigation lectures tomorrow morning, and main exercise after that, using all four sites that you laid out” Mike informed me, “Very well, we will stay out of those areas. Bird’s nest out” I said before deactivating the comm’s, and that bit of information about tomorrows activities, had me thinking of a better exercise, as I put the rifle in its case and asked Tom to come down stairs with me.

Dinner was very delicious as usual, when Angela is doing the cooking, and the Cadets thanked Angela for a great dinner, and even offered to help doing the clean-up, which Angela was happy to accept, since she had a lot more people to feed. When I heard the earpiece activate, I chuckled when all three Corporals jumped at the unexpected sound in their ears, and all three of them removed their ear pieces.

“CO to Cub, do you copy, over” I heard the familiar voice, “Yes Sir, receiving you, and three Corporals jumped at the unfamiliar activation noise” I replied with a smile, which made the CO laugh, “Let me guess, they took them out?” the CO responded, “That is an affirmative sir” I replied, as I walked away from the campsite. “Just wanted to let you know of some changes on the property, I am onsite now, to oversee all security matters, along with 4 extra MP’s, I will be keeping your night curfew in place, and the MP’s will be enforcing it.

Can you come over at lunch time tomorrow for a briefing with me and Warrant Officer Owens” the CO asked, “Yes Sir, I will see you then” I replied, as I headed back to the campsite, “Right, just to let you all know, Lt Colonel Harding is onsite, and he has brought extra MP’s to keep the Cadets safe. Angela, can I speak to you upstairs please” I said to everyone before heading upstairs with Angela following.

“I love spending time with you and Tom, but with everything that has been happening since I met you, and things getting a lot more serious with the incident at the dining hall today, I need to know a bit more about why this is happening? While you were in hospital, Tom told me, that you were escaping an abusive ex-boyfriend, but it seems to be a lot more serious than that” I said quietly to Angela, who began to cry.

Once Angela had calmed down and stop crying, along with receiving a hug from me, she began to explain. “I said to Tom that Dean Linton, my ex-boyfriend was abusive to me, but in truth, I discovered that he is a senior member of a biker gang, and I had witnessed some activities, that I was not supposed to see. Now I am on the run from him and his gang, and I am on their hit list” Angela said, and she burst into tears again.

Sometime later, Angela stopped crying again and took a deep breath,” I am so glad I ran into you, I am not sure that the police would have been able to protect me and Tom, as well as you have, and yes, I know you are gay, but that does not bother me, and Tom even asked me if you have a boyfriend, the other day” Angela stated, “Wow, that was something that I didn’t expect, and thank you” I responded with a smile.

“It is great that I have this job with the Army, and that I can remain close to Tom as I am working” Angela said to me, and from now on, I will be here all the time, except for lunch time tomorrow, as I have a briefing with Lt Colonel Harding at the compound. Maybe you could prepare lunch in advance for everyone here, and you and Tom can come with me, or you can stay here under the protection of the three amigos and their twelve dwarves” I said, and Angela laughed at my comment, as we hugged again, then headed downstairs.

The CUO’s were all seated around the fire place chatting, when we arrived back at ground level, and we looked around for Tom. “The three stooges are telling Tom a bed time story” one of the CUO’s said pointing towards the tent, and we both smiled, and Angela went to the kitchen to prepare some supper, while I went to my swag, where I lay down for a short rest, and fell asleep.

“Wake up sleepy head” I heard a voice say to me, and opening my eyes, I saw that the campsite was dark, and I glanced at my watch, which read just before 2200 hours, then looking to my side I could see the shadow of a soldier, “Time to get up Staff” the voice said to me, and this time I recognised the voice. “Thanks Troy, I guess everything today, tired me out a lot more than I thought” I responded, and I stood up.

“Marc is upstairs on watch, he asked me to wake you up, so you can take over” Troy said to me, “Thanks mate, you can head to bed now, I will see you in the morning” I replied and I headed upstairs to the top of the tower. “Hey Staff, feeling better after a sleep?” Marc asked me when I appeared, “Yes thanks mate, have you anything to report?” I replied, “No, all is quiet. I have checked in with the MP’s at quarter past the hour” Marc answered.

“Ok, you can head to bed now, I will be fine for the rest of the night” I said and Mark handed me the night binoculars, and headed down the stairs. Putting the binoculars down, I retrieved my sniper rifle, and I scanned the front gate area first. I could see that the gate was closed, and there was just a small light on at the caretaker’s residence. Suddenly I saw movement, just near the guard hut, near the front gate, and it was bobbing up and down a bit.

Pulling out my mobile I dialled the caretakers number, “Benning here, is there anyone outside” I asked, “Yes one MP, he has a VHF radio” came a reply, “Very well, thanks, bye” I responded, as I hung up my mobile and picked up the mic for the VHF radio, “Benning to front gate MP, over” I said into the mic. “Sergeant Webb here, Staff” came a reply, and I smiled.

“Step out from the guard box so I can see you, I have movement in your area, over” I said to the MP, and I saw the MP step out and raise one arm up high. “Don’t move, I have movement in my sights, 15 metres to your right, although it is way out of my range, I am going to take a shot, at whatever it is that is moving, over” I said in the mic, which I placed on the table, before I concentrated on the target.

When I fired the shot, after allowing for the light breeze and the distance, I looked through the scope, and I saw no movement, and I picked up the radio mic, “Benning to Webb, over” I said as I heard footsteps coming up the steps of the tower, “Webb receiving you Staff, I don’t believe it, but you just killed a big Roo, what is your approximate distance from this location, over” Sergeant Webb replied.

“According to my scope, 5900 metres, but that is unofficial, and is to stay that way, over” I responded, “Understood, Staff Sergeant, I will have the Roo removed, Front Gate, out” the MP replied. I had all three Corporals now standing nearby in the tower, wondering what had happened. “It’s ok guys, false alarm, it was a kangaroo” I replied with a smile. “Where exactly was this kangaroo that you shot? Marc asked, “Oh, just at the front guard house” I replied.

“Holy cow, that is a new Australian and maybe world record” Troy said, “It is unofficial, and it is to remain unofficial and kept a secret, do you all understand” I said to the three Corporals, who reluctantly agreed to not say anything to anyone, as they headed back downstairs and back to bed. The next morning, as sunrise arrived, Angela appeared with a cup of tea for me, “Good morning Target” she said to me, and I looked at her in a puzzled manner, not sure what she meant by that nickname, and Angela laughed.

“It’s your new nickname, given to you by the Corporals, when they were talking about your long distance shot last night, I never want to get into your sniper sights” Angela said to me, as she gave me a kiss on the cheek, before heading downstairs again. Taking one final scan of the property, I put my sniper rifle away, and headed downstairs, where the three corporals were gathered around the fire trying to get warm.

“Good morning Staff” the three Corporals chorused, ‘Don’t you mean Target?” I said with a little smile, and I could see all three of them were caught by surprise, ‘Err, we didn’t mean anything by it Staff” Amos replied, “It’s ok guys, but not a word about last night, understood” I replied, and they all nodded their heads yes. After a quick shower, I went to my swag to get a short sleep before the CUO’s are woken up in less than an hour.

When I woke and looked at my watch, I could hear the sounds of activity in the kitchen, but nothing else, and I looked at my watch, and it was just after 0900, and I jumped out of my swag, and put my boots on, before going to the kitchen. “The Corporals decided that you needed to get some sleep, so they have all gone down the hill to start their next search and capture exercise, and Tom is doing his school work” Angela explained, as she handed me a cup of hot tea with a smile.

I reached into my pocket and retrieved my earpiece, which I had remembered to take out before going to sleep this morning, and I put it back into my ear, and activated it, “Benning to Assault Platoon” I said, before taking a sip of tea, “Hays here, Staff” came a reply, “How is the exercise going, over” I queried, “Very well, they appear to have learnt from their mistakes from yesterday and… Shit, I just got tagged” Marc Hays replied.

“Assault Platoon, end the exercise and return to Bird’s Nest, over and out” I said before deactivating the comm’s, before turning to Angela, “Any chance of some breakfast?” I asked her with a big smile, “Just need to reheat it up for you, bacon, scrambled eggs, tomato and sausages” Angela replied as she retrieved a covered frying pan, which she placed on the stove.

I was just finishing my breakfast, when the platoon arrived back, and Angela handed out cups of tea to everyone, before they went to sit down on the seats and benches. When I had finished eating, and handed over the dirty dishes to Angela, I walked around to face the Corporals and CUO’s. “Right, well done on the exercise this morning, I hear that it went very well, Now I have an exercise with a difference for all of you” I announced, and I decided that it would be best to explain it up in the tower.

“Make your way upstairs, quietly, as Tom is doing his school studies, and we will continue the briefing from there” I said, and I waited for all of them to start the climb up the stairs before I followed them. “Wow, this is incredible Staff Sergeant” one of the CUO’s commented when I arrived. “Right, gather around the main map on the white board” I asked, and I began to explain what I had in mind for the next exercise.

“In conclusion, because there are 4 navigation paths, I am going to temporarily change the squads, we will now have four squads, two of the squads will have a corporal and three CUO’s, one squad will have four CUO’s, and the last squad will have a corporal and two CUO’s, I know this makes it difficult, but this is, the only way we can cover all of the navigation paths. Corporals, tell me who is the most outstanding CUO so far this week?” I said.

I watched the Corporals, as they looked at each other, and smiled before they turn to look at CUO Banner, who is from my former school, “I might have guessed it would have been, and I agree with your assessment Corporals. CUO Banner, you will remain behind for further instructions, all other CUO’s go downstairs quietly and get kitted out in your camouflage gear, ready for the exercise, go” I ordered, and all but one of the Cadets headed downstairs.

“Congratulations Hamish Banner, you now have a temporary promotion to Senior Cadet Under Officer, now put his carefully in your ear, without pushing the button” I said as I handed him a spare Ear Sat Comms, “What is it Staff?” the Cadet asked as he looked at it carefully before placing it in his ear.

“You are the first ever Australian School Cadet to have access to a state of the art SAS Satellite Communications device” I said to the cadet who looked shocked at my statement. “In a moment, you will hear a short beep in your ear, that is the signal that someone in range with a similar devise is about to speak, you can listen but do not speak unless you are being directly asked a question, understand?’ I said.