Today’s
excerpt is from Devil’s Brew, Book #8 of the nine-book Janitors Series. While planning the major raid into Syria, the
team decides a parachute jump isn’t the way to go. During that conversation, a bit of actual
history (except the name of the unit commander) is discussed. Enjoy and have a fantastic day.
m.j.
Jim sat back,
ran his hand over his face, and sighed.
“Okay, about twenty-five more. By
my count that leaves us at around one hundred and eighty. Not enough. But, for now, let’s get back to some
planning.”
Before anyone
could reply, General Bradley arrived and was let into the facility. Since he knew everyone in the building, no
introductions were needed. After General
Bradley got himself a cup of coffee, Jim joked, “Okay, now back to planning.”
Hector shook his
head. “Before that, Jim, we’ve got to
change plans: no way we can jump
in. Get the Seabees to build us a
landing strip near the border or something.
Today’s training wound up with a broken leg, a broken arm, some cracked
ribs, and God only knows how many wrist and ankle sprains. On top of that, we had guys falling all over Quantico
Ski had just
returned to the main conference/dining room where everyone had slowly
drifted. He coughed. “He’s mine.
Lost his leg in Afghanistan
As Jim nodded at
that, Hector growled. “What the guy
said. New leg! Crap.”
Jim chuckled,
then sighed, “I was thinking about this jumping in, before you brought up the
troubles you had today, Hec. I like your
idea about the Seabees building a fast strip near the border.”
Then he looked
at General Bradley, “Can you be some help there? And, if we go that route, we’ll probably need
another 130.”
“Yeah, I can
arrange the Seabees. Know just the
guy. A Commander by the name of Rollston.”
Hector
groaned. “Sure, it’d be him.”
Jim tilted his
head. “You know somethin’ I don’t, Hec.”
“A lot of
things, amigo. Just been tryin’ to be
coy all these years. About Commander
Rollston, he was in charge of a Seabee team that caused great embarrassment to
the Marine Corps. You tell him, General,
since you want to use the guy for our strip.”
General Bradley
smiled. “Be glad to. When Operation Iraqi Freedom started, the
Marine unit heading north had a Seabee unit with them…commanded by Commander Rollston. Seems, due to the sand storms they kept
running into—and other reasons—the Seabees kept getting pushed forward from one
squad to the next. To make a long story
short, they wound up with the lead element.
Then along came a serious sand storm and the Marines called a halt. The Seabees never got the word, and kept on
trucking. Got to the spot where the
Marines needed some defensive positions built and did their thing. Next morning, when the sand settled down, the
Marines moved out. When they caught up
with the Seabees, Commander Rollston walked up to the Colonel sent to see what
the Seabees had been up to. He simply
asked, ‘What should we do with these guys?’
The Seabees had 140 prisoners—the first major batch of prisoners in the
push north. Needless to say, the Marines
were just a might embarrassed.”
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