The Lieutenant Underground

What is told in the ear of a man is often heard 100 miles away. ~Chinese Proverb

All of the lieutenants sat in the worn in chairs. Everyone faced toward the middle of the study room laughing and conversing. The seven of us did not fit comfortably in the small study room among the small desks and strew gear in the open wall closet. Yet there was room enough for all types of conversation in that mid afternoon.

Two of the Lieutenants sat on the dark green carpet by their gear, their legs stretched out and relaxed. Another sat back in his chair by the closet near the sink with his large white notebook open to a page smeared with highlighter. The rest of us sat with our backs to our desks with the same publication that we would be tested on this Friday. We had all been studying vigorously for the last 2 hours and a study break was much needed.

"Does anyone know how many questions are going to be on this test?", said the Lt. sitting my the sink.
"We'll, its like 14 different Pub's (Publications). There should be at least 2 for each." Said the one on the floor.
"I heard from a guy in Delta company," said the Lt. sitting at one of the desks, "that there's around 100 questions."
"Someone told me that it was going to be around 60" I said. To be honest, I think i might have over heard other Lt.s saying that at chow from Delta company... or were they in Echo company?
"Ops. terms and graphics is like 80 pages long. There has to be a lot of questions on these." One said.
"Nah, there has to be a lot on War theory. We've had 3 classes on that so far." Said the other Lt. on the floor.

Knuckles tapped on our door and in came a member of our platoon from a different squad.

"I just got word passed. Ethics is not going to be on the test." He said.
"Who told you that?" We asked
"Got the word from the Platoon commander." He said
"Nice. One less section that we have to know." I said


Later on that evening, we all placed our desert cammie covers on our desks as we walked back into the room from class. Our minds were filled with information on "The Rules of Engagement/Law's of war." The last thing that any one of us wanted to do was look at the material again. All that was on my mind at the moment was what was going on next weekend.

"Anyone know if we are going to have a 96 (4 day period) for 4th of July weekend?" I asked
"I think so," said one of them. "But someone is going to have to serve duty during that time. That would freakin' suck."
"Do you know how many people they have doing it?" another asked.
"I heard it was alphabetical order starting from the bottom in reverse. So like Z and up." He said.
"I heard it was random." Said the last Lt. coming in the door, sitting down at his desk with a sigh.
"Hell, i hope not." I said.
"It might just be a 72. I had a buddy from Bravo company last year say they only got a regular weekend." one said.




As we continue our period of instruction, much of what comes can only be theorized and gossiped about. No one really knows as to what will be on the next test, if we are really going to have 96 or 72 hours off during the holiday, or even what is going to be on the schedule for tomorrow's classes. This underground system of information is a constant part of being in a military situation; making out shapes from the fog of war.

And from my view,I see a lot of bull shit.


I know that much of my last posts are not the most entertaining as of now. The past two weeks all we have done is sat in class rooms. But next week starts one of the more exiting instructions, especially for me;

Rifle qualifications.



Stay tuned. And thanks for reading.