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"Was that for you to judge?"
"No, sir, it wasn't, but I could see the men weren't too happy, and when we got out about halfway I just set my squad down in a little draw, and waited an hour, and then I came on back and gave my report
"And the report was completely false," Binner intoned"You said you had been to a place to whichin which you hadn't even been within a mile of
In the midst of his anger, Cummings felt a mild contempt at the way Binner had mangled the sentence
"Yes, sir, that's true," Sergeant Lanning said
"You got the idea in precisely that manner, it just occurred to you, so to speak?"
Cummings restrained himself from interrupting the questioning to speed it up
"I don't understand, Major?" Lanning asked
"How many other times have you dropped the ball on patrol?" Binner asked sadly
"This was the first time, sir
"What other dior replica handbags sergeants in your company or battalion have been giving false and misleading patrol reports?"
"None, sir, I never heard of any
The General walked up to him abruptly, and glared at him"Lanning, do you ever want to go back to the States or do you want to rot over here in a prison camp?"
"Sir," Lanning stammered, "I've been with the outfit for three years, and
"I don't care if you've been with us for twenty yearsWhat other sergeants have been giving false patrol reports?"
"I don't know any, sir
"Have you got a sweetheart?"
"I'm married, sir
"Do you want to see your wife again?"
Lanning reddened"She left me about a year ago, sir
The General's shoes made a dry scraping sound as he turned away"Major, you can bring this man up for court-martial tomorrow He paused in the doorway"Lanning, I warn you, you'd better tell the truthI want the name of every noncom chanel red black handbag in your company who's been doing this
"There weren't any I know of, sir
Cummings stalked out and walked across the bivouac, his knees weak with impotent angerThe cheek of Lanning, "There weren't any I know of, sir The entire front was made up of noncoms like him, and the chances were that three-quarters of the reports they gave were false; probably even the line officers were faking their patrolsAnd the worst of it was that he could do nothing about itIf he was to bring Lanning up before a general court-martial, the sentence would be reviewed, and it would be common knowledge throughout the South Pacific that his men had become unreliableEven if Lanning told him who the other noncoms were, he could take no actionThe men who would replace them would probably be even worseBut he'd be damned if he'd send Lanning back to his company without any punishmentLet louis vuitton diaper bags him wither on the stalkThey could wait until the campaign was over to bring him up to trial (if it ever ended) and in the meantime there could be any number of interrogations, any number of promises that he would be tried the next day or the day afterThe General walked along, spurred by an angry satisfaction which fed itselfIf that didn't break Lanning, there were other waysBut the men were going to learn if he had to rub their noses in the dirt that the line of their least discomfort lay in winning the campaignThey liked their bivouacs, did they? Well, there were methods of fixing thatTomorrow there could be a general troop movement to one side or another, adjustments of a few hundred yards with new foxholes to be dug, new barbed wire to be laid, new tents to be put upAnd if they started laying duckwalks again, and improving their latrines, there could be still rolex watches knock offs another movementIt was the American's capacity for real estate improvement; build yourself a house, grow fat in it, and die
The discipline had to be tightened all through the divisionIf men were dicking off on patrols, then there were malingerers in the hospitalHe'd have to send a memo down to Portable Surgical to crack down on all the doubtful casesThere was entirely too much coddling going on in the outfit, and there were too many men resisting his authority, thwarting himOh, they'd be happier with a new general in command, a butcher who would waste their lives to no purposeWell, if they didn't perk up, they'd be having their butcher soonThere were always enough military hacks around
In a fury he came back to his tent, sat down at his desk, and found himself doodling with a pencilHe threw it down and stared with a febrile loathing at the map board by his replica cartier tank watches co |