Chapter 09

Quantico

Nancy and Lyn pack up and drive to Quantico early on the Friday of the last week of exams. Included in their baggage are transcripts of Lyn’s studies to date with a list of planned future courses because Bud rang up on Wednesday to request he bring them. The drive is a good nine hours plus breaks, assuming no traffic hold-ups along the way. So they plan to have the whole day driving to allow Saturday as a rest day.

On the road at 6:00 a.m. they arrive at the Marine Base Quantico HQ building car park just after 6:00 p.m. Bud Miller is leaning against a car waiting for them. Lyn gets out and shakes hands while asking, “How far out do you have the spotter?”

Bud grins, “Sitting beside the road in Stafford. Most people don’t work out how I know when to meet them. OK, I’ve got a few people for you to see, so get into your car and follow me.”

Once back behind the wheel of the Yukon Lyn follows Bud to what looks like a large storage facility. They park and walk in a door. Inside are two Marines waiting with tape measures. Several minutes later Lyn is fitted with several battle-dress uniforms (BDU), boots, and full field kits while Nancy has some BDUs. On Bud’s orders they stay in BDUs while they put the rest of the gear in the back of the SUV.

Next stop is an armoury where Lyn is issued with a M9A1 pistol, M4 Carbine, bayonet, and cleaning kits for each weapon. Both Nancy and Lyn are now wondering what the hell is going on.

Third stop is a housing block where they’re shown a room they’ll share and Bud says, “This is normally used by an instructor. Dump your gear and we’ll take a short walk.” It takes just a moment to move their gear from the SUV into the apartment and to make sure the guns are secured properly.

A short walk away is a regular style barracks and Bud takes them in to introduce Lyn to the instructor and troops present before saying, “This group is short a person for exercises starting next week, so you, Lyn, will be filling the spot for the ten days involved.”

The instructor names who is on the team and who the team leader is for the first of the exercises, but they’ll change. Lyn half frowns before saying, “OK. I hope you know what you’re doing, as I sure don’t. Over the next two days will I have time to get to know the rest of my team?”

“Yes. There’s some extra tests for you tomorrow morning and your team will be there to watch. After that you’ve the rest of the weekend to get to know them. I do hope there are no issues. We’re letting your team have a bit longer on a few of the exercises, but not much, because we know your fitness levels may be down due to you being shot. Now we have another meeting then you’re free for the night, but leave getting to know your team until tomorrow.” They all get in the Army car Bud has.

The last stop is a medical facility where a doctor gives Lyn a full general physical then she gives Lyn’s shoulder a close examination before she declares him fit to proceed. While he’s being examined a major is going over Lyn’s transcripts with him and asking a lot of questions on weapons training and past conflicts. Lyn is also asked a lot of questions about his training by his grandfather.

Bud takes them out for a late meal before returning them to their room for the night. In the room Lyn checks nothing has been disturbed before he gets busy giving all of the new clothes a very thorough wash. In fact, he puts them all through the wash cycle five times before drying them. The last wash cycle is water only. It’s late before he finishes, but none of the gear has the ‘just issued’ look any more.

Saturday

A phone call wakes them in time to get dressed in BDUs to join the rest of the troops on their way to breakfast. They sit with the group they were introduced to last night. Lyn isn’t sure if he should refer to the group as a platoon or company because he’s not familiar with the protocol they use here for the training units.

After breakfast Lyn is sent to get his weapons. The team is loaded into a truck and they all go to the range. When they get out Lyn notices the other team members are a bit concerned by the group of officers standing close by. None of the officers are known to Lyn, but it’s clear the other team members know one or more of them and they aren’t happy with seeing them here right now.

Bud appears and he tells Lyn he’s to show his firearms proficiency. Lyn replies, “Sure, after I get a chance to sight the guns in properly. Where’s a test bench?” For some reason unknown to Lyn a few of the spectators are smiling at his reply.

At the bench Lyn strips and cleans his weapons before he secures them into a test vice to use the correct equipment to test they’re sighting properly. He does one weapon at a time. The only issue is his pistol needs a replacement barrel, which is soon provided and checked.

They move further down the range then, under the command of the range officer, Lyn goes through a series of tests firing at targets at set distances common for use with each weapon. He finishes with a run of the combat range. Lyn scores well with all of the weapons he fires.

Back to the truck to drive to another range where Lyn demonstrates his ability to operate some of the squad weapons he knows. This includes the use of a mortar while he instructs Nancy on how to assist him.

After the mortar test Bud says, “Damn you, Lyn, you cost me fifty bucks. Gunny said you can fire anything we gave you, and I figured you’d not know how to use a mortar. When did you learn how to use it, because they aren’t legal for private ownership?”

Lyn grins, “I’ve no idea where he got them from or where they went afterwards, but when I was ten years old grandfather had an eighty-one millimetre mortar, a seventy-five millimetre recoilless rifle, and a few old LAW rockets he taught me how to use. He even made films of me using them and a bunch of other weapons which he put on YouTube at the time. When they got taken down he didn’t put them back up.”

One of the officers asks, “Was that the Mini-Marine series?”

With a wide grin Lyn replies, “Yes, it was. They were fun to do.”

On seeing the others giving them odd looks the officer, a Brigadier General, says, “About nine years ago, just after YouTube started up, a series of videos appeared. It featured two people in full BDUs and face paint without any unit insignia. One was an adult and the other only came up to his waist, obviously a kid. The boy then used a weapon while a voice-over spoke about the weapon and what it was used for. The series covered a range of weapons, but only one weapon in each video. The kid deployed the weapon, used it, field stripped and cleaned it, then put it away. The series covered the full range of individual and squad issued weapons at the time. What was funny is the closing scene had the kid standing there at parade rest while the text ‘Mini-Marine’ displayed above him and a voice-over said ‘Mini-Marine, coming soon to a combat theatre near you.’ I loved the films because they showed almost anyone can be taught to use the gear properly. Some people got concerned others may think it was a government sponsored youth training program so they complained to YouTube, the series got blocked and pulled. The FBI did try to find out who was behind it, but they never did locate them.”

Bud looks at Lyn while shaking his head. He asks, “Did Gunny know about that series?”

Lyn replies, “I don’t know, but he could have. He knew grandfather real well. I did once tell him I thought I can workout how to fire and use anything short of a tank if I had a few minutes to look it over. He once brought in an odd looking weapon for me to try to use, and he was not happy when I not only worked out how to use it but I was accurate with it after a few rounds to sight it in.”

One of the colonels in the group says, “Well, I think we can sign off on the weapons components of the tests.” Which gets him a glare from a two star general and a man without any insignia at all.

It’s almost lunchtime so Nancy and Lyn are released to join their team and are trucked back to the barracks to change before going to lunch with the rest of the unit. The rest of the day is spent relaxing with the team while they talk as they get to know about each other so the team can get an idea of who needs what help in the exercises next week. Sunday is more of the same getting to know each other activities.

Exercises

Monday morning all are up early and off to breakfast, followed by a long series of field exercises while wearing full field kit and weapons. They all require the team to work as a cohesive unit with minimal noise or instruction between them. Hand signs are used for communication, Lyn learned them from his grandfather. Bud expected Lyn to know them well. Nancy smiles while she watches because Lyn taught her the signs.

The next day and the rest of the week are much the same with a set of team field exercises each day. Some going well into the night as well. Lunch each day is a Meal Ready to Eat (MRE) from their kits, and dinner is too on some nights. The scores on the exercises are given out on Friday evening; Lyn’s team aren’t in the lead nor are they at the bottom, and all of the exercises were completed within the standard time-frames.

Saturday morning their field kits are topped up and they’re given a few extra MREs each. After a briefing and an issue of maps the teams are loaded into trucks and dropped off in other areas of what looks like virgin bush. They have four days to make their way through the bush to designated points and the final destination, but they have to do that while avoiding traps and search forces seeking them. This is not a pass or fail test, but rated on how well they do meeting the mixed objectives as a team. Interceptors know of their objectives but not the extraction point.

On being dropped off they gather together in a nice looking rest area to discuss the tasks and plan how to do it. The assigned leader initially selects the most direct path to the first objective. A few minutes after they move off Lyn asks for a break to re-evaluate their plans. When they gather Lyn says, “OK. Who else thinks the majority of the teams doing this will choose the most direct path to get the jobs done as quick as they can?” All put their hands up. “Who thinks the instructors know this and are busy setting up traps on those paths?” After a moment all of the hands are up again, and a few are swearing. “I didn’t mention this at the drop off because I was suspicious of the lovely rest area. If I was an instructor I’d have bugged it to hear what was being planned. Anyone want to say they’re sure the instructors didn’t bug it on us and thus don’t know what we intend to do now?” No hands go up.

Lyn grins when he says, “I know the brief has the mission targets in an order that’s almost a geographical list from the drop off, but there’s nothing in the orders about what order we do them in. Also, when you look at the map you see we have to go up hill and down dale to do them in the list order. But if we change the order we can get most of them done by moving along near the top of a ridge and diverting down into the low areas for the tasks. That also allows us to leave a cover force high above us instead of having the whole team on the low levels.” After some more discussion they change the plans and then head off for what would have been their third task, but are coming at it from a wider angle than if they did them in order.

This one is the hardest exercise for Lyn’s team because they’ve not all trained in working together and Lyn’s bush training isn’t as extensive as the rest of the team’s is. The changed order of march gives him more time to practice before they reach an area they can expect interceptors to be in. By the end of the first day he’s as good as the rest of the team.

The team meets their objectives despite the hazards thrown in their path by others out to stop them. At two objectives their higher elevation allows them to see where some of the interceptor force is so they go past the objective to come back for it from behind the hostile force, collect the target, and move on. Things go well for the bulk of their test.

At the final objective they’ve a problem. They need to get an object from inside a hut in the middle of a field. From their position up on the ridge they can see it’s surrounded by two rings of interceptors, but if you go between two posts in the outer ring you hit a post in the inner ring. They’ve weapons and training rounds they can use to fight their way in and out, but they’ll lose points for each round fired.

They all study it for a while and most of them think the only way to complete this mission is to crawl close then shoot their way in and out. Then Lyn says, “That won’t work.” They look at him. “Sure, that’s what looks like will be the best way to get in and out, but I bet they’ve Claymores in the fields set to go off when they know where we are. We either have to take them all out from up here or sneak in and out without any of them knowing we’re here.”

One man speaks up for the first time in planning talks, “Lyn, there’s no way I can sneak through all of them. I’m just not good enough.” The others turn to look at Lyn as they nod their agreement with the speaker.

“Jack, over half this team isn’t good enough to do that. But I am and there’s nothing says we all have to make the collection. They just say the team has to. Well, if you lot sit up here to keep an eye out should things go wrong you’re in position to provide me with covering fire before you pull out.”

The team leader asks, “Lyn, are you sure you can get through that?”

Lyn grins, “My grandfather was a Marine and he had me doing that sort of crawling around the backyard when I was only a few months old. By the time I was five I could crawl through any landscape without being noticed and I’ve not lost the skill, only improved it. Although I was out of practice at the start.” There’s a few wide eyes while they take that in.

They discuss the plan further then agree to it. Lyn hands over his pack and most of his gear before moving off into the bush while the rest of the team moves off along the ridge to be closer to their departure point when Lyn returns. It doesn’t take them long to reach a suitable place and set up to wait. They watch with great care, but they can’t spot any indications of Lyn moving about down in the field as it has grass and shrubs between two and four feet in height.

Lyn is quick to work his way through the forest and scrub on the hill to stop just back from the edge of the tree line. He takes his time while he watches the people in the posts on this side of the circle. The troops in the posts are all good and are vigilant in their searching, but there’s always one who’s more so than his partner and Lyn is watching to see which is which because it decides on which side of the post he’ll pass. He eventually selects the posts he wants to pass by. He’ll go by the outer ring about a quarter of the way to the next post and the inner ring about the same distance away, the first on their left and the second on their right. Dropping to the ground he starts to inch forward at a very slow crawl while hugging the earth. Without his field kit and most of his gear he has a much lower profile and he’s more flexible in moving.

Twenty minutes later Lyn passes a Claymore style spring loaded paint ball mine set in the grass. With an evil grin he turns it around to have it spray its paint at the post he’s about to go by. If they set it off later they’ll get hit. After another ten minutes he’s nearing the inner circle of posts. Finding some sensors in the grass he moves closer to the post, figuring they’ll have more in the open space than they’ll have by the post. He’s almost at the post when he hears a voice say, “I think the grass just moved at one o’clock, about fifteen feet out.” Lyn freezes with his head down. He hears some movement at the post as he waits.

After a moment another voice says, “Either it was the wind or you imagined it. Even standing on the berm I can’t see anything out there. If you feel sure about it go for a walk to have a closer look. But watch out for the traps and be ready for the Sergeant when you get back.”

Lyn holds still for ten minutes, then he carefully looks up at the post. The two guards are back to their normal scanning routine so he inches forward again while wondering what did disturbed the grass since the spot mentioned is quite a bit further back and more to the side than he is.

Seventy-five minutes after he started Lyn is nearing the hut, still on the ground and looking for sensors. He stops opposite the open door to give the interior of the hut a very close look. Inside it he can see the table with the target, but there’s a shape against the back wall in each corner. He figures four final guards are sitting one in each corner.

He moves to the side to work his way up to the side of the hut. He rises to his knees at the corner after looking to see if anyone is looking his way, but all of the guards are facing outward. He hoped to find a hole or crack he can use to stab the guard with, but the hut is too well made. He draws his pistol, attaches the sound suppressor, and moves to the door.

While taking an angled approach Lyn charges the door with his pistol in hand, diving low through the doorway he fires at the guard directly opposite his approach, aiming to hit him high enough on the chest to go above any body armour. He doesn’t wait to see how he did but changes target to the other rear corner guard while still in the air. Landing on his back Lyn shoots the far front corner guard while sliding, and shifts to the last guard just when they bring their rifle up, but Lyn fires first.

All four of the guards play the game according to the rules and they play dead as soon as they get hit at the base of the neck by the paint round. They all glare at Lyn while he collects the training grenades they have before he puts the mission objective into the long pocket on the outside of his pants leg.

Up on the hillside they watch when Lyn enters the hut, and wonder how he got there without them seeing him do it. It’s now late in the day with dusk settling in so they think he’ll have no issues getting out.

Lyn doesn’t want to crawl all the way back to the forest so he thinks of a new way out now he has sixteen grenades he didn’t have before that he doesn’t have to account for. When the dusk starts to settle in he knows his time is limited because the guards should be changing soon.

He crawls out to near where he came in, squats in the grass back from the inner circle, and he prepares the paint grenades for use. After pulling the pins he starts tossing them into the guard posts for the whole of the quadrant in front of him, starting at his right and moving to his left. Seven posts in each ring are his targets. Lyn has six in the air before the first one on his far right goes off, outer circle, then the inner circle one on its left, and he continues to take out the fourteen posts to leave twenty-eight very angry troops covered in paint. As he expected a quick response team is soon heading his way from wherever they have their hideout, and he drops two grenades just in front of them. Due to the failing light they don’t see the grenades nor do they make out Lyn because they’re all looking for an attack force heading inward.

Several of the response team fall when the grenades go off, but the rest continue to the attacked area. When the last man of this team passes his position Lyn stands to run in behind them. At the posts a few drop out to take up positions. The lead elements are at the post he passed on the way in when someone sets off the Claymore and several more of the team are taken out by the Claymore aimed at the post. The rest charge out into the grass to make contact with the enemy. Lyn goes out with them. However, he does move out to the side so he becomes their right flanker. When they drop to their knees about halfway to the trees he does the same, but he continues down to crawl away.

Up on the ridge the sound of the grenades going off has them all looking down. No fire is directed at them so they take no action, other than to watch what happens. For half an hour the defending force are busy moving around in the grass on their side before they send a patrol out to search the surrounding area.

About the same time as the patrol is being sent out someone thinks to check on the target. When they find it missing they aren’t happy. Also about that time is when Lyn steps out of the forest behind the rest of his team to ask for his pack while holding out their target objective. The two on guard on that side are embarrassed he got by them unseen.

All that’s left is to reach the extraction point. They’ve enough time left to do it at an easy pace, but figuring the defenders will now launch a hard pursuit they make it a very fast forced march. They were right in guessing the actions of the defenders, but the defenders don’t know from which side the attack came so they send patrols in all four directions because they thought the grenade attack was a diversion. The men in the hut aren’t asked or say a word because they’re now listed as dead.

The team is very tired when they reach the extraction point, Lyn is more tired than the rest. However, they get good scores because they got all of the objectives, no wounded, only used four rounds, and inflicted heavy casualties on the hostile force.

They get a full day’s rest before the last exercise.

The last exercise is a two day trip with full field kits through bush in the area and it includes a very long crawl through a swampy area in a thing they call ‘The Quigley.’ It also ends with a long forced march. This is the one that almost breaks them. For the team to pass this final test each member must also pass it. When they reach the swamp and have to crawl through it a couple of trainees have some real issues with the many snakes along the course. About halfway along the forced march most of the team are flagging and it looks like they won’t make it. Then Lyn starts to sing, “Bless ‘em all, bless ‘em all. The long, the short, and the tall. Bless all the Sergeant and WO ones,...”

The fast tempo of the marching song is soon transferred to their feet and they pick up the pace. They follow this with several other songs. When they near the last grade they’re singing ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ and are really flagging due to being very tired. The finish line is in sight and they’re about to drop. Lyn has one last trump card to play and he uses it. Calling on the last reserves of strength he has he very loudly sings out, “From the Halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli;...” With each word he sings the number of voices singing with him grows as the team members stand straighter and their step firms up. They’re running out of song before they reach the finish so Lyn leads them in the unofficial verses that cover the Iceland and Desert Storm campaigns plus a reprise of the last verse. They cross the finish line in good order before they all collapse onto the side of the road soon after crossing the line, they’re totally exhausted but within the time limit.

Bud walks over to look down at Lyn and the team. He’s never seen anyone who looked so exhausted and still awake as Lyn is. Lyn looks up and asks, “Bud, can you have the doctor come to look at my shoulder, it hurts like hell and it’s killing me.” The whole team is soon loaded into trucks and taken back to base, with Lyn going to the medical facility. The doctor checks Lyn’s shoulder and issues some pain killers because he’s overexerted the use of the muscle and inflamed the wound. Nancy meets him there.

Outcomes

The third Saturday after arriving at Quantico Lyn and Nancy are in an office with Bud and many of the people who witnessed the range tests, when the General says, “You did a hell of a lot better than any of us expected you to. We thought you’d fail one or both of the last two tests. In fact, we expected the whole team to not finish the last test in time. In a way it’s good you finished because it makes the next part a lot easier.” He waves Bud forward and he presents Lyn with two certificates. The General says, “It wasn’t exactly ‘The Crucible’ and you didn’t have the full training, but those certificates list you as completing the tests given to Marines. Lyn, you qualify as an officer due to your other training and these tests. Keep those certificates as, should you decide to enlist, it’ll cut out a lot of the training you’ll have to do.”

Lyn half smiles while saying, “Thank you, General. Now, please tell us why I was put through all this.”

“Chief Miller visited you to recruit you because we can use your expertise. But when he learned of the personal issue you now have in regards to full-time enlistment he started thinking about having you do some special duty work with us. Since then we’ve looked further into it, and I feel it’s not only a good idea but better than enlisting you because it gives you more freedom of action in the field. However, if you do go out on a field task and need help from troops it’ll help a lot if they know they can trust and depend on you. Having a civilian join in on the final exercises for an OCS class will definitely get talked about by the troops. Also, how well you did will also be talked about. Within a few months your name will be known by just about every Marine in the Corps and they’ll treat you like any other trained Marine. Until you finish your other studies we’ll try to work within your schedule. We hope to be able to employ you for more tasks after that. On top of that our colleagues over in the FBI have expressed an interest in getting you to help with some domestic law enforcement issues.” After that the talk goes on, in depth, about how Lyn can help them in interviewing people and gathering intelligence by listening to people who speak Farsi.

No promises are made by anyone, but all agree to discuss individual cases when they come up. The talks go on until lunch which they have with the General in the Officers’ Mess as his guests. After lunch it’s time to say goodbye to their teammates and to pack up to go home after Lyn signs the weapons back in. He’s told to keep the rest of the gear.

At almost four in the afternoon Lyn and Nancy leave Quantico on their way home. They’ll do about four hours driving today so they won’t have so long to drive tomorrow. They discuss the last two weeks while they drive, with frequent changes of driver so they can stay alert.

After Lyn and Nancy leave the office Bud expresses satisfaction with Lyn’s skills, ability, aptitude, and leadership but is concerned about how well he’ll fit in as a member of a team in a combat zone due to not having been through that part of the training. The rest of them agree with him.

Second Summer Semester

While Lyn is away his lawyer confirms Bud’s information on the court case with the Tampa judge. This change of status plus the changes to Lyn’s study program to fit the football in last semester has him doing a few changes to his long term study plans. He adjusts them to give him time to help with the football team again this year. A few other changes to get some minor subjects over with fast means there’s a significant alteration to the order of some of the course modules.

Once he has the new plan laid out he spots a few issues with some modules being available for one semester each year, so he makes further changes to ensure such issues don’t delay or derail his plan. The result is this coming Summer Semester gives him a very heavy course load.

Most of the extra course are ones he’s doing that Nancy isn’t, so it’s no problem for him beyond having next to no personal time due to the studies and tutoring. The good news is he’ll finish three of his minor degree qualifications during the semester, if he lives through it. One of the ones he’ll finish is a higher qualification to be a police officer. He’d a lower level one on his list for the knowledge and he’s happy to know he can now work in the field. He emails the new plan to Mrs Hills.

Realising Lyn is under a lot of pressure due to taking on 160% of a normal work load causes Doreen to go back to fortnightly counselling to be sure he’s handling the load well. It’s a lot of work, but he does it all and passes in the top 5% in all of his classes.

Second Fall Semester

A few days before the semester starts Lyn has an interview with Mrs Hills about his new plan. His original plan was for the equal of twenty and a half semester’s workload over seventeen semesters at the college. Most degrees take four years to do eight semesters of work for a major and a minor in their chosen degree course. Lyn’s plan was for him to do two majors and fourteen minors in that time. This is possible because many of the modules and courses count for multiple degrees. However, the latest changes have him doing the equivalent of just under twenty-one semesters of study because of the extras he did in the Summer Semester just past. The result is he’ll now end up with three majors and fourteen minors because the extra studies upgrades a minor to a major while it completes a minor that was incomplete in the original plan.