Chapter 56

Flashback – Ben and George (the Butterbar) – Spotter training and other things.

With Jack safely away on the chopper and headed for the hospital, I handed the Butterbar Jack's spotting gear and asked, "You know Sir, I don't even know your name."

He laughed and said, "You can call me George instead of Butterbar, yeah I overheard you two talking and using that term."

The fact that he wasn't sensitive about being called a Butterbar further reinforced my positive feelings toward him." I suggested, "Well George, let's head up to the roof before the Captain gives us more shit."

We hiked up to the roof where the Captain came over and complained, "Hells Bells it's about time you two got up here. We've seen a whole bunch of towelheads and it's frustrating as hell because they're staying just out of range of our M4s."

I looked at George then back to the Captain and I replied, "Well Sir! Just point us in their direction and I will take care of that problem."

He waved his hand with an all-encompassing sweeping motion and said, "Hell, choose your direction because we're fucking surrounded."

I looked at George and asked for guidance, "Pick a direction Sir!"

He smiled and suggested, "How about the points of the compass?"

I replied, "North it is."

We moved to the side of the building which faced mostly North and George asked, "Sgt. Blaine..."

I interrupted, " ... George, please call me Ben."

George asked, "How about if I call you Banzai like Sgt. Reynolds does?"

I smiled and answered, "That works for me, now you were asking..."

George continued, "Banzai, what am I supposed to do?"

I smiled at him and said, "George to be truthful, I don't really need you to do anything. But in the Marines a sniper always has a spotter."

George complained a little, "Banzai, I don't want to sit on my ass doing nothing so why don't you help me out here?"

I agreed, "Okay, but I hope you understand I'm not going to let you slow me down."

I showed George how to set up the spotting scope, was instructing him on the reticle when the Captain came over and once again complained, "Sgt. Blaine, when the fuck are you going to fire that rifle of yours?"

I looked at him and answered, "Immediately Sir! Perhaps you would like to observe through the spotting scope."

He muscled George out of the way without asking, began to look through the spotting scope and asked, "Which one of the towelheads are you trying to waste?"

I pulled up my rifle, easily spotted one of the insurgents and said, "One O'clock the insurgent with the RPG."

It took the fucking Captain forever to find him, he finally said, "He's damn far away, I hope you can hit him."

Damn fucking Captain! I decided to show off and called my shot, "Keep an eye on his head."

I did my breath control, slowly tickled the trigger, my rifle barked and the insurgents head exploded.

The Captain complained, "Sgt. Blaine I thought you were supposed to do chest shots?"

I had my fill of this fucking Captain - shit he was worse than Captain M and if he kept it up he might get his ass fragged.

I answered, "Sir! I wasn't sure your untrained eyes would see a chest shot and I wanted to make sure I got credit for the kill."

He laughed, "That's a lame fucking excuse, now make sure the rest of your shots are chest shots."

I wanted to give the Captain the one finger salute but George (who had taken control of the spotting scope) looked up and interrupted, "Sgt. Blaine, you might want to get moving on shooting the other insurgents before they figure out what happened."

I looked through my scope and noticed the remainder of the insurgents were looking around, trying to figure out who in the hell shot the RPG idiot and said, "Thank you Sir! You're correct."

I began to take out the remaining towelheads on the 'North' side of the building until they finally wised up and began to run away. I smoked a couple of them as they retreated while George remarked, "Those shots at the running insurgents were incredible."

I laughed and said, "When you run from a sniper, you only die tired. Which side of the building next?"

We moved to the opposite side and started again...

Flashback – Jack – medivac to the hospital

I continued to complain, "Hells Bells my ass is on fire, are you sure you can't give me something?"

The flight nurse said, "The only thing I could do is to put some lidocaine in your wound..."

I interrupted, " ... Hell yeah please do that."

She said, "You need to know that at first it will make the pain worse."

I frantically said, "I don't give a fuck."

She said, "Okay, just remember, you asked for this."

I felt her messing around on my ass, then Oh My Fucking God! And things began to go dark...

Flashback – Masha – Not alone tonight

I was so very happy that Louise and Linda were spending the night with me. There was only one issue: I was concerned that some of the hooligan teenagers might try to return and injure us. As Louise and I finished the bottle of wine, I suggested, "Louise, please help me move the couch in front of the door."

Louise gave me a funny look and asked, "Why Masha?"

I answered, "Even though the police assured me they captured the other hooligan girls, I do not trust them to keep them in jail and we also do not know if they contacted other of their hooligan friends. The door is not secure, so we will make it more difficult if someone tries to enter our house."

Louise and I moved the couch in front of the door then I said, "Louise, I am going in one of the extra bedrooms and I will come back with several guns, will this cause you any discomfort?"

Louise laughed, "Hell no my badass aunt (Louise placed a sing-song emphasis on those two words)! I just wish I knew how to shoot so I could help you if you needed it."

I replied, "In the future we can teach you how to shoot so do not worry."

I opened Jack's safe, removed another shotgun, this one was a Mossberg 500 Mariner, and two 1911 style pistols. I verified they were loaded with a round chambered, walked back into the living room with the weapons and suggested, "Louise, I am ready to go to sleep, it has been a very hard day for me."