Chapter 14: RHIP

Chapter 14: RHIP

A frown on her face, el-Azizi said, “I’ve never been in this building. I knew it was behind your quarters, of course.”

“This is the enlisted on shift break facilities, and off shift relief facilities.”

“What does that mean?”

Anderson opened the door. The building itself was about twenty feet wide and thirty feet long, with lockers at the entrance that held weapons under lock and key. A room to the right had a small kitchen type facility, with a couple of microwave ovens and two large refrigerators in it, as well as a couple of tables and chairs. Two of the guards that el-Azizi knew were on shift were sitting in there, holding personal tablets and appeared to be watching something on them.

“Just because there’s no cell phone towers out here doesn’t mean we don’t have internet. When they’re on break, the men can come in here and watch a movie or whatever, or just relax. That way, they’re not stuck in the towers the whole shift, and can switch out as needed. This is also their on shift bathroom, which is why you never see them pissing in the ladies room, as it were. The one in the command center is for our convenience, since I spend a lot of time in the building, and there’s always someone watching the cameras. As for off shift relief facilities ... that’s pretty much what you think it means. The guests aren’t allowed in their quarters, so if one of the men makes an arrangement with a guest, this is where it happens. There was a specific reason why we put the laundry on this side of the camp.”

She thought about it for a moment. “As a dryer cycle always takes longer than a wash cycle, once the first load is out of the washer and into the dryer, even starting another load requires a significant wait time. But ... surely you have commercial machines, and more than one?”

“Of course. You’re still talking about, on average, twelve individual loads of laundry from my men every single day, with each man’s clothing and bedding being done every fourth day, plus everyone else’s scrubs and bedding. Plus whatever we generate. Our quarters is the only one within the main wire. Whoever is on laundry detail takes care of picking mine up. My men bring theirs over, just like they had to do when they were on active duty. Six washers, six dryers, it still takes a long time to get things done.”

As they were talking, the door to the building opened, with Private Johnson walking in, with a woman behind him. Johnson stopped at the lockers, opened an empty one, put his weapons and weapons belt inside, then closed it and locked it.

“Good morning, Sir, Miss el-Azizi,” he said as he started down the hall. The woman stopped when she saw Anderson and el-Azizi.

“Good morning, Miss Alford,” Anderson said. “I was simply giving a tour of our staff facilities. Please, don’t mind us – unless you’re not here of your own free will.” His tone changed towards the end.

“Oh, no, Sir! I mean, yes, Sir! Private Johnson isn’t forcing me, or anything. I’m just ... I wasn’t expecting to see you, is all.”

“It’s okay, Isabelle,” Anderson said. “It’s perfectly fine, even, which is why there’s no issues from me, so long as it’s consensual. My men all know better, because military justice isn’t like civilian justice. Rapists don’t get off lightly, do they, Johnson?”

“No, Sir! Mostly they learn how to dance at the end of the rope around their neck until they’re dead.”

“Oh,” the tall blonde said. She then followed Johnson down the hall, where a series of doors had lights over them, similar to a hospital call light. Johnson opened a door without a light on over it, reached inside and did something, causing the light over the door to come on, then stepped inside. Alford looked back down the hall, to see Anderson and el-Azizi leaving the building. She then followed Johnson into the room, shutting the door behind her.

“In case you’re wondering – which I know you are – those rooms have queen sized beds for snuggling before or after, as well as small refrigerators stocked with water. They don’t have showers, but there are wash cloths available for the women.”

“How did you know I was wondering that?” she asked.

“Because those beds aren’t for sleeping other than naps afterwards. The men have perfectly good beds in their quarters for actually getting shut-eye. Oh, and they’re also on a rotating schedule, too, so now that things are relatively close to normal, they get days off as well. Something I don’t get, but...” He smiled. “I don’t need one. Not really, and definitely not now that you’re in my life.”

He pulled his baton then, holding it between them. “Sorry, no real romantic gestures like grabbing the commanding officer and hugging him or giving him a kiss in public allowed, which I could tell you were about to do.”

“Damn these rules!” she said.

“Tell me about it. But we have to have discipline in public, not just for us, but with the men and the women they comfort, as well.” He chuckled then. “There’s a war on, you know.”

“So I’ve been told,” she replied. “What’s this gate?”

He walked up to it, then looked up to the camera watching him. “Go ahead, I’m giving Miss el-Azizi a tour of all the facilities.” When he finished speaking, there was the sound of an electronic lock disengaging. Anderson opened the gate and motioned for her to join him. They were in a fenced in area about fifteen feet square, with another gate at the far side of where they’d entered. Once the gate behind them was closed and locked, there was a buzz as the next gate unlocked.

“Ow!” el-Azizi said as she stepped onto hot concrete with bare feet.

“Oops! I’m sorry, that’s on me. Here,” he said, holding his hand to help her jump over the sidewalk to the grass beside it. “I forgot you’re not wearing shoes.”

She frowned. “So did I, actually. It’s okay. This is going to sound odd, but ... I just realized, there’s no cement walkways inside.”

A shout came from above and behind them. “Captain!” They turned, looking up. The guard tossed first one, then the other, of his boots down to them. “Just drop them off when you’re on your way back through.”

“Thank you, Carr!” Anderson yelled back. “Here you go. They probably won’t fit well, but they’ll protect the soles of your feet.” He helped her slip on and then lace up the boots, wrapping the laces around the upper instead of through the eyelets so they’d stay on.

They were too large for her, a little clumsy, but allowing her to get back onto the walkway. Once she was, she commented, “You know, this is the first time I’ve thought about this, but we don’t have any concrete in the camp.”

“That’s on purpose, actually. In all the walking we’ve done, how many times have you stepped on a rock?”

She turned to look at him. “Now that I think about it, none. I’ve only walked on sand, dirt – well, what passes for dirt out here, anyway – and scrub grasses.” While they’d been talking, they’d followed the path as it wound around what had appeared to be a small hill to el-Azizi. “What the...?”

“One thing the military knows how to do is make berms like this. Normally, they’re used for backstops at rifle ranges. Out here, it just looks like a hill that naturally rises behind the camp. Having the motor pool area fenced off behind the chow hall and Barracks One means when you would look this way, you wouldn’t think about there being a perfectly straight hill this side of the wire. Since no one gets high enough to look over the berm, that allows this to easily be concealed from view.”

‘This’ was two rows of tents and trailers.

“We’re not set up like a FOB – sorry, a forward operating base – where we would just use tents. Unless something drastic happens, this is the men’s home away from home for however long we’re needed. Four platoons, so four tents for the men for their bunks and gear, one trailer per platoon for NCO bunks and other facilities per platoon. Staff trailer, commissary trailer, and rec hall. Let’s see, third herd is on duty, so we won’t be bothering them.”

He walked over to the entrance to the third platoon tent and opened it for her. She shivered a little walking in, as the tent was air conditioned inside.

“Tents are twenty by forty. They’re set up for eight, but we only have seven in them for now. That effectively gives each man an eight by ten room to call his own, so they have dividers like you see for privacy, their bunks and lockers, plus whatever else they want. This isn’t what any of us had in civilian life, obviously, but we all volunteered to help during the war, so this is what we get.”

They stepped back outside, where el-Azizi was surprised to see two of the soldiers walk by, both of them bringing their hands to their brow. Anderson returned their salute.

“They don’t do that in the camp.”

“Nope. That side of the berm is combat, this side isn’t. You don’t salute in combat, because that points out the people to kill to snipers sitting a mile away. Now, here’s the trailer for third platoon. Platoon office, with the NCO desks, their quarters on that end, and this end set up as a locker room for triple ‘S’ – shit, shower, and shave. One thing about being in the ground forces. You don’t worry too much about modesty.”

“I noticed you didn’t seem to care one way or the other whether I saw you naked or not.”

“It’s not a lack of caring, it’s indifference to social taboos. The locker room atmosphere where you all shower together kind of thing.”

“Ah. I had some exposure to that in college, but then afterwards, I ... didn’t.”

“All good. Staff trailer, so larger quarters for my staff. RHIP, after all.”

She chuckled. “Rank has its privileges. Missus Clinton was so angry that she didn’t have the same privileges as Secretary of State that she’d had as First Lady. She had more actual power and authority, as she had an actual governmental title, but the First Lady had more influence and privileges.”

“Yeah, well, she was a complete fuck-up as far as I’m concerned. You don’t set your own men up, then abandon them.”

Dropping her head, el-Azizi said, “That was when I left the State Department. I had so believed in what we – what she – was doing for the country. I still believed in her, but I couldn’t work for her any longer.”

“Sounds like you were getting a conscience, even then.”

“Perhaps.” She smiled at him then. “It is better that I didn’t fully develop it until now.”

“Um, okay, not going to argue that. Commissary trailer, where the men can get stuff for their own care, or extra goodies. Candy bars, a cold beer on their day off, microwave popcorn, whatever. It’s sort of a military convenience store, but not open all the time. And lastly, the rec hall. Pool table, big screen TV with video game system, some hobby stuff that the men brought from home, and that’s about it for now. Thing is, we’re not a bunch of young soldiers on their first deployments, so things are a bit different for us.”

They walked back towards the camp. “I don’t think anyone suspects this is here. While they may have given some thought as to where do the guards sleep, I don’t think that really crosses their minds,” she said.