Chapter 7

The month dragged by so slowly that Oscar thought he was going to go crazy. Two buildings had been erected in the middle of nowhere. One building contained the office and Oscar’s sleeping quarters. The other building contained the communications gear. The troops were left sleeping in tents when they were fortunate enough be in camp. Oscar looked over the site, quite pleased with the progress.

The men from the regular army he had been training were on their first real mission. They were to clear the road from the main base to the training camp. He wanted to make sure that the road was clear for the special passenger that would be on it. Georgia was coming today. He could hardly wait to see her and hold her in his arms.

The truck finally pulled up in front of the command center. He watched as six Special Forces troops exited the rear with a grace and confidence that they were better than anyone else around. He waited for Georgia, but she didn’t come out of the truck. His concern grew that she hadn’t come this time and that his efforts had been a waste.

When he left the command center, the passenger door of the truck opened and she stepped out. She looked around for a second before spotting him. Excited, she ran to him and threw herself into his arms. Hugging her tightly, he lifted her in the air. They finally broke apart and looked at each other. Oscar leaned over and whispered, “I have to act like a big shot now.”

She giggled and replied, “They’ve been talking about you all the way here. They are ready to show you how a real soldier fights.”

He nodded and turned to see the six men standing at ease watching him with wry expressions. There was no doubt that they were looking for a chance to show him what they could do. He pointed to three of the men as he said, “You three, come over here.”

The three men grinned at each other and took their time getting over to him. The swagger of their walk proclaimed their disdain for the short man. The three finally arrived and posed as though they expected to get challenged. Georgia smiled as she tried to figure out what Oscar was going to do. She had seen that same look on his face when they were playing paint ball and he went up against four people.

Oscar smiled at them, posturing like he was going to give them some sort of speech, and then dove between their legs. He tucked into a ball and launched himself at the three that were standing in the back. They were taken completely by surprise, expecting him to make an example out of the front three. Two of them went down immediately from punches to the solar plexus and the third followed shortly after that from a foot in the chin. The first three turned around in time for Oscar to hit two of them in the solar plexus. The third stood there in shock as it was almost too much for him to fathom. He followed a half second later with a punch to his solar plexus. It was over. Five of them lay flat on their backs trying to catch their breaths. The sixth was out cold.

He returned to Georgia and said, “We’ll have about ten minutes alone. Come into the office and we can talk.”

Georgia raised an eyebrow as she looked at the six guys on the ground before asking, “What about them?”

“Hold on,” he replied. He knelt down next to one of the gasping men and said, “When all six of you are on your feet, come into the office.”

The pair of them went into the office to be alone for a few minutes. Georgia said, “That was pretty nasty.”

“That’s the whole point. They expect to play by the rules. My job is to teach them that the enemy doesn’t respect rules. However, we don’t tell them that. They have to figure it out for themselves. The day they understand that fact, they’ll know how to fight the enemy.”

Georgia laughed and replied, “So how are you going to stay alive until then?”

“Oh, they’ll get over it eventually,” replied Oscar. He added, “Until they get in here, come sit on my lap. We’ve got some time to catch up on.”

She seated herself on his lap with a giggle and said, “I’ve been dreaming about this for a whole month.”

He kissed her neck and held her close. He whispered in her ear, “I love you so much. This month seemed like forever.”

She looked at him and said, “I love you too. I think my poor sister went crazy this past month.”

He laughed and said, “She told me that she expected you to drive her crazy.”

She kissed him and put her arm around his neck. The door to the office opened and a dirt covered Sergeant stepped into the room. Oscar looked up and asked, “So, how did it go?”

“Found two groups just about where you said we would. They’re dead now.”

Oscar nodded and said, “Good. Any casualties or wounded?”

The Sergeant wryly smiled, “Only on their side. I think Brett is finally realizing what you’ve been teaching us.”

“Good.”

The Sergeant asked, “What about those six out there?”

Oscar smiled and answered, “My girl and I get to play with them for the next month. They will get to hunt you guys next month. This month, you get to play terrorists for the next crew that’s coming here to train.”

The Sergeant laughed aloud as he said, “That’s good. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Get your men settled. They have the rest of the day off.”

“Okay.”

The Sergeant looked at Georgia and said, “I take it this is the amazing George we’ve heard so much about.”

Georgia smiled and answered, “The amazing George?”

“Hey, if I said sexy George, they would have thought I was funny.”

The Sergeant laughed and said, “We were all convinced of that anyway. Nobody gets that misty eyed over amazing.”

Georgia kissed his cheek and said, “You really did miss me.”

“Yeah.”

The Sergeant took his leave to attend to his men. He had hardly left before the six Special Forces men entered the room. They weren’t quite so cocky now. He looked over at them and asked, “You have something to say?”

They looked at each other and then shook their heads no. Oscar said, “Good. On the wall behind you are your new weapons. Set all of your weapons over in that corner for now. You’ll get them back soon enough.”

The men turned around and looked at the wall. There were racks of guns of various models. Some looked like standard issue while others looked like Soviet weapons. The men looked at them and then back at Oscar in confusion. One of them said, “They are the same as ours. Why should we put our guns over there?”

Oscar put a pistol in Georgia’s hand and whispered in her ear, “Your turn. Shoot them all with the paint gun.”

Georgia lifted the pistol and fired off six shots very quickly. Six splashes of paint appeared on their chests. None of them had a chance to get to their weapons before she was done. With a little prompting from Oscar, she said, “Now boys. You should learn very quickly not to question him. He always has a reason for what he says.”

Oscar explained, “They all shoot paint balls. For now, I want you to get the equivalents for the weapons you already carry. Your training begins tomorrow.”

The men immediately piled their weapons in the corner that he had told them to put their weapons. Oscar said, “Your knives also.”

The men added their knives to the pile. They went to the wall and picked up their new weapons. They had the same feel as their real weapons except the stocks were plastic and camouflaged. The men examined them and looked up at Oscar. One of them said, “Not bad. These shoot paint?”

Oscar answered, “Yes, they do. Tomorrow morning your training begins. For the next month, you are going to live out in the desert for three days at a time. This very beautiful lady and I will hunt you. When you are shot, you will return back here. Then we begin the next hunt. While you are here, each of you will think about what you did wrong and what you did right. You are not to talk amongst yourselves.”

The men looked at each other. The spokesman asked, “We aren’t supposed to talk to each other about what we did?”

“That’s right. You have to learn some lessons for yourselves.” Oscar looked at each man and then said, “The next month you will spend your time hunting terrorists. The month after that, you will get to be the terrorists.”

“Then what?”

“Well, if you successfully complete all three phases you will graduate. Otherwise, you will repeat the course.”

“How do we pass?”

“You win three engagements in a row in each phase. In the first phase, you have to shoot whoever is hunting you or survive all three days without getting shot. Tomorrow morning at sunrise the hunt begins. You need to survive for three days while I hunt you.”

All of them were convinced that they could last three days in a desert hunt and didn’t understand the whole purpose of the exercise. Oscar filled them in on the details about their sleeping arrangements. They were each to have an individual tent. He suggested that they visit the supply tent and told them that they could sign out anything they needed. Before they left, he told them that if they needed help with something to come by his office.

The men left the office more confused than when they had entered. Oscar watched them leave and laughed once the door closed behind them. Georgia asked, “What’s so funny?”

Oscar replied, “They think it is going to be easy. Are they ever going to be surprised when they don’t last twenty minutes tomorrow.”

Oscar and Georgia went into his living quarters. He had a nice late lunch prepared for her. They ate and discussed her training responsibilities. Throughout the discussion, the room vibrated from the sexually charged atmosphere. Neither one was willing to take the first move. Oscar didn’t want her to think that he was only interested in her sexually while she didn’t want him to think she wasn’t a lady. After the lunch was over, Oscar showed her around the command post. It was set up in two sections, the main room which was basically public and a bedroom. There was a queen-size bed in the room. She looked at it and asked, “Queen-size bed? I didn’t know that was standard field issue.”

Oscar blushed as he answered, “Well, I brought it here hoping that I wouldn’t have to sleep alone.”

She laughed as she teased, “You had better sleep alone when I’m not here.”

“How about when you are here?”

“You better not sleep alone!”

Oscar smiled at her and said, “I like the way you think. I think it’s time for us to see if the bed is strong enough to hold two.”

The next morning, the six men gathered outside of their tent and looked around. The sun had been up for thirty minutes and they were wondering what they were supposed to do. Their discussion was cut short by six shots that splashed their chests with red paint. One of the men swore, “God damn it! We were waiting for orders.”

Oscar stepped away from the wall against which he had been hiding. They had not seen him there. He stood up and said, “You were told that you were to go into the desert and live for three days while I hunted you. It was to start this morning. Morning started a half an hour ago.”

The man shouted, “What about provisions?”

Oscar nodded in agreement. He said, “Yes, you got off to a very bad start. You didn’t even get provisions. Do any of you have maps for the area?”

The man looked around at his fellows and shook his head. He replied, “We are supposed to be trained.”

Georgia stepped out from one of the tents and pushed her way through them. The man that occupied that tent stared at her wondering when and how she had gotten in there. They didn’t know it, but she had been hiding in there since two hours before sunrise. She said, “You are getting trained.”

She went to Oscar and winked at him. Oscar said, “You guys have all of today and three more days to think about it. Remember, no talking to each other about what you’ve learned today. I’ll be hunting you three sunrises from now.”

One of the men, a Captain, stepped forward and said, “Excuse me, but I didn’t learn shit today. You are supposed to tell us what we are supposed to learn and we learn it. That’s called training.”

Oscar turned to the man. He stepped right up to his face as his eyes narrowed and lips pulled tight. In a very cold voice, he addressed the man. “You’re a fool. You’re here to learn how to fight terrorists. What I did this morning was exactly the kind of thing that terrorists do. Now go to your tent and think about it mister or you’ll be here a year from now until you get it right. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” snapped the man in reply. He was tempted to include a salute, but refrained himself at the last moment. He went to his tent and sat down on his cot. He was angrier than anything else, but realized that Oscar had stated the truth. That was exactly the kind of thing that terrorists did.

A couple of the other men went to their tents to think about the morning’s events. They were all trained specialists, used to working as an integrated team to overcome the enemy. When they weren’t working as a team together, they were building teams of local men. They were used to being given a mission objective and then getting put into the proper location to go after it. This guy had already beaten them in a fight. He had shot them all thirty minutes after they had left their tents. Hell, even the woman had shot them all yesterday before they had a chance to react.

One of the men went to the supply tent to see if he could get a map of the area. He looked down at his uniform and realized that he was going to need another one. He was disgusted with himself. He had been the last one out of the fight yesterday and he had stood there like a fool during the entire thing. He realized that he had underestimated the man.

There was one last man standing there. He looked over at Oscar and asked, “We are a team. How can we act as a team without discussing what we learned?”

Oscar looked at him for a moment and answered, “The answer is in your question.”

The man stood there staring at the couple as they walked back to the command tent. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of the answer. He watched the pair as they entered the command tent. He followed them to the door and knocked on it. He stood there a minute until he heard a rather disappointed, “Come in.”

He entered the room and faced Oscar. He said, “I would like some information sir.”

“Ask away.”

He looked at Oscar and asked, “What are the rules of engagement?”

“That’s a very good question, Major,” replied Oscar. He turned and looked at the man for a minute and then asked, “What do you think they are?”

“Shoot first and ask questions later?” The Major answered not meaning it to be taken seriously.

Oscar nodded as he replied. “Sounds good to me.”

The Major looked at Oscar. He was disgusted by the man’s answer. He asked, “Are you training us to be killers?”