Mission 6

The ususal disclaimers apply but this one will be a little strange. I know about it, and it was strange to me as well. I have talked to several Vets and none of them had heard of this. There were eight of us that were chosen for this duty. I don't know if you could consider it an honor or a very distasteful duty. I do know that none of the others liked it any more than I did. Thankfully it was only for thirty days. This is in first person and UN EDITED. All mistakes are mine, and I refuse to acknowledge them as the writer of record.

I was sound asleep after coming off a hard mission and for a change I wasn't dreaming about it, but thinking of home which was even weirder. I was dreaming of hunting for rabbits in the snowy countryside with my dad and my grandfather. We always had rabbit hunts on Thanksgiving morning, and those of us old enough to go loved it. All the women were cooking, so we all took the dogs out for a little man fun if you want to call a 10 year old a man. Grandma would always beat the iron bell about two hours before the feast, so if we had gotten any rabbits we always had time to clean them before going in to eat. I could still to this day taste the warm cinnamon cider she always gave us when we came back out of the cold.

I was rudely awakened by someone shaking my shoulder. I came up pushing my pistol under their chin as they leaned over me. It was an MP from HQ I found out when I finally got awake enough to realize where I was at. He was frozen and as white as a sheet leaning over my bunk.

"It's just me Sarge! Sorry to wake you but the General wants you in his office ASAP. He said to tell you to wear Dress Greens."

I grinned at him saying ok, and he almost ran from my hooch he was in such a hurry to leave. I chuckled at his haste to leave and looked at my watch. Shit! I had only been asleep for three hours and was resenting being woken from a good dream for a change. I got up and grabbed a quick shower and shave putting on my last clean set of camos. Dress Greens! I hadn't seen mine since they had lost my duffel bag coming back in country for my second tour. I just went to supply and drew new camos and reported in. As I walked to the chow hall to get coffee on my way to HQ, I wondered what I had done this time to warrant waking me up and reporting to the General of all people. Damn I thought I hope I hadn't got another article 15 I didn't know about I was thinking. I had the cook scrounge me up a cup I could carry out, and headed for HQ to see what the hell was going on this time. When I reported to the clerk on duty, he looked down his nose at me, and I almost pulled him over the desk. He didn't say anything just pointed to the General's waiting room.

When I went in I was surprised to see seven Green Berets in full uniform sitting around. Now I did feel out of place. Looking at them I didn't recognize a single one of them. I knew they were all in country, because they all had that look only someone who had experience in the bush would recognize. None of them were chatting which was even more upsetting to me, because that meant that somehow we were all in deep shit for whatever reason. I didn't have long to dwell on it as we were all called into the General's office by a small woman wearing a Red Cross Volunteers uniform. We all filed in and I waited till I was the last one in trying not to be noticed being out of uniform. Good luck with that, as the General immediately started in on my ass about it, pissing me off.

"Why the hell are you out of uniform Sarge? I thought I told everyone to report in Dress Greens?"

"Well Sir that would be hard to do because I don't have such a critter. Besides, I just came in from the bush as you well know, and was rudely awoken by one of your personal storm troopers. I really didn't appreciate it since we were out so long. I have no idea what this is about, but I don't want any part of it if I have to wear one of those monkey suits again."

"Sarge if you weren't so well respected, I would take you out back and teach you a little respect."

By this time the other men were looking at me like I had lost my mind. I couldn't let it go so I popped off with another of my famous remarks.

"You and what army? You been behind a desk too long Sir, and need to get out in the field awhile."

He gave me THAT look, leaned forward and said; "Would thirty days in the brig help you to address your Commanding Officer with a little respect?"

"Only if I could spend it sleeping Sir!"

The other men were looking at each other like they were trying to figure out what part of the jungle I had come from. The General glared at me which I returned and he busted out laughing. When he finally quit he looked at me with affection in his eyes before he finally spoke again.

"Sarge you irreverent son of a bitch. Will you ever change your attitude and fit in around here?"

"Sir, I resemble your remark, but remember I don't belong here. I am an outlaw and probably always will be. I do my job and stay away from all the desk jockeys. That's why they all hate to see my face when I do have to show up here. No Sir, I will never change but you can fire me and let me go home."

"Oh you're going home all right. You and these seven other men have been volunteered by me for a special duty the Pentagon wants to try out. All of you are some of my best men, and I hate to pull any of you out of the field but I don't have a choice as the President asked for all eight of you. He reviewed all your personnel files, and sent the list of names to me. I know none of you will like this duty but you will do it to the best of your ability. All of you will be sent to supply where you will draw new Dress Greens, and have them tailored to you so they fit perfect. You will all wear full decorations when in Dress Uniforms, and if you don't have them they will be immediately gotten for you. You will be issued new dress shoes as well as new Berets. Any questions?"

I looked at him like he was nuts and looked around at the rest of the men who I could see had a lot of questions, and none of them had the guts to ask a General. Well, I wasn't going into anything blind so I opened my big mouth, and almost shit myself when I got the explanation to why, and what we would be doing. By the groans around me I knew the rest felt the same way I did about it.