Chapter 48

Dear Will,

It wasn't my immediate commander that got "das boot" as Erica likes to say. Commander Fabio is actually very cool. I believe I said in the last letter that he had been one of the instructors for the class we took, although he traveled from city to city. The man understands tanks, but more importantly knows what Erica and I are capable of and what we don't do well. He's been a great commander for us and for the rest of our company.

And we are in a strange company. Fabio is twenty-nine I think and he's the youngest member other than Erica and me. All of the other men were married and had kids back on Earth. Heck, four of the men in the unit have daughters older than Erica and me. They are steady men who want more than anything to protect their families and come home safely to them. As Fabio cheerfully said during our first ever company barbeque and orgy, the motto for our company could be "come home driving your tank, or buried in it."

The problem was the battalion commander. Colonel Lionel apparently had been some kind of mechanized infantry commander back on Earth and he still thinks of battle lines and standing defenses. That won't work against the Sa'arm as they are very accurate shooting at something that doesn't move. I understand they sent him off to a breeding and training colony. For now the man who had been the commander of second company is acting battalion commander. He's been fair so far, but I get a feeling he's not really comfortable commanding so many tanks at once. He's quite young and lacks experience.

As for your question about your work on tank improvements. I see some of them and hear a bit. Most are still being worked on. The inertial damper sounds like a great idea, and it does help a tank ride smoother, but Fabio noticed that tanks using it had a much lower accuracy when firing on the move. They'd tried out some simulations here on Wadi and then I guess performed testing back on Earth in the classes. The problem is that the better gunners actually get a feel on how much they are moving from the motion of the tank, and use this when aiming to know how to adjust their sights. With the dampers you don't get that feeling, and instead have to rely on the computer, which has proven to have a few flaws. Erica and I never used it, so we hadn't noticed. Instead we have gone with some improvements to the suspension; we still get bounced around, but not quite as much as before.

I do like your idea of a rail gun if it makes the shells a bit lighter. Erica and I both end up tired after an extended fight partly due to the effort of lifting and loading the ammo. However, I'm not sure purely kinetic rounds are best. Some of our best shots have involved using some new "greek fire" incendiary rounds that were recently developed. These spread heat and flames over the target and have proven to be excellent at stopping a Sa'arm advance. They don't seem to care for walking across burning ground. I'm not sure they are hurt by flames, but they definitely don't care for it, and the ones that get coated tend to fall down and not get up, so intense flame does hurt them.

Sadly, I write with some experience regarding this. Third company hasn't lost a man or a tank so far, thanks to Fabio's leadership, but the other two companies haven't fared as well. First company has lost five tanks and second is down three at the moment. We did manage to save some of the crews, but its disheartening that our comrades have done so poorly.

At least they aren't going to promote Fabio just yet. He doesn't want the promotion either. The man is solid and dependable, but he doesn't really have the skill to lead large units. In fact what he'd done with the company has some commanders suggesting that the standard company size should be nine tanks rather than ten. Right now first and second company are organized as five tank pairs, with each pair supposed to work together. Fabio has third company organized as three tank trios. Erica and I aren't part of the organized group and are used as a free lance and reserve tank. It allows us to maneuver into position to cause the most casualties while getting around the fact that we don't have a dedicated commander or communications expert.

But I'm sure you don't want to read about all our adventures in the field. After all, most of our patrols are routine now. We go out, shoot off a couple dozen rounds of ammo at various groups of marauding Sa'arm and then race away at full speed while the rest of the unit sets up an ambush. Or we see if we can sneak in close to the Sa'arm ship while the rest of the group plays decoy. I can say its working, current estimates based on satellite recon says that the Sa'arm forces are around thirty thousand. The experts think the ship that landed had between fifty and seventy thousand adult Sa'arm on board. Our biggest worry is if they have a queen Sa'arm laying more eggs.