Briefing shockers

Posted on Thu Jun 18, 2015 @ 4:43am by Civilian Wayne Bradshaw III & Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin

1,444 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Things Past
Location: forward alpha base (Classified)
Timeline: 2256

Wayne had only just finished his PT run for the day when he got the message to report to the command hut for a mission briefing. He grabbed a bottle of water and a towel and headed toward the hut at a jog. After all it would not do to keep the Battalion CO waiting if there was something important going on.

Wayne entered the hut and stopped short not only was the battalion Co there but also the regimental XO. Wayne snapped to attention before speaking "Major Bradshaw reporting as ordered sir." said Wayne firmly

"At ease major and thank you for coming so quickly, please have a seat." said the regimental XO

Wayne took the offered seat and looked around the small briefing room. The first thing he noticed was a small nerdy looking kid who could not have been more then 20 years old and looked like a slight breeze would pick him up and carry him away. "Sirs if I may be so bold what is HE doing here mission briefings I thought were for involved parties and officers only Whatever he is, he certainly can not be a marine and therefore I would respectfully ask that he remove himself from this meeting so that we may begin." said Wayne calmly he had no idea what kind of storm was coming his way from that remark nor honestly did he care.

The Battalion CO gave Bradshaw a look of displeasure, and then turned to the boy. "You were warned."

The Boy shrugged. "I said interesting, Colonel. Not easy."

"Very well then." The CO turned to Bradshaw. "Major, this is William Kelly. He's a reporter with the FNN and he's going to be embedded in your unit for the foreseeable future."

Wayne who had just taken a drink of water spat it out in surprise. "Sir with all due respect what the hell are you playing at. A reporter in a ranger company I can not voice this strongly enough sir we do things that normal marines can not do. You want to embed a reporter fine have him pick any marine unit on this damned rock but sending him with my unit is just asking for someone to end up dead and I will be damned if it will be one of my men. Every time a newsy goes in the field they disregard orders from Co's. There has never yet been one who could carry his own weight during a mission and more often then not units have suffered higher mortality rates because they are worried about protecting the civy and not paying as close attention to the mission at hand." Said Wayne coolly He would not normally talk to a Lt. Col. in this men were being idiots

In his seat to one side, William Kelly looked at the floor with great interest, keenly aware he was suddenly in the middle of what was going to turn into a slanging match. But he didn't stop listening for a moment.

"Thank you for speaking so freely, Major." The Regimental XO wasn't smiling. "Do you have anything to add?"

"Sir let me address this, this person for a minute. Mister Kelly do you think you would be able to do a HALO jump from the upper atmosphere with a full pack freefall for say 4 miles and then have the presence of thought and the strenght to open your chute at say 300 feet off the deck. land without breaking anything and do your job with no communication outside the unit and no more supplies then what you can carry on your back?" Asked Wayne rather pointedly of the young man in the room.

Kelly looked up, not seeming particularly impressed or intimidated by Bradshaw. "I don't need to do a HALO jump, I just need to be strapped to someone who can. Tandem HALO is a centuries old technique.", He tapped his right fore finger against his thumb, counting off his first point. then he tapped his left fore finger. "My job *is* your unit. I don't need to talk to anyone until we make it back to base so I can file a report." he tapped his middle finger, "I can carry plenty. I might not look much to you, but I run marathon's for fun and in my senior year I walked the entirety of the Yosemite Grand Traverse on my own without a break, carrying everything I needed In less than a week. I realise 60 miles in 6 days is not marine standards, but I'm tougher than I look."

"There is one thing your not taking into account Mister Kelly. there is a reason reporters are NOT assigned advanced units. There is a very real chance that you might not come back from the assignment. Every ranger accepts this and we have made our peace with death can you honestly say the same thing. Are you willing to die just to get a story because in a firefight well phasers or bullets do not discriminate between civilian and marine they kill just the same." Said Wayne firmly if this person wanted to be part of his unit then he had damned well better understand the risks he was going to be taking.

"Funnily enough, Major, it never occurred to me for an instant that asking to be embedded into an active combat unit serving in the middle of an active theatre of war could be dangerous." William gave him a sweet smile, "I thought you'd all be taking me out to tea and bringing me breakfast in bed."

"Sir if you order me to take him I will however I feel I must go on record as stating that this is the dumbest idea I have ever incountered in my career to date. Also I would like my objections to this assignment forwarded up the chain of command." Said Wayne much more calmly then he was feeling right now he wanted to tear into these two men but they were his bosses and no matter how much he might want to he did not want an assult charge on his record nor did ne want to jepordize his career.

"Thank you Mr Kelly, if you would wait outside, there are few more things we need to discuss with the major." The Batallion CO stood, and showed the reporter out. When the door had shut, he returned to stand next to the Regimental XO

The Regimental XO looked very very calm. "Major Bradshaw. You do not under any circumstances run your mouth to superior officers. You especially do not run your mouth in front of guests of this command. You want to be a mouthy cunt, you join the enlisted men. You are an officer. You will behave with decorum.

"You will take Kelly into your unit and you will bring him back, or I will personally end your career, and not even your daddy will be able to save you. Whats more if his reports are anything other than fucking love letters about the marine corp, I will also end your career. You speak to any of your superior officers like that again, I will end your career.

"You want this passed up the chain of command Major. I will pass it, and believe me, every single person who sees this will want to know why in hell I'm giving you a fucking second chance. Lets get something straight. You are not the centre of my universe, Bradshaw. This is a war and I have a job to do. I don't need some privileged little girl having a tantrum when he gets told to do something he doesn't like. So you will follow your orders, and you will be a fucking superstar, and that kid will worship the fucking ground you walk on, or by the time I'm done with you you couldn't get a job at your own company.

"You are dismissed, Major."

Wayne stood and snapped to attention saluting both officers before he turned on his heel and walked out of the briefing room. Inside though he was seething mad. Not so much about the way the briefing went he knew he had a temper and sometimes it got the better of him. No he was mad because in his mind he was being given one of the biggest handicaps you could give a combat commander and honestly he was not sure how the rest of the would take this most recent situation.

Posted By

Wayne Bradshaw
CEO BII
DS9

William (Bill) Riley
Future head of Customer COmms at BII

Regimental XO and Battalion CO
NPCs by Notty

 

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