A new medic

Chapter 9

Camp Mackall, N.C. - 1943

"Petty. Map. C'mon," Sobel hissed. Jess heard Petty mutter 'ah, Christ,' under his breath. She sent him a reassuring glance before turning back to stare out at the seemingly empty forest. She silently cursed Sobel for his incapability to lead the Company. He may be able to bully them into being physically the fittest but when it came to navigation and field exercises, Easy Company had one of the worst records imaginable. It was all down to Sobel, as soon as he was put into a scenario of war he completely fell apart. As a result his anger was constant and even worse than it had been at Toccoa. It was only due to the leadership, calmness and intelligence of Dick Winters that Easy hadn't failed every time and the men hadn't tried to revolt. However, the relationship between Sobel and Winters had officially gone past any point of reconciliation as a result.

"We're in the wrong position." Jess glanced over to see Dick slide down into the trench and engage the panicking Sobel in a conversation. As Dick tried to convince the stubborn CO that they should stay where they were, Jess caught the eye of Guarnere. The two had become firm friends and Jess was now convinced she could read Guarnere as well as she could read Nixon. He smirked at her, gestured his head towards Sobel and rolled his eyes in frustration. Jess grinned back and nodded her head in agreement.

"Lieutenant, deploy your troops." Sobel brushed past Dick who stood frozen for a moment and then reissued the order.

"Second Platoon, move out." He hissed towards the men. Everyone looked at each other with confusion and Jess felt a rush of sympathy towards Dick. Despite everything he always told Sobel, their CO just brushed his advice aside and ordered him to carry out the most hopeless plans.