As the days turned into weeks at Camp Toccoa, Lieutenant Sobel was growing more disgruntled by the second. Not only had his plan to have both Margot and Annie gone from his company in no less than a week failed, but he was also beginning to see a shift in the way his men interacted with the females altogether. Despite his many attempts at turning the men against the women, some of the privates had begun to blur the distinct line he had drawn between the two genders; especially when it came to Private Kessler.
Sobel could pretty much see the wall of indifference slowly crumbling behind the eyes of Annie Winslow every time he yelled at her, told her she would never make it, and revoked her pass for little things like a loose hair in her bun or a wrinkle in her uniform. Margot Kessler, however, was a different story altogether and was slowly proving to be more of a challenge than the Easy Company CO had originally thought.
While little Annie's knees buckled under the pressure, Margot strived because of it. Every time Sobel upped the ante and demanded a faster time for the Currahee run, Margot completed the task with ease, often being one of the first to make it back to camp. When he asked the company to run Curahee in full uniform, rifles in hand, the girl cracked jokes for the full three miles up and three miles down. He even tried to scare her off by convincing the higher-ups she would make a good machine-gunner, hoping the physically demanding assignment would send her packing. No such luck. The determined girl ran at the challenge head-on and actually, to his utter disbelief, seemed to enjoy it.
Sobel wasn't the only one to take note of the tall North Carolinian's raw determination. Lieutenants Winters and Nixon, on more than one occasion, found themselves baffled by the woman's ability to keep up with the men. They promptly passed their thoughts onto Colonel Sink, who was pleased as punch to hear one of his female trainees was exceeding expectations. The things he heard about the second, smaller girl, however, left him feeling less than satisfied.
Every day when Annie woke up, she told herself she would do better; and while it was true that the blonde was slowly improving, the progress just wasn't fast enough for the likes of a paratrooper. While the young woman from New Haven worked her ass off each and every day, she had no clue there were talks of cutting her from the program.
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It was pitch black outside, and even though Margot knew it was late, she wasn't sure of the exact time. For the past hour or so, she and the rest of Easy company had been marching in full gear down a gravel path while the rest of the Toccoa companies enjoyed their Friday night off.
Everyone in the company knew the twelve-mile march was just another way for Sobel to weed out the weak and altogether knock Easy Company down another peg or two, but no one said a word; no one until Bull Randleman had decided enough was enough.
"I'm gonna say something," Bull, who was a row ahead of Margot and two behind Annie, stated in a low whisper.
George Luz, who was much shorter than the tall, large man from Arkansas, scoffed. "To who?"
"Lieutenant Winters," Bull called out loud enough for every member of all three platoons of Easy Company to hear.
Recognizing the voice, Winters didn't even bother to turn around as he continued walking. "What is it?"
"Permission to speak, sir?"
"Permission granted."
Bull paused for a moment, fully aware of the eyes that were watching him like a hawk from all directions. Everyone was waiting to hear what he was going to say. "Sir, we got nine companies, sir."
"That we do."
"Well, how come we're the only company marching every Friday night, twelve miles, full pack, in the pitch dark?"
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We Happy Few | Band of Brothers
Historical Fiction"Women don't belong in war" was something Margot Kessler and Antonia Winslow heard day in and day out, but never once did they let those words deter them from serving their country alongside the men. They were unbelievably strong and skilled beyond...
