We Happy Few | Band of Brothers

Chapter 8: The Wall

It didn't take long for word to spread outside the confines of Camp Toccoa that there were women in the army. As predicted, the consensus on the matter was more or less split down the middle. Some thought the idea of women in the army was a blatant disservice to the United States of America, while others believed it was about time women were allowed to work the same jobs as men. 

Thankfully, due to being tucked away at Toccoa with their days completely filled up, Margot and Annie had little free time to read the things being written about them in the papers; not that they would even if they had the chance. 

With no contact with her father, Margot was spared the opinions about herself from anyone outside of the camp. Annie, however, wasn't so lucky. Ever since sending the letter to her family about what she was really doing in Georgia, she received personal letters from pretty much every member of her family, immediate and extended. She even received a letter from her boyfriend Steve, and to put it simply, he was none too impressed with her 'man-hating, feministic-fueled stunt.' She had never had Steve speak to her like that before. 

While most of her family had indeed tried to come across as supportive, Annie could see the subtle implications in their words when they told her to 'think carefully about what she was doing', 'remember how dangerous war was', and 'be careful around the men.'

Annie only responded to a few of the letters before deciding that she had enough to deal with during her training as it was and didn't need to be put down by her family as well. 

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With the bulk of the physical tests now upon the men and women of Easy Company, the paratroopers in training endured daily activities such as jump training and an obstacle course that put the one at Camp Mirage to shame.

Following Sobel's orders, Margot stood in the doorway of the makeshift, wooden plane before jumping down the meter or so to the ground. With legs straight, she only let her feet touch the grass for a split second before flopping onto her back in order to avoid breaking any bones when it came to the real deal.

"Next." Sobel nodded as Margot moved to the sidelines to watch the remaining Easy members complete their jump.

Falling into line between Joe Toye and Bill Guarnere, Margot watched with a great deal of amusement and worry as Walter Gordon threw himself out of the fake airplane, his limbs flailing before he smacked into the lawn. As Sobel pointed out the fact that he had done literally everything wrong, Margot let out a sigh. 

"Great, my partner just broke both his legs." She glared at Gordon as he moved to join her and the others. "Smokey, I am not carrying your ass into Nazi-occupied land because you decided to throw yourself out of the plane like a sack of wet laundry. I am warning you now, I will loot your body and leave you for dead if you pull that shit on D-day." 

"That's comforting." Smokey couldn't help but laugh along with the others. "Good thing I'm the one carrying the Browning, then."

Margot cocked a brow at the man, a sly smirk appearing on her face. "Yeah, and I've got the ammo. What you gonna shoot with no ammo?"

"How you gonna shoot with no gun?" he retorted. 

Margot narrowed her eyes at her machine-gunner partner. "Touche," she admitted. 

Next up on the schedule for the day was the dreaded obstacle course. Everyone from the large Bull Randleman to the small Annie Winslow despised having to complete the course. From the moment they began, they wished it was over. 

Hearing the whistle loud in her right ear, Annie folded her arms above her head as she high-stepped through the large rope squares. She tripped once in the middle and then once again at the end before sprinting to the wooden chutes that she crawled through and somersaulted out of.