Transfer

The air was heavy and oppressive; the sun barely past the red colored dunes that littered the base. The silence was shattered with the strong, clipped voice of Master Corporal Ricky Macintyre of the 38th Light Infantry Brigade of the Canadian Military, as he woke up the males in their barracks; the din of men getting ready filled the air.
“Excuse me, MCpl Macintyre, but the Captain has left a message at the Office for you. He said it was urgent.” The young, almost squeaky voice of Private Kim Smith was filled with the urgency of one who had to go to the washroom. The young Private was new to the base, just arriving from Saskatchewan. The daily routine had yet to affect him and he was still eager to impress the first higher rank that he saw. Ricky nodded his thanks as he continued to watch and supervise the morning activity. He turned his head just in time to see the base’s troublemaker pour his grey water out on the ground, in front of the mess hall.
“Hey! Corporal! What do you think you are doing?”
“MCpl—“
“You know the standards concerning water and gray water. What makes you think you are exempt from it?”
“I wasn’t—“
“Do not let me see you doing that again or I will take your canteen and empty it during training. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Master Corporal.” Cpl Manning had all the contempt of a 12 year-old talking to his parents.
Ricky couldn’t stand to see anything go to waste, especially water. Also, he, could never understand why it was so hard to follow rules, especially when you enlist in the military. That’s all the Officers did was make up more rules and procedures to follow.
“Excuse me, MCpl—“
“Yes, I’m coming now.”
The relieved look on Pte Smith’s face was comical and Risky wished he waited longer, just so he could see it again.
The hard packed dirt that marked the way up to the Admin building was littered with garbage. By the end of the day, Ricky knew that he was going to end up organizing a garbage sweep. Still the base was the cleanest he had yet to be posted at. He had only been at the base three months. The last base he had been posted at, the politics had taken over.
The Admin building was the coolest building on base. With its brand new air conditioning, nearly everyone invented some complaint they needed to file, in the Admin building. Ricky was sure he was the only one who actually hated the building. The building itself was unimpressive, and the grouchy officers and the dim lighting gave a sickly air to the front desk area.
Ricky stepped into the building and saluted, causing the people inside to look up.
“Excuse me, Ma’am, but Capt Belington left a message for me, and I was told it was urgent.”
The Lieutenant at the desk didn’t look up, “You and everyone else here too. Don’t you have duties somewhere outside?”
Ricky involuntarily tightened his fists. He had run-ins with this lady before and he couldn’t stand her. She was the perfect example how not to act. The first time he met her was during intake, and she was a newly promoted lieutenant. She was stressed because she was anxious to show off her leadership skills in the office world. It back fired big time and she blamed Ricky for it. There wasn’t anything he could do. It happened during his transfer process and it was ridiculous.
The silence was loud in the crowded parking lot, where the troops were formed up, waiting for intake. They had traveled all night and day, arriving just before the sun went down. The air was a nice change from the stifling, humid air on the bus. The trip down to the ‘Base’ had been a long, boring, horribly cramped trip, but Ricky wasn’t complaining, much. The PMQ he was heading for was said to be much better than the one that he had been posted at. Politics had nearly shut down the base and put everyone out of a job. His only true friend, Sergeant Genessa Packs had warned and advised him to fill out a Request of Transfer form two months before the fireworks started. It was the wisest move he ever made. He received the signed approval before anyone had started on theirs.
On the bus, he had been stuck beside a lady Corporal that would have given a witch a run for her money. She knew more vulgar words then English and showed it off the entire trip. He hadn’t seen her since he arrived, much to his relief.
The Lieutenant stomped out of the Office, yelling for the next victim. She was progressively grouchier as the last few people were cleared. Ricky was the last one out there, and he was dead on his feet. He tried to think of the last time he had slept but couldn’t remember exactly.
The lieutenant, who had the unpronounceable name of Lt Glouchest, came out of the disgraceful building they called the Office and yelled at him to hurry up and stop wasting her time. Ricky knew that by the time she was completed his intake, she would be in an even worse mood. He had to talk to the Commanding Officer about the Request of Leave form he had and knew that Lt Glouchest wouldn’t be all too pleased about it. The complication wouldn’t take that long, but because the Lieutenant didn’t know what was going on, and was too proud to ask Ricky, she struggled to understand the problem. Finally, the Admin O came out, wondering what was going on. Ricky calmly explained what needed to be done and all he needed to do was to talk to the CO before he could go off base. He explained that he needed to go off base regularly because of religious reasons and the CO needed to sign the form. The Admin O then took the form, promising to have it back to Ricky by the end of the week. The problem was solved, but for the little attitude problem in the front desk.
Now, every time Ricky had to talk to her, he became the last one to be admitted. Even the other troops would say something like, “Ma’am, he was here before me.” And she still would not get over herself.
Ricky didn’t have time to wait for all ten people in the waiting area to go before him, so he left, and as he turned around, and walked through the door, he realized he forgot to salute. But he kept going. The morning was too good to be ruin by grouchy, unreasonable officers. Just as he reached the Mess hall and pushed open the door, Capt Belington stepped out of the Officers Mess.
“MCpl Macintyre! I need to speak with you.”
“Sir,” Ricky saluted. “How can I help you?”
“Did you receive my message?”
“No, Sir.”
“Okay, here is the deal. I have three troops that are transferring here in the next day or so, and they are behind in training. I need you to take them in your section, brief them on the Enemy Force and get them started on the M and ATL course. They are a little behind on training because the transfer is so late in the training year, but this is where you come in. I need you to take them in and train them.”
“When do they arrive?”
“In two days.”
“Okay.”
“I have the folder in my office now, and I’ll get it to you by lunch. I will leave it in the Admin building for you.”
Ricky had a bad feeling about it, but he said nothing beyond, “Yes, Sir.”
Capt Belington nodded his thanks and walked away. Ricky knew that his chances of getting the information just decreased to slim. There was no way Lt Glouchest was going to actually give him the information. Well, there wasn’t much he could do about it. He was going to have to make it up once again.
Ricky walked into the Mess Hall, and was intent on enjoying he breakfast until he saw the notices on the bulletin board. The postings had just been put up for the morning and Ricky knew that his name was supposed to be on there for the transfer. He wouldn’t get paid until his name was on the nominal roll. He looked and sighed. His name was there. Thank God.
The day was nice and he had a lot to do. He needed to get his section to go through the training package that had been handed out last night. The idea of the package was to start the familiarization of M SCI 303 Military Science and Advanced Tactical Leadership (3). The training took three months to complete and it was probably the most fun the troops would have until the next M and ATL course. The training was complex, but lots of fun and it was truly a test of courage to complete it.
He took out his FMP and wrote: Two Section, meeting in the Common Area at 0800 hrs for next training schedule. And tacked it to the bulletin board. His troops would come in and be able to find it easily. He strolled out to the common area and looked around. The area was quiet except for the few on battalion extras. Ricky realized that he probably should have put Cpl Manning on it. It was too late now, but next time he would.
Ricky looked at his watch and sighed. He walked quickly to his barracks and checked around. There was no-one there. Good. He walked back out and looked at his watch. Time to go. He stepped outside and saw most of his section already on the Common Area.
“Alright troops, this is what is going on.”
As Ricky explained the process, he noticed Lt Glouchest storm out of the Admin building and head in his direction. He wrapped up what he was saying.
“Okay, I want you to go get your equipment and meet back here ASAP.” They all nodded and went on their way.
Ricky watched the Lieutenant. She wasn’t in a good moo—
“MCpl Macintyre!”
Ricky started. “Yes, Ma’am? How can I help you?”
She snarled, “It’s not how you can help me. I was told to give these papers to you.” And stormed away.
“Um, thank you, Ma’am.”
His troops came back. “Alright. We are going to head up to the training area now. The Sergeant in charge there will brief you and take over. Any questions?”
There were none. They headed up and met Sergeant Campbell. Ricky watched the training, and wished he had been able to do this when he was a Private. It was too late now, and the training always changed with the new technology. Well, he was having fun as it was and couldn’t really complain.
As the day wore on, Ricky noted the level of improvement of his troops. They loved this training. It was good. Finally they could go down to eat. Today had just been a theory part of it, and after tomorrow, they would be sleeping outside. As they headed down, the troops talked about the day.
“Man that was really fun. I—“
“I know! I wish we started this before all the other theory part. But I’m glad that we have this now. I can’t wait until tomorrow because I think we are going to be sleeping outside.”
“Fun. Man, I don’t know if anyone else is going to be doing this. It’s going to be so much fun.”
“Yah, I know. It’s fun.”
They reached the base and Ricky stopped them.
“Okay guys, what’s going to happen after supper, you have that package to fill out, and then you are on free time. I just want that package completed for tomorrow. Any questions?”
After they were dismissed, Ricky walked back up to the training grounds.
“Excuse me, Sergeant?”
She turned around. “Yes? Oh, hello Macintyre. How are you?”
“I’m okay, but I was wondering, can I borrow the land phone that’s up here? I have a phone card, and the lines are out of order down on base.”
She looked startled. Then the understanding came. “Oh, I get it. You don’t have anything else now? No more duties?”
“No.”
“Okay then, I think I have to clean the range, because your section left more of a mess then I thought. I will be there.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Ricky walked to the phone booth that was located in the main building. He quickly dialed the 10 digit number and activated his phone card. Finally, he got a ring.
“Hello?”
“Hello, is Sergeant Pasks there please?”
“Sgt Pasks? No, she is on a FXT right now and won’t be back until next Monday. If you want, I can leave a message for her.”
“No, that is okay. Thank you.”
He hung up. The guy was lying. Genessa never was away for the weekend and this was a two week ex. She would be able to go off base for some of it. Genessa had been hinting at some messed up politics at his old base, but she had always made it seem almost unimportant. Now he knew it wasn’t true.
*****
Sergeant Genessa Pasks stood rigidly at attention, waiting for the Reviewing Officer to come and inspect her troops. The parade was taking way too long and she wished it was over already. She didn’t like parades were the CO just had them for fun. There were too many as it was, and she had had enough. The tension was making her shoulders bunch up, and she could feel a headache forming. The RO stopped in front of her and stared stupidly. She saluted; he was slow to return the gesture.
“Hello Sir, there are 33 Non-Commissioned Members in ranks, on parade. Permission to carry on with inspection?”
“Carry on.” Lieutenant Colonel Kim Young was an old officer and was biased. He had never inspected Genessa’s platoon before, but because of the rumors that spread faster than a fire, he thought he had an idea about her. She wasn’t too impressed about that, but once again, there wasn’t anything she could do about it.
Lt. Col. Young was slow and took his time going through the inspection. The sun was hot and Genessa wanted the whole thing to be over already. Finally, he was done. She cut him off, “Are there any comments or questions?”
“No.”
“Permission to carry on?”
“Permission granted.”
She saluted and carried on.
Finally, the entire parade was over. She was glad, now she could go and get ready for the interview that she had with the CO about her transfer. She didn’t really know how it was going to go because the last time she asked, the CO made up some excuse about how her leadership was needed and the base couldn’t afford to let her transfer. It was bull and everyone knew it. Now, a year later, she was ready to try again and she was actually getting desperate. But she couldn’t let anyone know, because that’s not how things worked on this base.
As she entered her barracks, she saw the Battalion’s Orderly Officer (BOO) shut her own locker. Genessa just stopped and stared. What now? Captain James Luis wasn’t supposed to even be in the female barracks, unless the CO was with him.
“Uh, Sir?”
“Capt Luis turned sharply around.
“Sgt Pasks! Wha—You have other duties elsewhere!”
“Sir?”
“Sgt Pasks, you heard me! If you don’t attend to your other duties now, you will not have that transfer you have been hoping for!”
“Uh, yes Sir!”
Genessa saw red and walked out of the barracks. She stopped. What was she going to do now? What did that mean, him going into her locker? She knew that combinations were in a cabinet and only the female officers were allowed to have access to them with the CO’s permission only. What was she going to do now? As she stood there, the DCO walked by, and Genessa snapped to attention and with a startled look on his face, he returned the salute.
“Excuse me, Sir, but—“
“Not now, Sergeant.”
Once again she watched him walk away. She needed to find a payphone fast. Where was the nearest one? There. She walked quickly over to it and stepped inside the booth.
The phone rang. And rang. Oh please answer. Someone picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hello, is Sgt Richard Macintyre there, please?”
The person on the other line paused. “Uh, he cannot come to—oh, wait.” There was a muffled conversation on the other side. “Hello? Sorry about the interruption. Here he is.”
The warm voice of the man she hadn’t seen in six months came over the line. “Hello?”
“Hi Rick.”
“Oh! Genessa! How are you? What are you going calling now? Aren’t you on training hours now? Like I am?”
“Something came up, and I got a little freaked out. Do you remember Capt Luis? The really larg—“
As she continued talking, she noticed the basics come back from their 13k rucksack march…and saw who was with them.
She cut herself off. “Oh. Rick, I have to go. The dorkface is right there. I don’t know when I’m going to get to talk to you anytime soon. I don’t know what to do though and I’m getting scared. If something doesn’t change, I may have to consider going to the Lieutenant Colonel.”
“Okay, listen. If it gets so bad that you are scared for your life, call this number. Don’t write it down anywhere just memorize it. Okay? It’s the number to a friend of mine that owes me a couple favors and this person lives in your area.”
“Okay, what’s the number?”
As he told her the number, the platoon came closer and the Warrant Officer that was marching them gave her an evil grin. Well, she was going to have fun.
“Rick, I wish I could talk longer. I real—well, I have to go now. Have fun and I’m praying for you.”
“Gen, okay, be careful and if you can, write me, okay? Talk to you later and lots of love.”
He hung up. She stood there for a moment. How she missed him and his advice. Why did she ever want him to transfer? She knew the answer, because she couldn’t live with herself if something ever happened to him. Time to get ready for the interview.
*****
The next day, Ricky was back up to the training grounds, but he wasn’t paying attention. He got his 2IC to take control over the group while he thought of a while. But it wasn’t like he hadn’t thought all night anyway. He wasn’t getting anywhere. I should just take a leave of absence for a couple of days and go and see her, before I regret not. His best friend, mentor, and everything else was in trouble and once again he couldn’t do anything about it. The worst part was the he was half way across the country from her and that was a little far. What could he do? He was getting tired of this. He loved the military but not when it affected his friends dangerously on the inside of things.

****
Genessa once again entered her barracks and hesitantly walked to her bunk. As she got ready, she thought about what she knew about the situation on base. The CO changed just after Ricky had transferred and the daily life, and politics got worse. The daily activities were limited to who was the favorite, the training was made up, the base didn’t take anymore new recruits and officers were involved with shady business that Genessa knew about.
She found out by accident and it scared her. She caught a few of the other Sergeants and Officers right in what appeared to be a meeting about it. The one person she thought was her friend she had hasn’t talked to her in weeks because she was there. There had been rumors about the underhandness of the officers and NCOs but it was nothing. Until that night. After that, Genessa had done research on illegal immigrants that the military approved of before the border knew they existed. She talked to a couple of old Warrant Officers who were straight and they proved some answers for her.
The whole deal involved more then five bases and the new one that had opened up was a direct result of the money. She found out that the base had been involve with this for over 10 years and was successfully growing.
The problem is that she accidentally let on that she knew about the deals of the base and she was in trouble now. She remembered that Ricky always told her that she would get into trouble by her mouth. Now she was. She didn’t know what to do…she knew some officer acquaintances in Ontario and she had been trying to get a hold of them for the past month and so far she had been unsuccessful. She didn’t know what to do and it was getting harder and harder not to say something. She needed to go these officers and give them some of the information that she managed to collect and make copies of. The originals she kept on base somewhere and the place was written down in her locker. Now her best option was to move everything and give them to the friend that Ricky had mentioned to her.
She was done. As she walked to the CO’s office, she pondered what to do if she didn’t get the transfer. She knew that eventually she would have to go the Det. and somehow tell them about this mess.

(This isn't finished.)
-J

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