Звездный десант
Chapter 9
Thenheasked,"So?Wherewerehisdrops?"
Itisalmostcertainlynottrue,becausethereisabigsignoutsidetherethattellsyouexactlywhoNapoleonwas.Butthatishowcaptroopersfeelaboutit.
Eventuallywegraduated.
IcanseethatI’veleftoutalmosteverything.Notawordaboutmostofourweapons,nothingaboutthetimewedroppedeverythingandfoughtaforestfireforthreedays,nomentionofthepracticealertthatwasarealone,onlywedidn’tknowituntilitwasover,noraboutthedaythecooktentblewaway—infactnotanymentionofweatherand,believeme,weatherisimportanttoadoughboy,rainandmudespecially.Butthoughweatherisimportantwhileithappensitseemstometobeprettydulltolookbackon.Youcantakedescriptionsofmostanysortofweatheroutofanalmanacandsticktheminjustanywhere;they’llprobablyfit.
Theregimenthadstartedwith2009men;wegraduated187—oftheothers,fourteenweredead(oneexecutedandhisnamestruck)andtherestresigned,dropped,transferred,medicaldischarge,etc.MajorMalloymadeashortspeech,weeachgotacertificate,wepassedinreviewforthelasttime,andtheregimentwasdisbanded,itscolorstobecaseduntiltheywouldbeneeded(threeweekslater)totellanothercoupleofthousandciviliansthattheywereanoutfit,notamob.
Iwasa"trainedsoldier,"entitledtoput"TP"infrontofmyserialnumberinsteadof"RP."Bigday.
ThebiggestIeverhad.
