Chapter 40: The Prank
The company's training continued, with a tightly packed schedule that now included various tactical competitions. Captain Sobel would often divide Easy Company into two teams. One team, led by Winters, consisted of the brothers from Second Platoon. The other team, led by himself, included First and Third Platoons. Unfortunately, as the First Sergeant, Rhys had to follow Sobel, which left White feeling quite dejected as well.
But every competition ended with Sobel's defeat. And every time, he would find an excuse to chew out Lieutenant Winters, and often the other brothers of Easy Company as well.
Winters paid it no mind. No matter how much Sobel tried to find fault, he would complete the competition seriously every time, and every time he would win. This directly pushed the conflict between Winters and Captain Sobel to a tipping point.
"Lieutenant, Sobel is late again," Lipton said to Winters with a frown.
When Winters and the brothers of Second Platoon arrived at the designated location for the exercise, there was no one around, except for a lone yellow cow grazing peacefully in a nearby field.
"We have to advance," Winters said, looking at his watch.
"We're not waiting for Captain Sobel and First and Third Platoons?" Lipton asked.
"This is a 'T' intersection. Let's improvise," Winters said. "Provide covering fire, double envelopment, and block all sides of the road. Link up with First Squad on the right. Tell Guarnere and Second Squad to move to the left. I'll break through the center with Third Squad." Winters issued a series of commands.
Lipton nodded. "Yes, sir." He then crouched and moved toward First Squad on the right.
Winters gave a hand signal to Guarnere on the left, and Guarnere nodded in acknowledgment.
"Move out," Winters ordered decisively.
Guarnere immediately got up, crossed the left side of the intersection, and set up an ambush in a ditch by the roadside. Lipton quickly led First Squad across the right side, using a small hill for cover. Winters broke through the middle, with Third Squad setting up an ambush at the bend of the "T." Winters himself stood at the corner, waiting for Sobel's team. The three squads had now formed a pincer movement, with Guarnere and Lipton guarding the two ends of the "T" and Winters holding the middle, perfectly trapping Sobel's approaching force.
***
Sobel was late because he had gotten confused again. He was leading his men on a run across a field when they came upon a fence. On the other side of the fence, a herd of cows was grazing peacefully. Rhys ran to the fence, knelt, and raised his fist. The brothers stopped and took up defensive positions.
Sobel stared at the fence, dumbfounded.
"Parks, there isn't supposed to be a fence here," Sobel said, waving him over.
Rhys quickly ran over, composing himself. "Sir, we're lost. We went the wrong way."
"Petty, give me the map!" Sobel shouted. Petty hurried over and handed it to him.
"Perconte, Luz, get the men together and find cover behind the trees," Sobel ordered. He then nervously flipped through the map book, muttering to himself, "There isn't supposed to be a fence here."
"We should cross it," Rhys suggested, as if following a predetermined script. He knew it was this very exercise that would cause the conflict between Sobel and Winters to finally erupt. It was the trigger. To get rid of Sobel, Rhys felt this was a necessary step. Otherwise, as many of the brothers had said, Easy Company would be finished along with Sobel.
"Really?" Sobel's eyes lit up, then he shook his head. "That's not the point right now. The point is our current position. Where the hell are we?"
"Isn't this the rendezvous point?" Sobel asked, searching the map.
"No, sir. We missed it. It should be here," Rhys said, stepping forward and pointing to a spot on the map.
"Here?" Sobel compared it to the map again. "But how are we supposed to get over this damn fence?"
The brothers of Easy Company were already accustomed to this kind of confusion from Sobel. Every one of them looked dejected. They hid behind the trees, watching helplessly as Sobel ran around like a headless chicken.
"Perconte," White said.
"What?"
"Sobel's lost again, isn't he?" White said with bitterness.
"Yeah, lost again," Perconte said helplessly. "Damn it."
"Luz, can you do an impression of Major Horton?" Perconte suddenly asked, his eyes lighting up as he looked at Luz.
"Kid, you don't even need to ask. Is there any voice I can't imitate?" Luz said with a smug grin.
Perconte nodded eagerly. "Maybe we can get Major Horton to mess with this idiot Captain. Let's get moving again. Luz, it's all up to you. You are now Major Horton."
Luz quickly shook his head. "No, no. No way."
Just then, the other brothers crowded around him. "You have to, Luz! You've got to try it!"
"Don't let the brothers down!"
Luz had no choice. "Alright, just this once," he said, holding up his hands to quiet them.
The men were overjoyed. Someone even gently tapped Luz on the helmet as a sign of encouragement. They all squatted down. This was going to be great. Luz cleared his throat.
"Captain Sobel, are you having a problem?" Luz asked, pinching his voice to imitate Major Horton.
"Who… who's talking?" Sobel immediately became furious. He was already disoriented, and the sudden interruption made him angry. He turned and roared at the trees. "Who broke silence?"
Rhys couldn't help but chuckle. Luz was starting the prank, right on schedule. He decided to help him along. He glanced at Petty, and the two of them shared a smile. They were clearly on the same page.
"I think that's Major Horton, sir," Rhys said.
"Major Horton?" Sobel was flustered. "How… is he also participating in this exercise?"
"I think he may be moving between the platoons, sir," Rhys said with a nod.
As they were talking, Major Horton's voice came again. "Captain Sobel, you're not moving. What the hell are you doing?" As Luz said this, a few of the guys next to him had to stifle their laughter.
"Shut up, guys! I'm taking a huge risk here. Don't let Sobel catch me," Luz whispered urgently. The group immediately fell silent.
Sobel grew tense. He shouted toward the trees, "There's a fence, sir!" He then muttered, "Oh, God," before yelling again, "There's a barbed wire fence, Major!"
"Captain, you will cut that barbed wire fence and get this goddamn platoon moving," Major Horton's voice came back, sounding very angry.
Sobel, now very nervous, didn't dare say another word. "Yes, sir!" he replied quickly.
"Parks, find the damn wire cutters, now!" Sobel, needing a place to vent his anger, roared at Rhys.
Rhys gave Petty an innocent shrug, then found the wire cutters and cut the fence. "Perconte, Luz, get everyone out! We're heading to the rendezvous point!" Sobel shouted.
Luz and the others, holding back their laughter, followed Sobel as he charged forward. After a few more detours, Sobel finally led his men to the rendezvous point. Along the way, afraid of getting into more trouble, he had taken Rhys's advice and let him lead the way while he "supervised" from the side. This way, they didn't run into any more problems.
***
From a distance, Winters saw a column of troops running toward the intersection. He looked at his watch. Sobel was very late. He couldn't help but shake his head with a bitter smile.
"Hi-yo, Silver!" Sobel was still feeling good about himself as he charged forward. He then looked up and saw Winters and a squad of men emerge from cover not far away. From the ditches and hills on both sides of the "T" intersection, the rest of the men popped up, their rifles aimed at his column. Sobel was surrounded.
"Damn it," he cursed under his breath, furious.
The incident was a great loss of face for Sobel. To make matters worse, he also received a chewing out from Lieutenant Colonel Strayer, who was at his wit's end dealing with complaints from the local villagers. He took his anger out on the culprit, Sobel.
"Who was the idiot who cut that man's fence?" Strayer demanded.
"It was Major Horton, sir. He ordered me to cut it," Sobel quickly explained.
"Major Horton?" Strayer was both angry and amused.
"Yes, sir!" Sobel insisted.
"Major Horton ordered you to cut it?" Strayer's voice was heavy. "Major Horton is on leave in London."
Sobel was stunned. And then he understood. He had been played for a fool by his own men.
*****
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