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04-11-2013, 04:05 PM | #1 |
Ranger
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Watertown, New York (home of the 10th MTN DIV)
Posts: 28
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Here is an excerpt of a story I am currently writing. It is basically an introduction of Steeler (in the middle of my story), but I wanted to see what type of interest it generated. I have never written Joe fan fiction before, but I wanted to drop it in and see what happened.
My characterizations of the Joes are supposed to be "reboots" that come primarily from their file cards, Marvel Comics run, mixed with an updated military history. I'd love some feedback. And here is Steeler's introduction: This was one of those times that Steeler wished he was still an armor officer. Sitting in the middle of a patrol base in a Florida Everglades swamp on top of a log didn’t affect him; soaked to the bones after living in the swamp waters for five days did not affect him. What affected him was sitting in his multi-cam FAST Helmet on the stump next to him, less than a foot above the swamp water, his Meal Ready to Eat or MRE. It was cold, basically tasteless, unless his pal Outback provided him the Tabasco sauce from his own MRE, which with the new MREs did not look like Outback had one to give up. Even if they wanted to light up a fire to cook food, the flooded swamp that they sat in would not permit it. The food wasn’t created to dine on over a candlelit diner. It was for survival. That’s why he missed his tank. At least in his M-1 Abrams he could plug in a hot plate, or a coffee pot, and if worse came to worse he could use the MRE Heater that came with the meal. Here in the swamp he could not even do that because of the horrid chemical odor it emitted. During the Invasion of Iraq in 2003, Steeler had banned the chemical heaters that came with MRE’s from being used by his tank crew. He hated the smell. The “poggie bait” that his tank crew had brought with them to Kuwait lasted them through the first month of the deployment. They shared it, but they were dumb, instead of saving the snack foods and junk foods and eating at the military dining facility known as the DFAC which was operated by their battalion, 1-64 Armor, they avoided the DFAC and ate through the snack foods. As the war kicked off, his tank crew, comprised of himself and three younger soldiers, had waited for hours in line of the AAFES trailer to fill up on more snack foods, but it was limited and as they waited to cross the border into Iraq finally, they had finished it off. His gunner made the mistake of being the first to start the MRE heater, which promptly lead to the main meal being tossed outside of the gunner’s hatch to pleas of “no” by the gunner and cheers of “yes” by the rest of the crew. It was not until the conclusion of the first Thunder Run into Baghdad that Steeler finally gave in and allowed them to use the chemical heaters again. Of course back then he was not Steeler. He was Second Lieutenant Ralph Pulaski, hailing from Pittsburg Pennsylvania. He grew up in the Shadyside neighborhood of the sprawling town, both of his parents were 2nd generation Polish immigrants, his father worked the steel mills and as an Assistant Head Coach for Shadyside Academy’s football team. His mother was a pre-school teacher revolving from school to school for many years. Steeler worked hard in school, got a job at 15 years old and worked even harder on the football field. He made the varsity team in football his sophomore year of high school as a 3rd string back up quarterback, and ended up earning the starting roll the following year after his final growth spurt pushing him from his lanky 5’11 frame to an even lankier 6’2 frame. His father pushed him hard in the weight room during his senior year and his success on the football field that year earned him a few different scholarships to various colleges and universities. All except the University of Pittsburg. Wanting to stay close to home, and attend the college that he had been a fan of for 18 years, Steeler applied for a ROTC scholarship at Pitt and walked onto the football team earning a spot as a training team linebacker. His sophomore year he earned a spot as a second string linebacker, where he had a “pick six” during a pre-season scrimmage against his current G.I.Joe teammate Grid-Iron. It wasn’t until his sophomore year that Steeler really started to enjoy his ROTC classes. Rotations to the M-16 range brought out a competitive edge with him, repelling courses started to intrigue him, but what really drew him in was the camaraderie. The 27 other students in the class at first saw him as an outsider, he was a varsity football player. He never showed up for the morning PT sessions in the fall during football season, and once the season was over, his physical conditioning propelled him to the top of the class. They would snicker though behind his back as he did not understand the “drill and ceremony” drills and commands as well as they did. It was not until the annual 12 mile road march that he started to fit in. As the ROTC class walked through downtown Pittsburg at an ungodly hour for most college students to even be awake, a classmate sprained his ankle and started to fall behind. Steeler grabbed the other student’s rucksack and walked with it for an additional mile, then acted as a crutch for the student until they reached the next rally point. Steeler became part of the team, and with that, and a long conversation with his father, he dropped football from his resume. Between his junior and senior year of college, Steeler’s ROTC commander made him a deal. He would get him a coveted slot to Ranger School, negating his need to go to the summer ROTC camp at Fort Lewis in Washington, but pass or fail, Steeler was going to have to step up and be the ROTC Cadet Battalion Commander the following year. He agreed and went to the 90 day course, graduating as the honor student while being a “leg” Ranger, following which he was given the opportunity to walk into Airborne School. The problem with airborne school was that it would not graduate until the second week of September. That was the first week of his college courses. Steeler called his ROTC Battalion Commander as well as his course advisor to ensure that it would be alright for him to miss the first week. “It will just be the syllabus for each class that I miss,” was his argument. Both commander and advisor agreed he would be ok missing the courses to complete the three week class. Airborne school was extended for one week though. Air traffic had been shut down from the 11th of September until the 13th, and though the jumps would occur from military aircraft, the Airborne school was having a hard time getting aircraft to support the lower priority missions like Airborne School. Once he returned, his ROTC Battalion Commander thought Steeler was crazy when he wanted to get assessed as an Armor officer. “Do you know how cramped a turret of a tank is? You are six feet plus man!” Steeler did not care. He had sat with an armor NCO on fire guard during Ranger school and listened to all of his glorious stories. The NCO’s military operational specialty was 19D or Scout. He had started off his career as a 19K. Two specialties the NCO had referred to as “Deltas” and “Kilos”. Steeler wanted to be the “Alpha”. He went through the assessment, and on the day the decisions were made, the ROTC Battalion Commander lined the cadets up in the hallway. One by one he went down the hall, stopping in front of them and announcing their last name, army component and then branch. He stopped infront of Steeler. “Pulaski, immediate active duty, DAT!” Steeler blinked, looking at his ROTC battalion commander. “Dumb Ass Tanker!” his commander exclaimed. Steeler’s first assignment after his officer’s basic course was with 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, assigned to 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, where he reported to a unit preparing for war. Kuwait was a nerve racking bore, but crossing the Line of Departure into Iraq was where he got recognized and on the Thunder Run’s was where he got recruited. At the conclusion of the second Thunder Run, a Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel by the name of Abernathy sat and ate dinner with him. He discussed the “glories” of being a Special Forces Officer. Steeler dropped his “SF packet” with his Battalion S1, and after sailing through the selection process, excelled in the Qualification course. He attended the infantry officer captain’s career course, and once he got to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California was where he joined the G.I.Joe team recruited by a newly minted Colonel Abernathy. That’s how he now found himself soaking wet, cold, and eating despicable MRE’s in the Florida Everglades with his current mission set conducting a “reconnoiter”, as his Australian SASR exchange officer Outback would call it, of potential arms smugglers moving equipment through the swamps to the mainland. |
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