"It's finally over, I'm tired of Lao Tzu!" At the end of the session, Private Jeff sat down on the ground, gasping for air. An M1 rocket launcher and several rockets were thrown into the grass at his feet.

"Jeff, pick up the bazooka!" Sergeant Elder Barry hurriedly reminded: "The platoon commander saw it in a while, and you feel good." ”

"How could I be so unlucky to become a bazooka player!" Jeff let out a wail and reluctantly got up to pick up his weapon. The new platoon commander is not a good talker, and Jeff has been punished several times in the past month.

Putting the bazooka back on his shoulder, Jeff pulled out the jug and took a big sip of it, the light salt water inside making him frown.

"I knew I was going to be a soldier too." I don't know how many times Jeff has said this sentence. When his fellow countryman and comrade-in-arms Grant went to apply for a job as an orderly, he still laughed at the other party's lack of interest, and actually took the initiative to serve people.

But now, Grant has become a servant of the division headquarters, not only staying comfortably in the house every day, not having to brave the wind and rain to participate in training, but also often able to catch a lot of rare and delicious food. Like him, he became a "sad" bazooka player. During these days of high-intensity training, the 6.5-kilogram rocket launcher and four 1.5-kilogram rockets almost killed him.

"Rubberneck (Jeff's nickname), that's life! It's useless for you to envy Grant that guy. Old Barry lit a cigarette and said with a smile: "People are interesting enough, they still think of you for all the good things." Anyway, the box of caviar last time was really good, authentic Russian goods. I don't know where he got it. That's not cheap. ”

"He's now Colonel Vanderbilt's orderly, Vanderbilt! The family has so much money that they can't eat enough gold every day, let alone caviar. Grant, this kid is so good, maybe he won't even have to worry about work when he retires from the army in the future......"

Jeff was only half right. John and Adele are indeed quite happy with Grant, who is happy all day, and in the future, when he retires, he may be hired for a long time. But that box of authentic Russian Caspian caviar is not something that can be eaten by money in the United States.

It was a gift that Crawford received when he went to the Soviet embassy to attend a meeting on the aid transportation program. Not long ago, when he was passing through Alexander on a business trip, he brought John a few boxes. John gave Grant another box as a birthday present.

Jeff and the brothers in the platoon were still babbling about Grant's good fortune, when suddenly a sharp whistle reached everyone's ears.

"Company B of the 2nd Battalion, assembled!" The platoon commander, Second Lieutenant Glio, walked over quickly. The second lieutenant, who was half German, unceremoniously kicked Jeff in the ass, "Pack, go get in line." After a while, a commander came to inspect it. Something went wrong, and I asked you to go to the kitchen every weekend to peel potatoes. ”

"Yes, platoon commander!" Jeff got up, slapped the grass clippings and dust on his buttocks, and reluctantly stood in the line. "Really, the break isn't over yet. Those staff officers at the division headquarters are really annoying. ”

Like Jeff, there are many people who are unhappy with the early end of the break. Everyone whispered as they lined up, and the queue buzzed. Soon, though, everyone stopped. Because they found that it was not the divisional training staff officer who was coming from a distance, but Division Commander Bradley, Chief of Staff Vanderbilt, and a general with three stars on his shoulder.

This time, the 2nd Battalion came to inspect Lieutenant General Wald, who had just finished observing their training. After a brief chat with the commander of the 2nd Battalion, he began to talk with the soldiers in the queue with great interest.

"What's your name, young man?" The first to be spotted by Commander Wald was a childish-looking soldier carrying a Motorola walkie-talkie.

"Pa, Paglis, sir." Although he didn't know who the lieutenant general in front of him was, the recruit was so nervous that he couldn't speak properly.

"How old are you, where are you from?" Wald patted Paglis's shoulder and motioned for him to relax.

"Just turned 20 this month, Philadelphia." Pagliss finally felt that his throat was no longer so dry, but he still looked a little nervous.

"What did you do before you enlisted?"

"Attending the University of Pennsylvania, sir." Paglis, with a little pride, replied, "Just in the first year of study." ”

"I'm still a top student. Who will win this year's football league between you and Princeton? As a veteran football fan, Wald's conversation naturally turned to the football battle between Penn and Princeton. Since 1876, the rugby teams of the two universities have been rivals. So far, though, Penn has had a slight advantage (Penn was a powerhouse in the early college football league, winning four national championships, and many of the classic football tactics were invented by the school's teams).

"Of course we are. Captain Bruni is the best quarterback on the planet! When it comes to his idol, Pagris starts to talk more. Princeton is good, but it's not as good as us at Penn. ”

"Huh. Good luck to you, Puglis. Wald, of course, wouldn't tell the other that his son was a regular on Princeton's varsity football team.

"I just saw you call for fire support with walkie-talkies, how about it, is this thing easy to use?"

"It's not bad, it's easy to operate. It's just that the signal is easily interfered with, the call quality is not high, sometimes there are ...... stations, and there are " Pagris continued to say, but when he saw the eyes of the battalion officers next to him, he stopped his mouth a little timidly.

"What else?" Lieutenant General Wald has the posture of breaking the casserole and asking the question.

"It's a bit too heavy. You can't run fast when you charge. Pagris blushed and said embarrassedly.

His answer caused a burst of laughter in the queue. Jeff, who was a few meters away from Paglis, pouted. In the end, it is a high-achieving student, and it is too heavy to carry a broken walkie-talkie. If he could have read the wiring diagram in the Operation and Maintenance Manual, he would have applied to replace Paglis.

Lieutenant General Wald did not smile, but said to Paglis, "Young man, I believe you only need to carry it on your back for two years. In the future, I will definitely be able to enter the Penn football team when I go back to school. Maybe you can be an ace quarterback, too. ”

Then, Lieutenant General Wald chatted with several other people in the queue, and after a few words of encouragement, he left with Bradley and the others.

On the way back to the barracks, Wald asked Bradley: "Omar, at the current pace, when will the 82nd Division complete the training plan of the new syllabus?" ”

"It's probably the end of November, about seven weeks ahead of what the staff requires." Bradley is still very confident in the current training progress of the whole division.

Wald nodded slightly: "If you want to complete the entire training plan at the end of 10, is there any difficulty?" ”

"End of October?" Bradley wondered why Wald would make such an unreasonable request for no reason. However, he still replied truthfully: "As long as we can ensure that all the materials are in place, it will not be difficult to complete." However, we originally planned to organize a drill for the whole division in late October, and then conduct the assessment of all subjects. ”

"The drill can be put on the back burner. You just said that the supplies, how big is the material gap of the 82nd Division now? ”

Bradley didn't answer, but glanced at John next to him: "Everything else is easy to say, the armored vehicles of the reconnaissance battalion are only one-third, the anti-aircraft guns of the anti-aircraft battalion are short of half, and the number of rocket launchers is just enough to equip a regiment." The progress of these training items has dragged the whole division back. ”

"Armored vehicles and anti-aircraft guns, I can help you solve it as soon as possible. As for the bazooka...... Wald also looked at John: "There is no one in the army now, you might as well find him." ”

John smiled wryly, if he could get his hands on the bazooka, he would have to wait until now. Although it is a good thing that his products are sought after by the military, it is also very annoying that there are always acquaintances who urge him to speed up the production schedule twice in three days.

In fact, Raleigh's side is already producing at full capacity. It's just that the products were all robbed by the Soviets, who were beaten to dust by German tanks. Even the 800 rocket launchers that had already been sent to the Third Army for next month's exercises were cut off by Crawford on the way. For this reason, Eisenhower also called him to complain.

"Don't look at me, Commander, I can't conjure a bazooka." John waved his hand helplessly.

Wald gritted his teeth, "I'll give you another 500 from several other divisions, and in any case, you have to pass all the subject assessments before November." Can it be done? ”

"Guaranteed to complete the mission!" Bradley's answer was very firm and powerful. But he and John also have a question, what is Wald doing this for?