After Ridgway and the fat Mr. Alexandria City Councillor had finished their brief speeches, John followed the 1,200 recruits all the way back to the Klebe barracks. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 The motorcade was moving slowly, with many enthusiastic citizens cheering and applauding the recruits on the side of the road, and some children screaming and chasing the trucks, making the atmosphere of the march look like a carnival float parade.

The Georgia recruits apparently enjoyed the "heroic" treatment, singing along to the band's melody with excitement, and a few of them tossed packets of chewing gum, sugar-coated peanut kernels and raisins from their C-rations to the children chasing the convoy.

John followed the convoy in a Willys jeep newly assigned to the 82nd Division. In his previous life, when he was a child, John's favorite war movie was "General Patton". What impressed John most about that film was not the mighty tanks, but the jeep in which Patton sat down. It's a pity that he has never had the opportunity to try it in his previous life, and now he can seize the opportunity to have enough fun. At this moment, even Lieutenant Colonel Eton, who was supposed to be the driver, was thrown into the passenger seat by him.

"It feels like I've just come back from a win, and Thorson did a really good job this time." Eaton looked at the crowd on the side of the road and sighed. Most of the credit for such a unique orientation ceremony was the work of Lieutenant Colonel Sorsson, a civilian staff officer. Recently, in order to coordinate relations with the Alexandria city government, the council, churches, schools, and various civil society organizations, and to ensure that the orientation process went smoothly, Sorson was so tired that his voice was hoarse.

"yes, these two days have exhausted Thorson. Fortunately, this is the last batch, and it will be up to you and Matthews to get busy. "John is still very satisfied with these chief staff officers of the 82nd Division. Whether it's Eaton, Matthews or Ssolson, they are all people who can do things and want to do things. Even George Lynch, Jr., an intelligence staff officer he initially worried might not be on the same page as anyone else, unexpectedly "fit in."

But it's not hard to understand. Although the elder Lieutenant General Lynch was ordered to retire by Marshall because of his old concept and stubbornly sticking to the experience of World War I. But no one can deny that this upright, brave, and dedicated veteran can be called a model officer in terms of professional ethics.

Little Lynch, who he cultivated single-handedly, is naturally not far behind in this regard. And because of his age, Lynch Jr. is closer to Bradley in his views on many issues. This also allowed John to not have a headache about the political problems of the office of the staff for the time being.

"I'm fine here. The receiving detachment has already registered these recruits in advance according to their occupational classifications before enlistment, and it will be much easier to assign them posts. But Matthews (as a training staff officer) is probably busy. Especially with the staff working group watching from the sidelines, he didn't want to be easy for the next 17 weeks. Eton said as he handed John a "Lucky-Strike" (good brand cigarettes, camel cigarettes were only added to the army's procurement list in the late stages of World War II).

"When the working group comes, everyone should not be relaxed. Recruit training is not a matter for Matthews alone. John took the cigarette in his mouth and was about to reach for his Lanson lighter, when Eaton had already put the fire to his mouth.

"That's just as well." After helping John light his cigarette, Eaton casually asked, "By the way, do you have any requirements for the candidates for adjutant and orderly?" ”

According to John's current position and rank, the special car, driver, and guard are not yet entitled to these benefits, but the adjutant and orderly are still eligible to be equipped. Lieutenant Colonel Eaton served as both staff officer and adjutant chief, and it was his job to assign John an adjutant and an orderly officer. Obviously, Eaton wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to assign positions to recruits and solve all these things at once.

"I already have a candidate for the adjutant, and I will report to the 82nd Division in two days. At that time, I will trouble you to help with the formalities. As for the orderlies, don't be in a hurry for now, and wait for my wife to come at the end of the month. John politely declined Lieutenant Colonel Eton's offer.

Lieutenant Colonel Eaton didn't say much either. In the U.S. Army, the relationship between adjutants, orderlies, and the officers they serve is very close. Some adjutants, orderlies, and may even have been serving an officer for many years, becoming a family-like existence. For example, Eisenhower's adjutant "Tyx" and orderly "Mickey" in history, until he entered the White House, these two people were still by his side and served him.

Therefore, John has absolute autonomy over the selection of adjutant officers and orderlies, and Lieutenant Colonel Eaton can only play a recommending role at most. Now that he has an idea when he sees John, Eaton naturally won't put more beaks. In fact, if he hadn't gotten along well with John during this time, knowing that he wasn't a cautious person, Eaton wouldn't have opened his mouth at all.

At present, in the 82nd Division, the three generals Bradley, Ridgway, and Swain are all on duty with adjutants, drivers, guards, and orderlies. The colonels of several other regiments also had their own adjutants and orderlies, and even Colonel Pope came to take up his post with a lieutenant adjutant named Hamilton. Only John is still the commander of the light pole, and even the daily change of clothes is carried out by Bradley's orderlies who help him wash them.

Lieutenant Colonel Eaton was also well-intentioned, and seeing that John had not moved, he thought that he was too busy with logistical reform and the "All-American House" project to forget about the selection of adjutant and orderlies, so he offered to help

John also knew that Eaton should not have malicious intentions, but out of an abundance of caution, he still did not hand over the power to select lieutenants and orderlies. After all, these two people will have to get along with him day and night in the future, especially the adjutant, who will know almost everything about him. If you can't let someone who knows the root cause do it, there will inevitably be some risks.

The adjutant John chose for himself was none other than his old subordinate in the Battle Planning Division, Second Lieutenant Miller. At the farewell banquet when he left the General Staff, Miller tactfully mentioned to him his desire to leave the army. John also felt that this slightly simple second lieutenant was indeed not suitable for the working environment of the General Staff, and he was still a second lieutenant after working in the Operational Planning Department for more than three years, and it was unlikely that he would want to come out in the future.

However, John has a good impression of Miller, a shy young man. This kid is a little introverted, he doesn't come to trouble, and he is a little restrained in dealing with people, but his military literacy is still very good, and his brain is not stupid and he can endure hardships. The most important thing is that Miller has a clean background, a strict mouth, and is very obedient, not so many flowery intestines.

Therefore, John had the idea of letting Miller go to the 82nd Division with him. At first, John didn't think of making Miller his adjutant, and he didn't have any idea of an adjutant at that time (there were so many colonels in the staff that they were not worthy of an adjutant). This idea was reminded by Jero when he went to ask for someone from Deputy Director Jairo.

But on second thought, it's a good fit. Miller was now a second lieutenant, and according to custom, officers in the staff could be promoted one rank before leaving the army, and the rank of lieutenant was just right for his adjutant. If Miller were a lieutenant, it would be difficult to operate, and he couldn't let people give up the opportunity to be promoted to captain.

Now that John has been in the 82nd Division for more than half a month, Jairo's side should be almost operational, and Miller's handover should have been completed. John decided to go back and make a phone call and ask when Miller would be available. After all, the work will become more and more arduous in the future, and there is an adjutant who can help him with a lot of chores.

As for the orderly, John didn't ask for that much. It's just a role to help take care of his daily life, wash and fold quilts for him, and make rice and coffee, and he can't pay too much attention to it. And because orderlies need to deal with the officers' families frequently, many high-ranking officers let their wives be responsible for selecting the orderlies. John simply followed the local customs, and let Bradley's orderly soldiers work hard for a few days first. When Adele moves to Alexandria, she will post a job announcement on the bulletin board in the camp.