The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

04: A Barrel of Laughs

Charlie wasn't inclined to like her new superior officer. She'd tried, she really had, but the chief nurse of the 23rd was young and pretty, and that was about all she had going for her. As First Lieutenant Henrietta Maddox gave the group of fresh recruits an introduction to the hospital on the steps outside, her voice formal and monotone and just slightly impatient, Charlie could just feel that she was going to give them a hard time. There was something condescending in the way she spoke to them all and something arrogant in the way she held herself. As she turned to lead them into the hospital to begin their tour Charlie exchanged a glance with Mabel, who had such a sour expression on her face Charlie had to press her lips together to stifle her laugh.

"You'll be working your days here in shifts," the lieutenant was saying to them. Her pace was brisk as she led them down the first of what Charlie guessed would be many hallways. "Each of you will work on different timetables that will overlap; four days on shift, three days off. Schedules and shifts will be non-negotiable and non-exchangeable. You'll get what you're given and like it." She turned to face them suddenly and clasped her hands in front of herself. "Any questions?"

Mabel huffed a quiet laugh to herself. "No, ma'am," she mumbled. When the lieutenant turned steely eyes on her, having heard her sarcasm, Mabel simply smiled back, her eyes as wide and innocent as she could manage.

Charlie grinned and looked down to hide the smile. How did she already know Mabel was going to get them all into trouble as many times as she could over the course of their working together?

Lieutenant Maddox stared Mabel down for a lengthy moment before turning her gaze back to the group at large. "We're sharing the hospital with some other units of military nurses stationed in the other surrounding villages - as well as the staff who worked here before the war, obviously," she went on, acting as though the brief interaction with Mabel had never happened at all. "Our unit - the 23rd Field Hospital - has been formed especially to serve a company of paratroopers titled Easy Company, one of nine companies of 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, the 101st Airborne. Does anyone not know what a paratrooper is?"

All four hands went up in answer to the question and, beside Charlie, Mabel laughed. Charlie knew it must have been because she suspected their lack of prior knowledge would infuriate the lieutenant.

True to prediction, Lieutenant Maddox looked like she was working against every instinct she had inside of her to keep from rolling her eyes. "Paratroopers are an all-voluntary new branch off of the military where soldiers parachute out of airplanes into enemy territory to fight surrounded on the ground," she explained begrudgingly. "They have the highest expected mortality rate of anyone else in the military. You've been chosen for this unit because your instructors in training thought you would be worthy of that task. However, if I disagree I can promise you you will be transferred out of my unit." She let that hang in the air for a moment before chirping, "Questions?" suddenly all smiles.

Even Mabel didn't make any comments now.

Charlie wondered if the other girls had known they'd been handpicked for this unit, because she most certainly hadn't. She also wondered what so much responsibility would entail in the long run; if these men had the highest expected mortality rate in the entire military then Charlie was sure they were all getting a little bit more than they bargained for on the care-giving front. With a shake of her head she forced herself to push any worries or self-doubt away. She wouldn't fall at the final hurdle. She was here to help people, had been trained to help people, and that's what she would do, regardless of the circumstances.

"No questions," Lieutenant Maddox concluded after another beat of silence. "Good. Our ward is this way." She turned on her heel and led the way again, the clicking of her heels echoing around the walls of the otherwise empty hallway.