House of Gold | Band of Brothers

Chapter 2: And So It Begins

One of the first things Beth Whittaker learned upon arriving at Camp Toccoa, where the 101st Airborne was stationed for training, was that word did, indeed, spread like wildfire in the army. If the woman—or anyone, for that matter—had thought she could escape the rumours that seemed to cling to her like a wet blanket simply by switching divisions, they were sadly mistaken. Only, they weren't rumours anymore. No, what Beth had on her hands was a full-blown scandal, and she'd be damned if the men at the camp weren't just as bad as high school girls when it came to gossip.

Colonel Sink, the commander of the 506th Regiment, had made it perfectly clear to Beth upon arrival that he, under no circumstances, tolerated or accepted fraternization among his soldiers. He also said, however, that he was pleased to welcome both Lieutenant Benjamin Whittaker and Corporal Elizabeth Whittaker into his Regiment, even mentioning once or twice that he was delighted to finally have the opportunity to integrate women into the 101st. 

"The British did a damn fine job of it and the women in the 82nd all have excellent performance records," he had said. "And I expect much of the same from you, Corporal."

Beth had then, of course, promised over and over again that what had happened at the 82nd was nothing more than one big mistake and that it would never happen again. She didn't bother to go into any more detail than that because, if she were being honest, she was quite sure the truth would only cause even more trouble at that point. 

Just like the rest of the officers and higher-ranking personnel, Ben and Beth had arrived a few days early in order to get settled and situated before what would be approximately two years of ruthless training began. Ben took the time to get acquainted with the other Lieutenants in Easy Company, Lieutenants Lewis Nixon and Richard Winters, and the three had hit it off almost immediately—the older two poking fun at how young Ben was to be a Lieutenant.

This head start had also given everyone in Easy Company the chance to meet their commanding officer, 1st Lieutenant Herbert Sobel. It was clear upon the first interaction that Ben, Beth, and the others were in for a rough two years. Herbert Sobel was the kind of man who believed that it was better to rule with fear than love, and Beth was sure she was going to find out just how much Sobel wanted his troopers to fear him the hard way. 

Swatting at a fly that kept buzzing around her head, Beth made her way down the path between the barracks, Ben walking beside her. After spending a few days at Camp Toccoa and getting used to the new environment, the siblings had decided that, in the grand scheme of things, they had lucked out.

Ben had been given a good transfer position after his promotion—no doubt partly because of how well-respected his father was, but that was beside the point—and Beth had finally come to realize that as much as she hated being babied, her punishment could have been a lot worse. 

"So, what do you think?" Ben asked. "Is it everything you could have hoped for and so much more?"

"It'll do." Beth peered at the large mountain in the distance, Mount Currahee. "Think they'll make us run up that?"

Ben tucked his hands behind his back and shrugged his shoulders. "With Captain Sobel in charge, I wouldn't be surprised."

"I cannot believe they made that man a Captain." Beth kept her voice down just in case someone was within earshot. "He is ... well, he is exactly what Dad warned us never to become."

"I can hear his voice in my head now." Ben nodded before doing a spot-on impression of their father, Major Charles Whittaker. "'If you think a fancy title before your name means you can start taking yourself too seriously then you have disgraced the good name of this family and I will be ashamed to call you my children.'"