All Things Nice » Band of Brothers

04: Josephs

The Georgian heat was stifling. It had Posey all but staggering back with the force of it the moment she had stepped off of the train but traipsing through Camp Toccoa it felt even stronger. Oppressive and angry, the heat rolled over her in waves, and she found herself glad for her male disguise for she was sure to have looked disgusting in a way she never wanted to when looking like herself.

She wondered, not for the first time, how she was supposed to get through the physical aspect of basic training, though this time it wasn't concern relating to self-doubt so much as the climate. She'd never been anywhere so hot. She felt like she was in an oven.

After picking up her new uniform - two sets of ODs, she was informed, with a set of fatigues and what the clerk called 'jump boots' - as well as her Physical Training (PT) gear, Posey picked her way through the camp until she came across a bathroom. She made quick work of changing before she set off in search of the barracks, jump boots squeaking obnoxiously loud with every step. Eventually, she came upon a cluster of wooden buildings each labelled with the letter 'E' and quickly located the second of them. 101st Airborne, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Second Battalion, Easy Company, Second Platoon she had been told. It was a lot to remember and a mouthful to recite but she thought she must have been in the right place.

Climbing up the three small steps to the barracks took an awful lot of mental encouragement on her part. She had to suck in a deep breath to steel herself before pushing the door open.

The inside of the barracks was nothing special and was, in fact, almost exactly as Posey had imagined it. It consisted of one long room with what she counted as sixteen metal bunks pushed against the walls on either side, extremely low to the floor. Each bunk had a tiny shelf on the wall above it, which would likely fit a helmet and nothing else, and a small, olive drab painted locker at its foot. But, above all and hard to ignore, was the fact that the barracks were so hot the floor could probably fry an egg. Posey winced to imagine what the metal bed frames might feel like if she accidentally touched one of them.

There were already a few men seated atop some of the bunks when she stepped in, likely trying to ensure no one tried to take the bed they'd claimed. They glanced up only briefly when she walked in. Posey stifled her sigh; she supposed she'd have to be the one to make the effort.

"This is home then?" she asked into the silence. The question repeated itself over and over again in her head, the strange inflection she'd used taunting her as she waited on a reply.

"Guess so," answered one man, glancing up at her with a small nod and a smile. He had bright ginger hair and a kind face. "For a while, anyway."

Posey forced a laugh that emerged sounding awkward.

"You can take your pick of the bunks," spoke up another man from the bed opposite the ginger. "No one else is here yet." In contrast, his face was cold and calculating as he watched her.

Posey nodded, grateful for something to do with herself. She headed towards the one closest to the door and on the left, mentally cursing herself for needing to be invited in to a place that belonged to her just as much as it did to them.

"Not so eager to be in on all the action?" a different man teased.

It was only upon looking up she realised all of the men had been watching her in her mental confrontation with herself. She couldn't help her flush but she shrugged anyway in a bid to appear nonchalant.

"Won't forget which one's mine this way," she replied, and grinned when it earned her a laugh. For a brief moment she wondered whether this would be so hard after all.

"George Luz," the taunter declared. He stood up and approached her with a smile clenched around a cigarette and an outstretched hand. He was relatively short, perhaps only an inch taller than Posey herself, with voluminous dark hair and a glint in his eyes. He was the type of man who looked like he had a joke to tell which he desperately wanted to make the whole world laugh at.