All Things Nice » Band of Brothers

54: Memories

Posey had a good feeling about Operation Market Garden. As Nixon had explained to them in their initial lecture, this was General Montgomery's personal plan to get the Allies into Germany. If it succeeded, they'd be in Berlin by Christmas. When Nixon had explained that they'd be under British command, the men of the company had groaned and bitched and complained. Posey, however, had sat there grinning; the Brits had been doing this a lot longer than the Americans, both historically and in this war particularly. She was confident about this one. Proud, also, to be under British command. It felt a bit like doing her bit for her own country as opposed to someone else's, directly working to fight for her home. She found herself sitting up straighter and paying closer attention from that moment on.

When the lecture had cleared out there were mixed reviews. Replacements banded together, their heads ducked as they discussed the details of their foray into enemy territory, whilst veterans threw out comments lazily to each other. All of them lamented the British command but none of them could deny that Berlin by Christmas was a delightful prospect. The sooner the war was over the better.

Posey watched from a ways back as Heffron was drawn away from his circle of replacement friends and into her group of usual companions. She decided to head over to those he'd left in the dust. It wasn't Heffron's fault, of course, that he was constantly being welcomed into a circle of veterans - it wasn't like he could deny them, in any case, even though Posey knew for a fact he'd never wanted to - but she thought the other replacements could likely use some veteran calming words in a moment like this, too.

"How are we feeling, boys?" she asked, coming up behind Miller, Garcia, and Hashey and making them all jump. Their eyes were wide as they looked at her. She laughed. "Excited, nervous, scared? Terrified?"

"That about covers it, yeah," Hashey replied slowly, tentatively.

Posey grinned. "Lots of the vets'll be feeling that way too. Don't let 'em fool you." She fell into step beside the replacements and gazed up into the sunlight. "If you have any questions about anything - anything at all - you can ask me. Just so you know. I know a lot of your insider information will come from Heffron but I'm here to ask if you want to."

"Um, thanks," Garcia replied, nodding.

Posey giggled in spite of herself. "You don't have to look so frightened. I'm harmless." She leaned closer as though sharing a secret. "You know, they gave me the nickname Duckie because I'm so utterly unterrifying."

Slowly but surely, Miller cracked a grin. "Really?"

"Yep!" Posey replied, grinning herself as she recalled the event. "Back at Toccoa. They had me stand next to Bull - Sergeant Randleman - and Luz said that if he's a bull then I'm a duck." She chuckled to herself. "Feels like a lifetime ago now."

A pause fell over them as they continued on their way back to the barracks before Hashey spoke up warily, "Are you nervous about the jump?"

Posey nodded. She'd expected this question. "Of course. Are you?"

She was met with subtle nods all around in reply. They looked a tad taken aback at her honesty, which made her want to smile.

"Good," she said in response to their nods. "Nerves are good. If you weren't nervous, I'd say you should be nervous about not being nervous. Nerves are your fuel, right?" she began to explain. "They're gonna increase your adrenaline levels so if you get hurt you can get yourself to safety before having to be checked over. They're gonna heighten your senses, make you more focused on what you're doing and what's going on all around you. Just don't let yourself get so nervous you freeze up, alright? That's when the trouble starts."

When she looked back at the three replacements they all looked like deer caught in headlights, nodding vigorously as they absorbed each word. She couldn't help but laugh. "You're all in Bull's squad, right?"