Women of War - A Band of Brothers Story

News

A/N: Hello everyone. I'm really sorry for the late update, writer's block has struck and I've been so busy at work that I didn't have time to write. Which leads me to an important announcement: The next update will likely not occur before mid-May.

I'm terribly sorry to keep you all waiting so long, but right now, my life is so stressful that I just need to prioritise and not add more pressure by trying to stick to my (already not exactly regular) update schedule. I have a 3000 word essay to write for university and my work days are so hectic that all I do after coming home is eat and sleep. I've been pulling so much overtime at work that I could literally take a full week off and still have OT. My shifts are 10 hours long, usually with 1.5 hours of break time. But if you manage maybe 45 minutes of break time in one day because it's just one crazy deadline after another and then you stay another hour because there's jobs you have to finish today and administrative tasks that need to be done, and it's like that basically every day for a month... well, in short, I'm physically and mentally exhausted. Adding to that come the continued issues of COVID, waiting for a vaccination appointment and fiercely missing my hobbies. So, I'm in a bit of a bad place right now.

Again, I'm very sorry and I hope you understand if I can't update at my usual pace, especially when the next chapters will be dealing with Landsberg and a massive amount of emotion. I promise that I will continue writing whenever I can and that I will update as soon as I'm able. It's just gonna take a little longer. Thanks for your patience and understanding. Look after yourselves, everyone, and stay safe!

Also: Shoutout to BrightShadowWolf31 for suggesting the dream sequence

By the end of March, the 506 PIR was considered back to full battle strength. The downtime had done them a world of good. Medals and awards had been distributed, a second unit citation and numerous Purple Hearts among them. And they had taken the rigorous training in stride, even if the arrival of the newest batch of replacement had caused the usual amount of grousing, cursing and eye-rolling.

"I honestly wonder how their basic training instructors haven't been reassigned", Esther had commented with a shake of her head as she had observed the new guys' at times dismal performance on the shooting range. "Seriously, that guy over there couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with buckshot ammo. Who taught him how to hold a rifle?"

Theresa, who had heard similar complaints from her own company as well, had just laughed. "The Army just wants to fill the ranks so the regiment looks fighting fit again on paper."

"Yeah, and switched up the rosters for some variety."

The companies had undergone another reshuffle to even out the number of veterans per squad and platoon and compensate for the loss of experienced leaders on all levels. Esther was still under Sergeant Caracea, her and Steve Kapopoulos the only other Toccoa veterans in the squad. Their replacements had shaped up nicely under their tutelage, even Phillips had managed to get over himself and started listening to Esther's input.

Theresa still had Cobb in her squad, which she was absurdly pleased about since she genuinely liked and trusted the man – despite his irritability, scathing remarks and penchant for being a mean drunk. She'd also kept Pace, another Holland and Bastogne veteran, and Babe had been transferred to her command, along with three new kids whose attitudes ranged from star-struck (Levinson) over respectful (Rhodes) to gratingly cocky (Barker).

It didn't go unnoticed that there had been far less problems from the new kids that found themselves under a woman's command than last time. There had been a few like Barker that felt the irrational – not to say stupid – need to try and prove that these broads were somehow unfit to be soldiers. The attempts all failed dismally since everybody else knew them to be highly capable in the field. And even those that hadn't been there for all of it themselves knew that having made it through Toccoa, and Sobel's special brand of hell in Easy's case, D-Day, Normandy, Market Garden, Pegasus and Bastogne had to count for something.