Band of Brothers || To Hell And Back

Chapter Two: Doubts

July 1942

It was one of those days when nothing went right.

Elle Roosevelt, fresh graduate from officer candidate school, had been supposed to arrive at Camp Toccoa in Georgia by noon but unfortunately, the bus she had intended to take, never showed up. Therefore, due to missing her train, Elle was horribly late. Showing up that late would not be very good first impression for her new commanding officer, First Lieutenant Sobel. Elle knew absolutely nothing about the lieutenant who was to become her CO but generally the Army didn't like latecomers. She doubted that lieutenant Sobel would make an exception.

When Elle finally found a bus to take her to the train station, she didn't dare to lift, she was completely exhausted. It was July and the weather was extremely hot, especially when you had to wear an uniform. She remembered fondly the time when she had been home and able to wear comfortable dresses on a hot summer days like this. Now she had to wear the uniform which wasn't exactly the first piece of clothing Elle would choose on a day like this.

By the time Elle got in the train station, the clock was already 2 pm. She had been supposed to arrive two hours ago. Elle's military career was not exactly starting in the best possible way. She just sincerely hoped her CO would be a person who knew this kind of things just happened. Sometimes buses just didn't show up and there was very little Elle could do about that.

When Elle got in the train, she felt very anxious, fearing what was to happen after her late arrival. Her CO's reaction to showing up late was at the moment the biggest of her concerns but not the only one. Elle had had hard time ever since she had joined the military, after all, she was a young girl, though for obvious reasons she had to pretend to be a boy. No women were allowed to join the military and even if they had been allowed, Elle Roosevelt, the daughter of the President, would never be allowed to join.

She had been told the paratroopers were one of the best, that had partly been the reason why Elle had decided to join the Airborne after the OCS, but being the best meant hard training. Though, she had been able to put up with the military for six months already, maybe she would be just fine. And in case she would not be good enough to be a paratrooper, she could join another branch.

What worried Elle a lot, were the thoughts of combats and war. She had lived so protected and privileged life, war would be something else. Deep down, Elle had concerns if she would be fit to wage a war. And even more importantly, she was an officer now, she would have to lead men into combat and that worried her a lot. How could she, a young girl, lead men into combat, to face the possibility of dying? Maybe she would gain some confidence during the training.

Elle didn't worry about dying as much as she did about leading. The thought of death was distant, and at some level, she believed she was above death. Elle knew she was just as mortal as anyone else but maybe she was being arrogant again. Arrogance was something she was awfully good at.

***

After three hours, Elle arrived at Camp Toccoa. She was five hours late which made her very nervous, everything in the military world made her so easily nervous. Before, Elle had thought she was confident and out-going but that had been in the White House. Now Elle was in a strange world, with no one to rely on and pretending to be a man. Maybe that was enough to make anyone nervous.

"Lieutenant Aldrin?" a black haired man with a really big nose asked Elle as soon as she had arrived. Elle glanced the man rather nervously. Goddamn, she would really have to do something about that nervousness. It was getting pretty weary.

"Yes, sir", she answered saluting the man with a rank of First Lieutenant, like she had been taught in OCS.

"You're late", the man said with a contemptuous look on his face.