20 MAY 1940

FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA

It had really been no great surprise that things would get a little hectic. Every morning when Robert got out of bed he rushed down to the BOQ’s main hall, where a growing number of fellow officers gathered every morning to listen to the radio. They had a civilian short wave set and, because of that, they listened directly to the BBC. It was already evening in London and that meant the soldiers here at Fort Huachuca got the full accounting of the days events just as they woke up.

Robert was still fiddling with his tie as he walked down the stairs and asked the first guy he came too, “did the Tommy’s manage to break out?”

The young Lieutenant was dazed as he responded, “oh you aren’t going to believe it.”

Robert took that as meaning the British and French troops, that had been encircled after the fall of the Sedan, were still getting their clocks cleaned. It was hard to believe but, it seemed to be how this particular campaign was shaping up.

The papers had been calling the new German warfare, “blitzkrieg.” Robert, being an operations officer, understood that was a little overly simplistic but, you did have to give the devil his due. What the Wehrmacht had cooked up was definitely working. There had been many who had written off the conquest of Poland as a fluke. They argued the Poles were simply second rate compared to the Germans. Now that the Nazi’s were dishing it out to the French and British it was hard to ignore this new style they had invented.

Robert was smug about it since he had not been one of those officers that thought the German success had simply been due to them picking their adversaries wisely. That was why he was a bit shocked when he discovered that his assumptions about the morning news were all wrong. The Lieutenant told him, “Major, Hitler’s been all over the radio this morning. He’s called a cease fire. The German’s just stopped.”

Robert blinked. He then said, “excuse me?”

A call came out from the door of the BOQ and the corporal doing the calling sounded as if he was saying Robert’s name, “Major Sink?”

“Right here Corporal,” Robert replied as he held up his hand. He commented under his breath, “well isn’t this day starting out early.”

The Corporal pulled his hat off and walked inside. He looked pretty nervous to be the only enlisted man in the room. He was also largely ignored by most of the officers who were busy listening to the radio. The boy still made his report rather quickly, “sir, The colonel wants you over at Regiment, ASAP.”

Sink nodded to the boy, “send the colonel my compliments. I’ll be right over.” Sink then looked at the Lieutenant and he had a big smile on his face as he did, “that can only be one thing.”

The Lieutenant laughed, “the transfer? You really in that big of a hurry to go jump out of perfectly good Dakota?”

As Sink walked out he noted to the junior officer, “I’ve flown in more than my fair share of Dakota’s. I don’t think I’ve been in a perfectly good one yet.”

Sink practically skipped all the way over to the building that served as regimental headquarters. He even caught himself whistling from time to time. It was something of a coup to be an army Major when you weren’t even a hair over thirty-five. Now, if Sink got the paratrooper assignment, then he was looking at making lieutenant colonel before he turned thirty-seven. He could even wind up getting his own regiment!

The army was expanding and he was now perfectly positioned to expand with it. All he had to do was bounce over to Regiment, listen to his commanding officer bitch for a few minutes, and then pick up his orders that would hopefully be sending him to Fort Benning. That was why Sink was somewhat surprised to find that a colonel had called for him but, it wasn’t his colonel. In fact, the guy wasn’t even in the army. He was a Marine!

The Marine colonel introduced himself as Puller. He did the most un-military thing after the exchange of salutes. Puller shook hands with the Major. Then the Marine introduced the young army Captain with him. The fellow was named Darby and he remained seated as he nodded to the Major. The guy looked pretty bored. When Sink commented about that to the bored Captain who then replied, “I thought I had it bad at Sill, Major. Then I saw your little corner of hell.”

The last introduction that came was, surprisingly, to a woman who was sitting behind the desk that belonged to Robert’s boss. She did not seem to be all that concerned about using it either. She barely even noted Robert’s presence as she seemed too busy with reading the file that was laying in front of her. Robert leaned a little forward and noted the name on the file. It was his name! Robert then asked her, “and Misses…”

Without looking up from the file she sternly corrected him, “Miss.”

“Um, Miss,” Sink corrected himself. She did not say anything further so Robert continued, “that’s my personnel file and that’s my colonel’s desk.”

Puller injected, “your colonel doesn’t mind, Major Sink. He has granted Miss Bitrerlich the full use of his office.”

For the second time in less than an hour, Sink had a piece of news that tossed him for a loop. She was the one who called this meeting? That surprised him for more than a few reasons. Putting aside the fact that she was a she, the girl was also pretty young to be pulling that kind of weight.

Without even looking up, the girl read Sink’s mind, “letters of introduction from FDR do have a way of getting the wheels greased Major.” She closed the file and then looked up to him with a smile, “so, Major Robert Sink. Why did you volunteer for the paratroopers?”

Sink looked to the Marine colonel for instructions and Puller told the army Major, “she’s my boss. I’d suggest you answer the lady’s questions.”

Even with the consent of a bird colonel, Sink was a little reluctant to reply. The woman easily picked up on that and rolled her eyes. When she mentioned how agitated he was making her, Sink replied, “nothing against you ma’am. I was just a little surprised that you even know what a paratrooper is.”

She was also very condescending, “trust me Major. I’ve made more jumps than you probably ever will. So can we cut the crap and just get on with this? What I want to know is, are you an ass kissing, opportunistic, career hound?”

Sink was now almost completely stunned by today’s turn of events. It was quite a feat considering it was not even seven a.m. He still pulled his punches though, “and that would be as opposed to what Miss Bitrerlich? I’m a soldier. I figure the paratroopers are where the real action is going to be. I want to be in on it.”

“Oh,” she replied in a matter of fact kind of way. She then said something that sounded as if she were really inside his head. Her words could have easily been plucked right out of an earlier thought, “so you don’t want to go there because you figure the new regimental expansions are likely to give you an opening to command one?”

Sink became even more uncomfortable as he replied, “well, that thought had crossed my mind but, it’s not the only reason.”

The woman smirked in a way that was even more condescending and Robert had not thought that possible. She stood up and looked to the Marine, “he’ll do for now. Have his orders cut, Colonel.” She gathered her things and led the way to the office door.

Sink was not even sure what had just happened. He demanded to know, “does this mean I’m going to the paratroopers?”

Bitrerlich stopped with her hand on the door handle. She had a very suspicious looking smile on her face when she looked back at Robert. She thought about what she wanted to say. She was obviously being very careful about the words she picked when she replied, “you said the para’s would be where all the action is. Let me just say you’re wrong Major, but, don’t worry about it. I’m going to make sure that YOU are.”