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This week we take a look at the Men of Bravo Co. 2nd platoon on maneuvers in West Midlands England

Bravo 2 had been up and down Bunbury Rd. just south of Birmingham in West Midlands England for what seemed like a year. They would push and fall short one day, then hop a ride northeast toward Nottingham and push there the next only to repeat the process over and over. The Britt’s were fighting tough on their home soil. Rumors were starting to circulate that the maneuvers were nothing more than training wars meant to keep Phoenix troops occupied.

Bravo 2 did as ordered everyday with little excitement. This was a strong platoon that was well trained and could create a lot of havoc. Four members of the platoon we above 17 strength and the XO Sgt. Collin Roche was just a handful of fights away from field marshal. Training and exercises were beneath these guys. They could deal some real damage and by God they were going to.

It was late evening as they began their maneuvers. They were to move northeast along Bunbury Rd. and secure the grounds at Birmingham University to their north. Platoon Commander Lt. Joshua Norton addressed his Troopers; “Alright men, simple maneuvers tonight, simple but important. We move up Bunbury Rd. securing each cross roads, if the enemy occupation is too strong at a cross roads we slip around it and move to the next while the rest of Bravo Company cleans it up behind us. We are going to split up by the numbers, Odds with me on the left side of the road, evens with Sgt. Roche on the right side. Cover each other as you move and stay quite, understood?”

“Yes, sir,” the platoon responded without much enthusiasm, they were on point for the entire company which meant a lot of walking tonight and very little action as they were to avoid combat and simply continue scouting.

They piled into the back of a commandeered pick up truck driven by Bravo QM Guy Herrin, another heavy hitter at 18 strength and field marshal status. He would be dropping them off short of a cross roads then picking them up after it was secure and moving them to the next one. “Hey Guy, try not to run anyone over this time would ya?” shouted Pvt. Jackson Hunter.

“Not my fault the last couple of times,” Guy replied, “It’s this steering wheel being on the wrong side, messes me all up. Besides, no one has been seriously injured, yet.” He said as he floored the gas pedal jerking the members of Bravo 2 backwards and almost knocking several of them out of the back of the truck.

Several miles down the road Guy stopped the truck, they dismounted and split up to either side of the road moving to the drainage ditches and tree lines for cover. Pvt. Apolonius attempted to run throught he drainage ditch and ended up knee deep in chilly water. He stopped long enough to sigh and contemplate how much fun the night would be squishing around in water logged boots. Pvt. Iron_Pyrite leapt over the ditch and past Apolonius and to the tree line. “Oh, that looks like it’s gonna suck” he said.

“Ya think?” Apolonius replied sarcastically as he squished his way to the tree line with water squeezing out of his boots with every step. They moved silently, other than the occasional squish, toward the crossroad. There were five men on either side of the road who moved in groups of two while two others provided cover and a fifth person brought up the rear.. They would work their way up to a clear vantage point of the crossroads and surrounding area and look out for enemy patrols or checkpoints. The first crossroads was clear. At that point it was the job of Pvt. Talon Roke, the newest member of the platoon to, to run back and signal, or as it got to be later in the night “wake up”, Guy Herrin to come pick them up and move them as far down the road as he could towards the next crossroads. The next four crossroads we clear and they moved on smoothly ahead until the fifth one that held a checkpoint and half a dozen British soldiers.

“Let’s take this thing, Lt.” Pvt.Torman Capek said eager to unleash some of his 17plus strength on the unsuspecting Britts.
“Nope, we move around and move up, that’s our or orders.” Replied Lt. Norton.
“Aww come on, we can mow these guys down like a Goat in a prize Begonia patch,” begged Pvt. The Mystic Panda with nods from other three members of the left side squad.
“I wish.” Lt. Norton replied, “But we have our orders, and besides the whole company is behind us and we need to keep on schedule if we are going to take Birmingham and the entire West Midlands tonight.” With that he signaled Sgt. Roche to move around the cross roads further down to the east and rejoin him up the road while Pvt. Roke and Pvt. LuiKunLin fell back to alert Herrin and the rest of the company.

With the pick up truck now stuck behind the check point the platoon had to double time it on foot up the road after they rejoined on the other side of the check point. They passed over the next couple of cross roads with no incident before holding up just a few clicks short of the University while a patrol marched by. Pvt. Kell Draygo, being a man who feared little, moved from his place of cover to the middle of the road and dropped his pants to moon the patrol after they had passed. Sure it was a risky thing to do, but he was expecting the Britt’s to not bother looking behind themselves, which they didn’t.

As Lt. Norton and Sgt. Roche began to plan out the attack strategy of the University the Pick up truck came flying up the road.
“Where are my guys?” Lt. Norton questioned eyeing the empty back of the pick up.
“Hoppin a bird to Peru,” Guy replied.
“What’s this?” Came the collective reply form the platoon.
“Everyone is, I’m here to run you back, we have to put down an RW there, nothing like putting the “mobile” in Mobile Infantry to use, eh?” Guy Herrin said with a smile.
Bravo 2 piled into the truck and it sped off back the way they had come, they passed what was left of the check point and were soon back in Whales boarding transports to Peru. Sometimes you have to put aside your goals to aide your allies. They had done it for the USA and now it was our turn.

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Respectfully submitted
Hampton H. Hampton
Mobile Infantry Press Officer
Ajax Archimedes
Asst. Writer

"Knowledge is power, but enthusiasm pulls the switch." Ivern Ball