Marine Corps Stories: Their Next Excursion

First Sergeant Beck Singles paced the room. He stood at about 5’9” and made every move precise. His teak-colored face, shaven, and regulation fade and pressed cammies all projected his well-kept manner. His rank insignia sat expertly on his collar points. He looked over the gear of his junior Marines.

“See this here,” he said in a strong whisper. “This needs to be tightened up or else you’re going to lose all that trash out in the desert, okay?”

“Yes, First Sar’ent.” Lance Corporal Akisha Watt responded. She boasted dark features and curves. Her donut bun was tight and she had light eyes that looked like honey. Singles went down the line of gear, inspecting to find some fault or flaw. “Hey, Crouch.”

“Yes, First Sar’ent?”

“What is this?”

Lance Corporal Mannon Crouch, medium brown skinned, stated exactly what Singles had mentioned. He kept his cammies clean but always stayed just a few hairs from being out of regulation.

“That is an experimental component that will instantly turn sand into glass,” Crouch said.

“Is it on the gear list?”

Crouch looked down and then up again. “No, First Sar’ent, but I promise to only use it during down time.”

“There will be little to no down time once we hit the city of Medina.”

The junior Marines stifled themselves. They expected that there would be hours of downtime.

“What, you think I'm joking? Look,” he made a map with his hand. “We will travel along this route which will take us directly into Medina. There, we will be tasked with being ever vigilant of small arms fire and heavier artillery as we capture a holy site. You won’t have time to be on your little mobile devices. You might have time for chow. But that’s about it. So, Crouch. Your sand-changing-into-glass equipment is now officially secured.”

Deflated, Crouch said, “Yes, First Sar’ent.”

Singles turned to the rest of the Marines. “That goes for all of you. Anything that is not appropriate for this push into the desert is going to be chucked. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, First Sar’ent!” The Marines responded.

“I’m going to give you ten minutes to get rid of all of the trash that doesn’t belong. That time starts now.”

Akisha stared at her phone that she had just received. Like a mother goose watching her gosling take flight, she ripped the cell phone from her gear and watched it fly into her footlocker with gentle care. Crouch continued to unpack all sorts of sundries. He even picked out a pair of flip flops. Not to be confused with shower shoes, these things showed a popular comic book hero. Crouch giggled a bit.

“Hey, ‘Kish’! Look at this,” Crouch said.

Akisha turned. Her 5”3’ body allowed for Crouch to dwarf her in height with his 6’2” frame.

“That’s pretty weird there Man’. Like really weird. Aren’t you like twenty-two?”

“Hey, at least we’re not like Rodriguez over there trying to stuff all that pogey bait back into his locker. I hope he has all those pastries wrapped tight or ants will get in them.”

“Rodriguez has it together,” Akisha said. “He’ll be alright.”

There remained about four minutes for the squad bay of Marines to completely empty and then repack their gear. Crouch and Akisha exchanged glances as they continued to strip away all the nonessentials.

“I wanted this,” Crouch said. He clutched an electric pencil sharpener.

“For what? We’ve got ink sticks in the field don’t we? Why would you even need that?”

He held up a crossword puzzle book from a prominent newspaper in the United States. “I enjoy a good round of filling in the blanks, so to speak. And I do it with a pencil because I make mistakes. I could use digital, but it's not as much fun. I’m almost at the level where I can fill in with a pen, but I’m just not there yet.”

“It looks like you won’t even need the book or digital device so why don’t you just toss both the sharpener and the book in the locker?” Akisha said.

Crouch abided.

Time was up, now. Singles inspected the rest of the Devil Dogs and cleared them all for having impeccable timing.

“I want you all to be prepared for this mission. I’m glad to see that your training has not failed you.” Singles then stepped into his office.

The Marines kept a medium shout going and prepared for their next excursion.