"Oh, Parks, you made the Lieutenant look bad!" Luz yelled. Laughter immediately erupted around them.
Buck Compton looked at the dart that had hit the bullseye and smiled bitterly, shaking his head: "You win, Parks!" Buck knew he couldn't hit the bullseye, so he conceded, not even throwing his dart.
"Five hundred dollars, here you go!" Joe Liebgott handed over a stack of bills, "You made me lose everything, Parks."
"Did I?" Parks laughed. No one dislikes money. Parks calculated in his mind that five hundred dollars was a large sum according to current American prices, equivalent to ten months of a soldier's salary. "Maybe next time, you can bet on me to win."
"I can't sleep tonight! Even though I lost, I still think you just got lucky tonight." Buck Compton shook his head and left.
"Who else wants beer? Buck's treating tonight!" Parks raised the beer in his hand.
"Oh! You're too good." Cheers rang out around them.
"Alright, fellas, I have bad news and good news. Which one do you want to hear first?" At this moment, Walter Gordon suddenly stood on a table and shouted loudly.
"Tell us the good news first!" Odem Moore said.
"The good news is, tomorrow morning's inspection will be canceled, which means we can sleep in!" As soon as Gordon's words fell, a roar of cheers erupted.
"That's really good news!" Parks said with a smile, "But I think the bad news will always make the good news seem dull. I know Lieutenant Herb Sobel very well.
"The bad news is, tomorrow afternoon's leave will be canceled, and Sobel will lead everyone in outdoor training." As expected, after Gordon announced the bad news, everyone became dejected.
The next afternoon, Taccoa Barracks.
"All of you stand at attention!" Sobel shouted loudly, walking through the perfectly aligned ranks. He stood in front of Patrick Christenson.
"Soldier Patrick Christenson, did you tuck your pant legs into your boots like a paratrooper?"
"No, Captain." Patrick Christenson replied, straightening his chest.
"Then why are your pant legs wrinkled?"
"Captain, no reason." Patrick Christenson seemed very nervous. Heaven knew what kind of tormenting method this pervert would come up with.
"Volunteering to join the airborne forces is one thing, but Patrick Christenson, to actually do it, you still have a long way to go!" Sobel shouted, "Your leave next weekend is canceled."
"Name?" Sobel stopped again.
"George Luz."
"Dust behind the foresight, leave canceled." Sobel took the rifle from Luz's hand and glanced at it.
"When did you sew on these ranks, Sergeant Lipton?" Sobel's finger touched the Sergeant's rank on Lipton's shoulder.
"Yesterday, Captain!" Carwood Lipton pursed his lips.
"Threads too long, next week's leave canceled."
"Yes, Captain!"
"Name? Donald Malarkey."
"Malarkey? In slang, it means 'shit,' right?" Sobel took Malarkey's rifle and then aimed it.
"Yes, Captain."
"Stock hinge spring rusted, Soldier 'Shit' leave canceled."
"Name? Joe Liebgott, Captain."
"Bayonet rusted, Liebgott!" Sobel reached out and pulled the bayonet from Joe's body, "Do you want to kill Germans?" "Yes, Captain." Joe Liebgott said loudly.
Sobel threw the bayonet to the ground, where it stuck diagonally: "Not with this thing. I won't allow you to take this piece of scrap iron to the battlefield. I won't take you to the battlefield in this condition either."
Sobel walked to the front of the line and said loudly: "Because of you people who made mistakes, everyone in the company whose leave was scheduled for next weekend, all of it is canceled. Change into your paratrooper uniforms, we're going for a run!"
This scene was very familiar to Parks; he had seen it many times on his computer. He suddenly wanted to laugh, but seeing the dejected faces of his other brothers, he couldn't. At this moment, Lieutenant Dick Winters commanded: "Second Platoon dismissed, you have two minutes to change into training uniforms. Hurry up!"
Despite their reluctance, no one in E Company disobeyed the order.
"White, let's go!" This time Parks voluntarily walked up to White. He knew that, if things developed normally, White would refuse training this time and be transferred out of the 506th Regiment by Lieutenant Herb Sobel. Parks knew White was a good person, aside from being a bit pampered.
"Parks, I don't want to! Really." White sat on the cot.
"You can do it, White!" Parks squatted down and looked at him.
"I can't take it anymore!" White held his head in frustration.
"Look at me, White! No one is born capable. Let's go, I'll be with you." Parks pulled White up from the bed, "I'll help you."
White changed into his training uniform and followed Parks out of the tent. Parks was very happy; after all, White's outcome might have changed because of his arrival.
The usual mountain climbing, back and forth. Parks was becoming more and more accustomed to his current body. He even felt his body gradually becoming stronger, filled with power. This benefited from Parks's much more advanced training methods than the current ones, as well as his own set of internal body regulation breathing techniques, which more efficiently improved his physical quality to adapt to Sobel's training intensity.
"I can't imagine this is the old Parks!" Now, even Sobel was surprised by the increasingly strong Parks. Perhaps he was the strongest guy in my company.
Because of this, Parks became the earliest non-commissioned officer in the company.
"Attention!" A few soldiers in the tent put down their playing cards and stood up straight.
It wasn't Lieutenant Herb Sobel who came, but Lieutenant Dick Winters.
"At ease, soldiers!" Winters smiled, "There's a ceremony today, everyone go out and assemble!"
"Oh, I hope it's not Lieutenant Herb Sobel's idea!" White muttered. Then everyone laughed loudly. In front of Lieutenant Dick Winters, everyone was not as nervous. But it did not hinder everyone's respect for Winters. Because he was a good person, always helping everyone out when Sobel made things difficult.
The Second Platoon assembled at the tent entrance. Lieutenant Dick Winters and Lieutenant Lewis Nixon were already waiting outside the tent, smiling.
"Reese Parks, William Dukeman, David Landers, step forward!"
The three immediately took a step forward in a military march.
"In view of your excellent performance in training, Lieutenant Sobel believes you can be promoted and serve as staff non-commissioned officers of E Company. You are hereby awarded the rank of Sergeant!" Dick Winters took the Sergeant chevrons from Nixon's hand, then distributed them to the three, and shook their hands with a smile, "Congratulations!"
The three saluted, then walked back to the formation.
"Dismissed!" With that command, everyone gathered around.
"Hey, "Big" Bill Guarnere, you're buying beer this weekend!"
"All three of them should treat!" Someone egged on, and laughter immediately erupted.
"Parks, well done!" As Parks passed Winters, Winters shook his hand and nodded, "You are the most excellent soldier I have ever seen!"
"Thank you, Lieutenant!" Parks nodded and smiled, "You are also one of the most excellent officers I have ever seen." Parks saluted Winters and Nixon, then turned and returned to the tent. This promotion came too quickly, of course, which was inseparable from Parks's usual performance.
"Congratulations, Parks!" Entering the tent, White smiled happily at Parks, "I knew you could do it. Alright, you promised me you'd help me. Honestly, Lieutenant Sobel has tortured me to the point where I'm losing confidence."
"You have to call him Sergeant Parks now!" Ed Heffron said with a laugh from the side.
"Alright, call me whatever you want, but remember, no matter what happens to us in the future, we are brothers. When we kill German devils in the future, the only ones we can trust by our side are us brothers!" Parks nodded.
"But I will absolutely not trust Lieutenant Herb Sobel if he's by my side!" George Luz said with a laugh.