Lunch was pasta.
This was Winters' first lunch after taking over the kitchen.
Even though it was pasta, it tasted pretty good.
"Wait, coming right up!" the cook said, carrying an empty bucket away. "These guys even want to pack some to go!" He complained to Winters in the kitchen. These soldiers sure could eat.
"This stuff is orange," Heffron said, spearing a few noodles with his fork and shaking his head. "Pasta shouldn't be orange."
Malarkey, while wolfing down his food, said, "This isn't pasta; this is U.S. Army noodles with ketchup."
Just then, Guarnere came over with his noodles and sat next to Malarkey: "No one's making you eat it."
"Come on, Mr. Gonorrhea, as an Italian, calling this garbage pasta would make me feel guilty," Malarkey said in a lecturing tone.
"Heh heh, if you don't eat it, I will." At that moment, a hand reached out from behind Malarkey, someone was trying to snatch his plate.
Malarkey quickly protected his plate, saying repeatedly, "No, no, I'm still eating!"
"Get out of the way!" Guarnere also yelled from the side.
The entire dining hall was filled with the sound of chewing food. Overall, this lunch seemed to satisfy the brothers of E Company.
"Aren't you eating?" Parks was staring blankly at his plate of pasta. Just then, White came over with his plate, looked at the large, almost untouched plate of pasta in front of Parks, and asked strangely, "Doesn't it suit your taste? I think it's quite good!"
Parks smiled and shook his head: "It's better to eat less; eating too much isn't suitable for strenuous exercise!"
"Strenuous exercise?" White sat in front of Parks. "Oh, don't be funny, Parks, today is an indoor class; we'll have a relaxed and pleasant day."
"Do you think you can use normal thinking to guess Captain Sobel's actions?" Parks frowned, looking at the wolfing down brothers of E Company. He knew that when Captain Sobel returned, he would order these soldiers who had just eaten lunch to go for a run. Although this was training E Company for forced marches in emergencies, doing it frequently would obviously be a test for the soldiers' stomachs.
Just as he was speaking, Captain Sobel walked into the dining hall and ordered loudly: "Orders changed, stand up!"
All the soldiers put down their plates and forks and stood up straight.
Captain Sobel walked and shouted loudly: "Indoor classes are canceled, E Company should be running outside the camp now. Move it!" Then his eyes swept over Winters, who was in the kitchen, and he yelled: "Three miles out, three miles back!"
"Shit!" Guarnere cursed under his breath, "Captain Sobel is shit!"
"You're something else, Parks!" White also winked at Parks and whispered.
At this moment, Captain Sobel was already yelling: "Charge, stallions! Faster, faster!"
Winters watched everything from the kitchen, feeling unimpressed. But he couldn't just watch his brothers suffer like this; he should be with them, accompanying them.
This was torture for the E Company soldiers who had just eaten.
Not long after they started running, Hubler threw up; his lunch noodles hadn't had time to digest.
"You're a coward, soldier Hubler," Captain Sobel yelled at him from behind. "You should pack up your ears and go home!"
Gordon also threw up.
"Looks like Gordon's done for too, isn't that right, Gordon?" Captain Sobel said sharply. "Are you finished? You'll never get your paratrooper badge like this."
"Sergeant Landers? You look very tired. There's an ambulance waiting for you at the foot of the mountain; you can be relieved now, no more pain, no more basic training, no more Captain Sobel."
"Listen to that, that's Captain Sobel!" White grumbled discontentedly. "Good thing I listened to you, otherwise I would have had it rough!"
"I want to sing!" Landers muttered to himself.
"Sing, Landers! Let's sing together!" At this moment, several others around him chimed in.
"We pulled the riser, landed in the grass," Landers sang.
"We never land on our feet, always on our butts.
Almighty God, who are we?
We are the damn paratroopers.
We pulled the riser, landed in the grass.
We never land on our feet, always on our butts.
Almighty God, who are we?
We are the damn paratroopers."
At first, it was just Landers, but then all the brothers of E Company started singing. This was the brotherhood of E Company; even in the face of the unpredictable Captain Sobel and brutal training, they always maintained a strong fighting spirit. This was why Parks liked E Company. He smiled and sang along loudly.
Captain Sobel looked at the group of soldiers singing loudly, and how their fighting spirit was growing stronger, feeling very conflicted. He had done this today to show Winters, who usually took too much care of them during training. He now saw Winters in the ranks; he was singing loudly with the soldiers, running with them towards the mountaintop.
After the run, all the soldiers of E Company were exhausted, and some were lying scattered on the camp's grass, complaining about that damned Captain Sobel.
"Actually, this kind of training isn't entirely without benefits!" Parks lay in the middle, sat up, and chewed on a blade of grass. "Honestly, it helps us survive in complex situations."
"I know," Guarnere spat out the blade of grass he was chewing with a "poof," propping himself up on the grass with one hand. "I think Captain Sobel is doing this to give Winters a hard time."
"Maybe he doesn't want to save our lives at all," Malarkey panted. "He just wants to play his little games; he wants E Company to perform better than other companies. His goal in doing this is just to please Colonel Sink."
It turned out that within E Company, the brothers all knew Captain Sobel's thoughts. Parks couldn't help but smile, of course, he couldn't incite such dissatisfaction further. He stopped talking, after all, if the brothers' emotions weren't vented, it would only lead to worse results in the future.
And it was precisely because of Captain Sobel's "torment," whether genuine or feigned, that E Company's performance in the 506th Regiment was outstanding. Especially in basic training, E Company always managed to rank first in the entire regiment.
Parks had gradually spent several months in E Company. The weather was also getting cooler. Although the brothers of E Company were still dissatisfied with Captain Sobel, they still persevered.
In terms of physical fitness and basic training, Parks' performance gradually stood out. Firstly, after this period of exercise, Parks' various physical abilities were gradually approaching those of his previous life. Moreover, in addition to his daily training, he never stopped exercising himself with his more scientific modern training methods. He did this because he would still need to survive on the battlefield in the future, and the stronger he was, the higher his chances of survival would be.
Although Captain Sobel was no longer very interested in Parks, Parks' performance couldn't be ignored just because he overlooked it. Winters had already submitted a report for Parks' promotion for the third time.
"Are you sure you want to promote him to Sergeant?" Captain Sobel looked down at the report Winters submitted, tapping the table with his pen, then stared at Winters. "A company's non-commissioned officer plays a leadership role in the company. You know, Parks was once promoted to non-commissioned officer, and I even suggested it, but he was involved in a fight and had no sense of discipline at all."
"Yes, Captain, I believe Parks will be a good non-commissioned officer," Winters insisted on his opinion.
"I'll consider it, you may leave!" Captain Sobel was a little annoyed, his tone somewhat sharp.
Winters stood straight, saluted Captain Sobel, and then left. He thought highly of Parks; whether in training or getting along with his brothers, he performed exceptionally well, definitely the best candidate for a non-commissioned officer. Once he made up his mind, Winters didn't want to change it because he felt his decision was correct.
"Did Captain Sobel agree?" Nixon, outside the camp gate, saw Winters walk out.
"I don't know!" Winters said calmly. "Perhaps I'll need to submit Parks' promotion report for the fourth time."
Nixon smiled: "Your persistence will annoy Captain Sobel."
"Do you think I should yield to Captain Sobel?" Winters smiled slightly. "Or are you telling a Lieutenant to yield to a Captain?"
Despite Captain Sobel's reluctance, Parks' appointment was issued.
"Alright, Sergeant Parks!" Winters handed him the shoulder straps for the test tube. "I believe you will be a good non-commissioned officer."
Parks nodded: "Yes, Lieutenant!" He solemnly saluted Winters.
"Keep up the good work!" Winters patted his shoulder before leaving. Yes, he won this round, but would Captain Sobel give up?