The Tour

Looking back, the only reason I had for joining was because I felt like I should.  The reasons don't matter now; I'm going to Vietnam, possibly to die for my beliefs, my country, and for people I don't even know

This is it.  I pushed open the door to the barracks and walked inside.  My sea bag was in my left hand, my rifle in my right.  Looking around, I saw a variety of things.  Most of the squad had their rifles hanging on makeshift racks or leaning against their bedposts.  There appeared to be an assortment of weapons including an M79 "Blooper", the M60, also known as the "pig", an M14 with the Starlight Scope, and a Winchester 12.  There were also a couple AK's laying around and a tub of parts.

I walked in quietly, so nobody seemed to have noticed me, so I made my way to an empty bunk between a girl with rainbow hair and another girl wearing a Stetson and cowboy boots.  I looked over and the rainbow haired girl was sleeping and the cowgirl was carving something.  I set down my bag and rifle and close my eyes, but begin to sense a presence.  A very close presence.  After a few seconds, it went past sensing: I could feel breath on my face.  I slowly opened my eyes and in front of me is a very bubbly looking, pink haired girl.  She was staring right at me and I try to get a look of how the others were reacting.  They just kept doing what they were doing.

"Hey," I manage to get out, "What's up?"

"Oh! Hey! IjustnoticedyoucomeintandI'veneverseenyoubeforebutthatsgood'causenowIcanmeetyouandIthinkIlllikeyouandeveryonelikesme."

"Uh, yeah. Hey, could you please get off me?"

"Okie dokie lokie!"

Well, I'm not sure if I'd trust her with my life but, the others looked better.  It looked like I had some country folk, but I wasn't sure if I could trust anyone here.

My thoughts were broken as I heard the doors open.  I shifted my attention to the person walking into the hooch.  She had purple hair with a fuchsia stripe.  She had 3 chevrons on her sleeve, plus 2 dips, making her a Gunnery Sergeant.  I knew her as Gunnery Sergeant Twilight Sparkle, the squad leader.  When she took notice to me, she checked something off on her clipboard and walked towards me.  When she got to my bunk, I immediately got up and fired off a crisp salute.

"Lance Corporal Silverado, reporting, ma'am," I said as strongly as I could, listening for voice cracks.

She returned my salute, "Gunnery Sergeant Twilight Sparkle," she said strongly, yet calmly.

The 2 girls next to me lazily got out of their bunks, stretching and yawning.  As I looked past Twilight and the 2 others, I saw that the whole squad was looking at me.  A whole 12 sets of eyes staring straight at me.  I was still ramrod straight and looking around, looking at each person individually.  Finally, Twilight broke the silence.

"It looks like you all noticed our new replacement.  This is Lance Corporal Silverado."

There was a collection of "hey's" and "hello's" from the group.  Twilight put a hand on my shoulder and pointed to each person individually.  She started with the girl to my left: the cowgirl.

"She's Applejack, she came right off of an apple farm.  Do you see the big guy over there," she gestured towards a man with blonde hair and freckles and a Stetson, "That's her brother, Macintosh.  We call him Big Mac. He works the pig"

"I see."

She continued going around the room, pointing out each person.  I learned that the rainbow haired girl had the fitting name of Rainbow Dash, the girl with blue hair and sunglasses was called Vinyl "8-ball" Scratch, 8-ball, as in 8 ball scratch.  The corpsman's name was Redheart, the hyper, pink haired girl was Pinkie Pie; she used the Blooper, the girl with the styled, purple hair and the M14 was Rarity.  The girl with light pink hair was Fluttershy, a name that suited her seemingly shy personality.  Lastly, was Thunderlane, a smaller-framed guy with a blue-silver Mohawk.

Then, it finally hit me after Twilight went through the squad; A Marine Corps squad should have 13 members.  We were short 2 men.  I was told by a captain that there were no recent casualties in 2nd squad. So that meant that this squad, and probably all of Charlie Company was undermanned.  I was thinking of this and I just remembered to unpack my stuff.  As I started unpacking my bag, I heard a sweet, thick Southern draw.

"Hey there sugarcube.  Ah'm Applejack.  Ah've been here for a few months and nothin' too bad's happened.  No need ta be nervous."

"Yeah, I think I'm good," I said reaching into my bag for a bag of jerky, "How often do we go out?"

"'bout, Ah'd say, every other day.  Not today, luckly for ya.  Ya do have to pull night watch, though."

"Night watch?"

"S'easy.  All ya gotta do is sit out at your post an' watch the wire.  Y'all have a partner with'ya 'swell."

"Okay... Whose my partner?"

"Dash."

"What's she like?"

"Purdy nice, a bit stubborn at times, but so am I.  She's athletic, loves challenges, but hates losing.  Brash, confident, cocky, a tad lazy.

She's real loyal, though.  Once, she ran through a totally open field, no cover at all, to get 8-ball out of a thorn bush."

"Hey, Applejack, you telling 'em how awesome I am?"

"Nah, he asked 'bout ya so, ah'm tellin' 'im."

"Why you asking about me? Huh? Huh?," she said back with a playful smirk and chuckle.

Maybe this place won't be that bad.