Somebody’s Got to Do It

“Damn that’s a tough evaluation Doc,” said Megan Webb.

“What do you want me to do revert to being your Mommy and feed you spooned sugar?” The face of Dr. Muriel Webb was a cold as ice and not the least bit motherly. “You know as well as I do your Dad the General’s Rules for Combat. Females want to fight fine but, there are only one set of requirements for each job PERIOD! Megan, with the upper body damage you took there is no way you will ever pass the SOCOM Physical Test again. I am not a miracle worker and I can’t see Regeneration Therapy on the horizon for quite a while. I am going to down-check you and that is that!”

The room hung with a heavy silence for several long moments, “OK Mom, what can I still have a shot at?”

“If you put your mind and soul to the therapy and rebuilding process, I think you have a chance to pass the Ranger Test in about four months!”

The dropped jaw look was worth every moment Muriel had spent agonizing over this moment. “Mom, Ranger is damn near as hard as SOCOM. I don’t understand how I could do one and not the other?”

“Then you missed one critical difference, I am sure you remember ten pull-ups with that 125 lb rucksack on your back. If I remember correctly you called that ‘Hell on Earth’ even if you were on New Carolina at the time.”

“Damn Mom that I will never forget but, what does that have to do with th…? Oh Crap, that’s what you are talking about Right?”

“Correct young Lady! A male like your brothers might have enough residual upper body strength to overcome what you lost to damage but, there just ain’t no female that ever lived who did or does. The percentage of females that have qualified for SOCOM would have probably stunned a 21^st century General but you know as well as I that we neither number that greatly nor do we have much to spare. Any upper body loss to a female and you are out and you know it.

“Stop and think a moment, your Dad’s rules are meant to keep people alive. Not only the individual in question but, everyone around them who might stake their lives on your ability to do the job now! You were born female and there are going to be somethings that you cannot do and then some that men cannot. When you leave here go get your Son from your Grandmother and hold that proof in your arms, then remember one thing. It took two people to make that miracle and if you really need some heavy lifting done, you might look at the other half of that.”

The stunned pause this time went much longer and the young eyes showed much more brain activity. “Mom, Dad always set it up where you had surprise, tactics and weapons on your side didn’t he? We kids heard all the stories of the crap you two pulled of and never thought it through. Even down on Earth last time you had every advantage on your side.”

“Hell Girl, do I look like Superwoman? Your Dad put those stupid shits on a platter for me, it was skills that mattered there… not strength! Even there he made one mistake, not knowing Team Delta was on the way.”

“Which Redneck solved for him I guess. I always was worried whether Dad would accept him or not, I guess that didn’t hurt!”

“Not near as much as when your Dad got to the Hospital while you were still in stasis. That red eyed statue standing outside that glass that had not slept in days proved more than anything else. There was no doubt that he had married you not for your name or the money that goes with it. I have learned what unstoppable forces look like and I saw two that day. Did you know that we had people in that OR shit their pants when they saw those two faces?”

“Oh my God NO!”

“Yes, and by the way, if you go Ranger you solve a problem for your Dad!”

“What could me changing track solve?”

“Your Dad wanting to put Officers Bars on Redneck without violating even his loose definition of Chain of Command fraternization!”

The silence in the room went very very long this time!

****

Lieutenant General Jeffery Carlson was not in a happy mood. Seventeen straight days of inspection tours of various bases were not designed to make the commander of the first Outer Worlds combat Division happy. In two weeks he was going to command a larger ground force than the Outer Worlds had sent against Earth. The training chain had never stopped and was turning out impressive numbers especially on the worlds other than New Texas.

One unplanned for social event had occurred when the DEW franchise had turned on the money tap to build Attack Fleet. People all over the transit chains who were marginal survival were suddenly making money. Hardscrabble farmers could suddenly acquire the modern equipment they needed to turn their farms into money enterprises. Industry was hiring and at wages that allowed stay at home wives. The Outer Worlds became what they could have been had not the Oligarchs and Mullahs been more intent on lining their own pockets in the midst of their power struggles.

Money to support one job families and land to claim on all the newer worlds meant one thing, population explosion. The bulk of the leading edge of that explosion was turning eighteen and formed the bulk of his troops. Just what a brand new division commander needed especially a division whose basic organization had not even been decided. What he commanded was one great big experiment and he was hunting the talent he so desperately needed. Then his intercom chimed and his secretary spoke, “General Lieutenant Colonel Chiba for the scheduled interview.”

“Send him in please Angela.” Great a interview set up by General Staff with an officer he did not even have a file on and had never heard of. As he rose to greet the LTC his heart froze in his throat, he did not know the name but he knew Megan Clarice Webb by sight. His mind raced “of course she is married to the CSM and would start to use the name as soon as she went to Med-Temp status,” and his second thought was that he had confirmed to his soul that there was a God of War!

“Please have a seat LTC, may I inquire why you are not wearing the rank to which you have been promoted? It would seem to bear here.”

“No problem Sir, the promotion is not effective until I return to Active status and that will take at least a week. Due to my medical problems, I cannot return to Active as SOCOM so I am looking for another job. So I will at least be in the proper uniform when I pin on the eagles.”

“Well Megan, this outfit even though we are not going to be Rangers is going to require at least a Ranger Physical to be assigned here.”

“No problem Sir,” pulling from her small portfolio a printed document; “this has not been released to the general data base but, you can see the documents are certified by General Staff G-3 Training.”

Jeff reached out and took the document, ten pages of a complete Ranger Qualification report. He flipped past the weapons and knowledge reports, my god the last maiden name was Webb. The only thing that counted was the physical qualification test! What he saw was a series of 100% down the right side until he got to pushups. There in that one lone box was a 98%, she had come up two short. Thirty-five over minimum but he knew that gnawed at her soul. Fuck, he was recruiting a Staff Officer not a damn line bunny!

“Megan I have been having many discussions with the Chief of Staff over how this Division should be organized and we have been passing back and forth one document, I think you should look at it.” He opened his center desk drawer and handed over a printed document. “It is a paper written by a Command & General Staff School student as their thesis. We keep it in hard copy so we can write notes in the margins. It is slightly different from the original as we at times integrate our changes.”

Megan took the document and her brain almost froze at the title of the document it was ‘Regimental vs Brigade Structures in Divisional Organization by LTC Megan Webb.’ “I didn’t think I had any fans for this dry ass tome!”

“You would be surprised, almost as surprised as the very high level people who read this. You said you were looking for a job, I gotta an offer for you. Are you ready to put your money where your ass is? If so then these are for you!” He reached into his desk drawer again and tossed a small box to Megan.

She lifted the cover with hesitation and within the box on a green felt background were the stars of a Brigadier General, she lifted her eyes to stare at Carlson and his dry chuckling follow on seemed to fill the room.

“To quote your Dad, ‘Somebody’s got to do it’, and after all it was your wild ass idea!”

“Who was he talking about and which one do you want to build?”

“Actually it was me and I want you to build me a five Regiment Division, G-3 Chiba!”