Chapter 6: Pack Your Bags

Eisenhower looked over the roads behind her, sweat pouring down her face as chunks of concrete broke off from her highway system and dissolved into the air. She turned back towards her opponent, hastily sliding herself away just in time to avoid yet another charge from Grant’s mechanical steed.

“Damn it!” she muttered, her eyes darting between the various roads shattering around her. “Is it really all going to end just like that?”

A nervous smile crept over her face.

“Hell…it’s just like back then all over again…”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Years ago, a bugle blared across camp Meade, rallying its warriors awake.

“Good morning, soldiers!” a young Eisenhower shouted as her troops lined up before her.

“Good morning, ma’am!” the group replied with cheer.

Eisenhower scanned down her line, giving a frown as she reached its end.

“Where’s Cadet Fitzgerald?”

“By the docks working on that darn novel of his again,” somebody muttered in response.

Eisenhower shook her head.

“I’ll allow it this time,” she replied with a grin, “but only because we’ve gotten some very exciting news from HQ.” She looked over her troops. “Start packing your bags, boys, because we’re taking a trip to Europe!”

The soldiers turned to each other with joyous expressions.

“Are you serious, ma’am? Are we finally going off to war?”

“You’re damn right we are!”

“Woohoo!” the soldiers exclaimed in cheer.

“Keep it together, soldiers,” Eisenhower said with a smirk. “I still have one more piece of news I need to share.”

“I knew it,” a voice moaned, “we’ve always got bad news coming with the good!”

“It does seem that way, doesn’t it?” Eisenhower chuckled. “Heck, you all joined this Tank Corps hoping to take control of the army’s greatest weapon; only to find out, we didn’t have any tanks!”

“That’s alright, ma’am; you helped us build those makeshift ones instead!”

“That I did,” she said, looking over their row of trucks with machine guns duct taped to their backs. “Sadly, we’re going to be discontinuing our makeshift models starting today…”

The soldiers gave a collective groan.

“…because…” Eisenhower continued as a shiny, new tank rolled onto the field “…we’ve finally gotten ourselves a real one!”

The soldiers screamed, all of them rushing to their newest toy without waiting to be dismissed. Eisenhower gave a chuckle as she pulled out a piece a paper from her pocket, carefully reading over the deployment orders one more time.

“November 18th…” she whispered to herself.

That was that the day they’d leave for Europe; the day she’d finally achieve her dream of fighting in a real war.

Or at least, that was supposed to be the plan.

Then, on November 11th, the war, along with Eisenhower’s ambitions, came to a sudden halt…

“To the United States!” a captain screamed at the Army victory celebration party. Most soldiers raised their glasses in cheer, but Eisenhower continued sulking in the corner.

“I just can’t believe it,” she lamented to a nearby friend, “I put up with delay after delay to fight in this war…only for the enemy to go and surrender a week before my scheduled departure…” she downed the rest of her drink in a single gulp. “I tell you…we’re going to spend the rest of our lives explaining why we never fought in this damn war…”

Eisenhower rose out of her seat to get herself a refill. As she did so, a large man passed by, bumping into her from behind.

“Oye!” the officer shouted, spilling his drink over his shirt, “Watch where you’re going, idiot!”

“You could do the same…”

“What’d you say?” the officer screamed, stepping in front of Eisenhower. “I’ll have you know, this uniform you just ruined costs over $250!”

“Is that so?” Eisenhower rolled her eyes, “Feel free to send me the bill.”

“I don’t think you understand me!” he growled, “Willingly destroying army property like this is a crime; one worthy of a court martial!”

Eisenhower stared at the man, her eyes blank.

“You’re not serious…” she whispered, “you don’t mean…”

“Oh but I do!” the man replied with a violent cackle. “Start packing your bags now, punk! Because before this day is through…I’m kicking you out of the Army!”

=======================================================

=======================================================

SCHEDULE UPDATE.  We're officially caught up to the other places where these chapters are posted, so I'll now be switching from a daily schedule to posting twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Eisenhower’s Flashback I. The scenes here are based on Dwight Eisenhower’s service in World War I. During this time he really did command a tank unit without any tanks as well as the author F. Scott Fitzgerald, with him struggling desperately to get into combat only for WWI to end just a week before his deployment. This left him pretty devastated. However, things got even worse for him after a potential court martial popped up over an essentially bogus fine of $250 (with the cause of this real-life fine having nothing to do with the events depicted in the novel), after which…