Fog of War

by Teal

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A military camp is supposed to be an area where soldiers can rest and train. It is a well-organized place where ammunition can be stored, with sufficient protection, and a place where the basic necessities for a soldier can be found. But as Newman stood at the so called camp that they were supposed to stay in, he saw none of this.

Instead, he saw a disorganized group of tents that were improperly placed in a wide open field, as crates of supplies lay all over the place in a chaotic and disorganized look. From where he was standing, he couldn’t help but feel angry at how terrible the place looked. It looked like someone took every tent, crate and weapon, mixed them all up and threw them on the field. He knew the ponies had no combat experience what so ever, but even they should know the basic organizations of a simple camp!

Walking forward, he exposed his eyes to the terrible place that was supposed to be a proper camp for the new volunteers that they were going to train.

Tents were placed randomly on the field, some of them weren’t even pitched up, as they were just left on the ground. The canvas and stick, being blown around by the gentle wind, as they were kept to the ground by the stakes attached to them.

While the ones that managed to be pitched up were done so improperly, as they sagged and looked like they could fall apart after a gentle push is applied upon it. Newman knew that the reason for this was not because of the material, seeing that the tents that were given to them worked properly, but were the result of improper setting. He would have to talk to somebody about that if he wanted this place to be a descent base for training.

His eyes soon fell upon a bunch of crates that were piled on one area stacked one on top of another. Closely examining the crates, he noticed that it had the words ‘Ammunition’ imprinted on it.

He shook his head as he walked stared at the crates, knowing that this was not right. Munitions were supposed to be properly guarded, to prevent anything bad happening to it. Unprotected and unguarded munitions could easily cause accidents, as well as the possible robbery of important military supplies. Leaving it exposed and unprotected was against the textbook principles.

Looking around some more, Newman noticed that there weren’t many ponies at this makeshift camp. Other than a dozen or so ponies, scattered throughout the field, trying to assemble the tents, there was no one else there.

The volunteers must have not arrived yet. Which was a good thing too, seeing that it would be impossible to accommodate them with the camp’s current situation.

Approaching the nearest pony, a brown earth pony who was struggling to get a tent up, he called to him with a stern voice. The pony yelped in shock at the call, which caused the tent to topple down on him, covering the poor pony with the canvas.

Newman waited for the pony to emerge from the canvas before questioning him.

“Soldier…” He said, when the pony finally looked up at him. The pony stared at him with confusion at first, since Newman looked strange and new to him, but soon snapped out of it. He had been informed that they would be working with strange new creatures, but he never knew that these strange new creatures were tall and intimidating. Standing high above him, the young pony had to look up to see Newman’s angry gazed that pierced him.

But no matter how strange Newman looks, an officer was still an officer. “…who is in charge of this ‘camp’?”

“C…captain L…Lance, sir…” The pony said, feeling slightly nervous. Newman was an imposing figure of authority and spoke with a serious tone. Every inch of his face, when angry, gave one a warning not to mess with him. “…h…he’s right o…over there…” The pony raised his hood and pointed towards a green pony, who was softly napping under the shade of a tree. He lay softly on the grass, as his slumbered peacefully under the nice shade and away from the blazing sun.

Newman’s fury grew when he saw him, seeing that the officer in charge was sleeping while his camp was disorganized and scattered. He left his command in shambles and without proper instructions, which made the camp a total mess. The soldiers under him were working hard under the sun, without anyone to command them, while he slept peacefully and as comfortable as possible. Newman would have to make things straight with him.

Stomping towards the tree, Newman grumbled under his breath. If there was one thing that he hated the most, it was an officer who didn’t do his job properly.

To him, officers were the ones who lead and encourage their men. The showed them order, yet give them compassion and trust. They were supposed to be the father figure of a unit. So when an officer slacks of and becomes lazy, it gives men like him a bad name. It makes the entire family of officers look bad and if officers look bad, then soldiers might hesitate to follow their orders, which was a bad thing.

“Get up, you lousy excuse for a Captain!” Newman shouted, as he kicked the pony on the side. Not enough to seriously hurt him, but firm enough to make his point.

The pony’s eyes shot open in surprise as he let out a shout of pain before whining at the feeling of the kick. He then became angry at the thought that somepony would dare disturb him while he was taking a nap and a good nap too. The dream he was having was fantastic, till it was rudely disrupted.

“Hey, who do you think you are to disturb me?” He shouted, eyes closed and hood mending the sore spot, to where he was kicked.

“Who do I think I am? Well, seeing that you’re just a captain and I’m a colonel, then I think that I’m a superior officer. What do you think?”

Newman said, his voice getting louder with every word. They might not belong to the same nation, but the rank of Colonel was still higher than Captain. Unless things work differently here, which he hoped it didn’t.

“Wha…” The green pony said, looking up towards Newman. But once his gaze came across the angry human, his eyes immediately shrunk in fear as he realized who he was talking to. Fear suddenly gripped him as a bone chilling feeling crept up his spine.

“I’m sorry, sir, I…I…” The pony stuttered, under the piercing gaze of Newman. His four legs shook as he tried to stand, but the creature in front of him proved to be menacing and terrifying.

“Do not sorry sir me!” Newman said. “You are in a lot of trouble and do you know why?”

Lance didn’t respond, as he was too scared to move any muscle. He didn’t want to be here right now, but to Newman, this is what he deserved.

“You, my good sir, have left this camp in shambles. This is supposed to be a proper camp in which soldiers are going to stay and train and rest. How do you expect them to do that, when the tents are not even properly placed? And their supplies just thrown around all over the place” Newman shouted, clutching his fist. By now Feather Wing had joined them, but decided to not make his presence known. He just stood behind Newman and watch in amazement on how much fury the officer had.

“I…I can e…explain…” Lance said, still scared and shaking.

“No, Captain, there is no time for explanation.” Newman said, relaxing a bit. He knew that an officer must show anger at times, but must also learn to control them. It was not good to have a fellow officer, or soldier, angry at you. Since that could cause problems in combat. So a good officer must learn to forgive mistakes made by the men under him. “Listen; let’s keep this short and simple. We don’t know when the volunteers are coming and we don’t have time for this. So, I’m going to cut you a deal, I want you to turn this shamble into an organized camp, tents properly made and separated to different sectors, ammunition placed inside guarded tents, headquarter tents placed, area made for target practice and a place where maneuvers can be practiced. If you are able to do that, then you could be off the hook. Sound good to you?”

“Y…Yes, sir!” Lance said, saluting quickly before racing off, towards the disorganized ponies fixing up tents, so that he can turn the mess into a proper camp.

Satisfied, Newman turned around to see Feather Wing standing behind him. As he walked and passed by him, he gave the young pony some advice.

“Remember, Lieutenant, a good officer is friendly and kind to his command, but can also be mean to emphasize a point. Always keep that in mind.”

---

Later that day, orders came, from a courier sent from Canterlot. The message was from Princess Celestia and it contains the orders in which Newman was supposed to follow. It stated that overall command of the camp was to go to him and that he was to take all measures necessary to make the camp ready for the volunteers, who will arrive at noon tomorrow. This made Newman jump into action, as he helped
Capt. Lance supervise the organization of the camp.

He ordered both his men and the ponies to pitch up tents and moves crates of ammunition, while posting sentries to guard it. He pointed out where the soldier’s quarters where to be located and helped in the search for a place in which the ground was open and flat, for soldiers to practice maneuvering.

Later that day, Newman went to Feather Wing and asked him to demonstrate the use of the special pony rifles. He was very curious on how a rifle was used by a pony, since he found it hard to imagine them standing on two legs. Sure, he knew that unicorns could use their magic, but he wasn’t sure how the magic less ponies used them.

They stood by the firing range, where a crate of rifles was located. Newman decided to position the firing range in a nice open and flat area, as it provided enough space for a company to practices, as well as having the guns aimed at a direction that would not have bullets raining on the camp.

On top of one of the crates was an Equis Mk. 4 rifle, the most common and effective rifle Equestria had. Newman noted that it look very similar to the Springfield model 1861 rifle they had, except for some minor changes. Which was the fact that it had a foldable stand attached to it and had a modified stock and triggerwhich seemed to be more suitable for a pony’s hoof.

“Well you see, sir, our rifles aren’t that easy to use.” Feather Wing said, as he picked one up with his mouth and began his demonstration. He then began to deploy the stand by using one hoof to pull it before jabbing it hard on the ground. He then rested the stock of the gun on top of his shoulder.

“It’s a complicated system and takes a lot of practice. But I think its quite similar to your system.” He said, as remembered watching a company from the 220th practice on reloading their rifles.

“First we would have to take a paper cartridge and load the rifle.” He said before turning his head and grabbing one from his saddle bag. He then brought it in front of his muzzle and bit the tip of the paper cartridge.

After that swung the rifle, which was done with ease thanks to the swivel on the stand, till the muzzle of the weapon was towards him. He then poured the contents, making sure that every grain of powder was in, before plotting the bullet on the end.

“After making sure that the pouder is in, we take the ramrod and ram the bullet home.” He said, before quickly moving his mouth towards the ramrod, which was located below the tube, just like a Springfield rifle, and pulling it out.

With ramrod between his teeth, he gently moved the end towards the muzzle before forcefully ramming it in. He continued to ram it, till he was sure that the bullet was secured in the tube. He then pulled the ramrod out and returned it to its respectful place. He then swung the rifle back, making it point forward.

“We then cock the hammer and put the percussion cap…” He said, with the rifle stock resting on top of his shoulder once again. Using his left hoof, he moved it towards the hammer and pulled it, making a clicking sound to state that it has been fully cocked.

He then took a golden colored cap from the saddle bag and gently placed it on the tip, where the hammer was supposed to hit.

“We then take aim and fire.” He said. Moving his right hoof towards the trigger, he balanced himself with only three legs available, and placed the stock of the gun against his shoulder. He then looked down the sights and took aim at the low hill they had in front of him. Making sure that it was aimed, he pulled on the trigger and let the rifle do its job.

The hammer hit the cap, causing a sequence of events that would trigger the gunpowder inside to erupt. This caused the bullet to be propelled out of the barrel, passing through the rifling and giving it a spin as it exited.

BANG!

The rifle fired, leaving a plume of smoke in front of it. Newman didn’t know where the bullet landed, but he was told the weapon had an effective range of about 500 yards, equivalent to their own Springfield rifles.

“Well…” Feather Wing said, pulling the stand out of the ground and folding it up again. “…that’s basically it. It’s a hard process, but it works. Maybe it would be easier if we had hands, it’s called hands, right, sir?”

Newman nodded.

“Alright then…” He said before continuing. “…hands, if we had hands and could stand in our hind legs, then this would be a lot easier, sir. But sadly we can’t. Heck, even the Griffons could load their own weapons faster than me and I’m a trained member of the Guard! I don’t know how we’ll be able to train the volunteers, who have no experience at this at all!”

“Oh, don’t worry Lieutenant…” Newman said with a confident voice, as he approached him. “…if an officer trains their soldiers properly, then they would be able to do things that they never though they could?”

“You really think so, sir?” Feather Wing said, unsure. “How can we be sure that the volunteers would be able to understand and comprehend all this training I’m not saying that their empty headed or anything, but, this process takes a lot of memorization. Mess one thing up and the whole thing could explode on your face.

“Practice, Lieutenant, the key is always practice.” Newman answered before pointing towards a company, from the 220th.

The company was conducting drills on an flat dirt patch that was now considered as the camp’s parade ground. There, both Newman and Feather Wing could see the company practice the maneuver of switching from columns of fours to a line of battle.

With great ease and grace, the company managed to conduct it as quickly as possible. Having this change of formation drilled into them, as well as having conducted them under heavy enemy fire, maneuvers and movements like this were engraved in the minds of every soldiers, as they could perform it no matter what, in any time and situation.

“You see them…” Newman said. “…they weren’t always like that. When they first came, they were a disorganized bunch, who could barely keep a formation straight.” He remembered the days when the regiment was first formed, when the men were eager yet unable to fulfill simple commands.

“It was an embarrassing sight, which would make any officer frustrated. But I kept my patience and helped them through it. I tried to figure out the small problems and made sure to fix it. Now look at them. They could do this drill in their sleep! It took a lot of time and drilling, but they all became proper soldiers.”

“When we were first mustered, the men from the regiment couldn’t figure out on how to reload a rifle. There were a lot of mistakes and those who were able to reload their gun were slow. We were lucky to be able to fire one shot a minute.” Newman stated. “But now they can fire three shots a minute, and out shoot an enemy regiment at almost any battle. These men could reload a rifle in the heat of battle, without missing a step. The point is, Lieutenant, we can train anyone to do this task, as long as we do it properly.”

Despite knowing that it would be a difficult journey on training the volunteers, he tried to keep himself optimistic, like Johnson. He knew that it would be an even harder task to train peaceful ponies for war, but there was no use stressing himself on such things, so instead he tried to look on the bright side. Besides, how bad could they be?

“I don’t know, I still have my doubts, sir.” Feather Wing said, still unsure. “But I’ll keep an open mind. Besides, if they fail, then there goes Equestria.”

Newman ignored the last remarked and shook his head.

“Don’t worry Lieutenant…” Newman trailed, recounting the battles he fought with the 220th. “…once the volunteers are don with their training and in the field, you’ll be surprised by the thing that they can do.

Author's Note:

Edited: 4/27/15

Comments

[Teal]

5574228

[The Space Butterfly]

"How bad could they be?"

I feel like that you're hinting at something here....

[pinkstar]

I bet they are going to be as bad as pinkie's patience

[shadesslayer]

Love it hope Lyra is involved more