Jane's watching the stars

Tommy wasn’t sure if he was dug in enough or if the OP could be seen from down in the valley. The patrol had been inserted ten days ago and it had taken then three days to walk in, mostly at night and then another seven to dig in and set up the observation post. The valley had no tree cover and the four huts they were watching were surrounded by boulders strewn along the valley just below the snow line.

The cold wind off the snow bit into his neck and the darkness was playing tricks on his eyes. The three man SAS patrol was tasked with observing a small compound and there had been little movement since their arrival. His picket was only for 2 hours and soon it would be over and he could sleep. Ten days of cold rations was taking it’s toll and Tommy wasn’t enjoying his first patrol with Bravo Company.

Tommy could hear Johno behind him, fifteen years in the regiment always on two hour rotations mean Johno was a walking alarm clock. He slept for one hour and fifty seven minutes and awoke fully rested. Tommy kept his vision down the valley and he shifted from his sniper scope to normal vision to keep his field of view open. He could her Johno taking a piss into the plastic sealed jar they each carried and would take with them when they were extracted.

Johno crawled into the pit “what’s going on? You fall asleep did you?” Tommy liked everything about life in the regiment except wankers like Johno. Lifers who knew nothing else and saw it as their job as having to break new troopers. “No, been awake the whole time, funny that hey?”
“Whatever, what’s going on?”
“You’re a master soldier, I’m sure you’ll work it out.” Tommy hissed at Johno as he pulled back his rifle and backed out on his stomach towards his sleeping bag, he needed some sleep. Before Tommy was out of the pit Johno grabbed his arm, yanking his rifle out of his grip. “What the fuck are you doing?” Tommy yelled in a whisper at Johno who was staring at Tommy though he couldn’t be sure through the camouflage paint, long beanie and heavy beard Johno had.

“What the fuck did you mean by that? I asked for a situation report and now you fucken well give it to me!” Tommy laid still, the dead of night carried even the slightest whisper and the last thing they needed was a pack of them hearing them and coming out for a look. “Look, like I said, there’s nothing been going on. One bloke came out, took a piss on the south wall, had a durry and went back in, not even a light’s been on.” Tommy didn’t want to argue with Johno, he’d heard about him before joining Bravo and straight away he had zeroed in on Tommy and had been riding him hard all the way since they deployed. The patrol commander Trig was an old mate of Johno’s and even though he was ok to Tommy, he didn’t stop Johno giving it to Tommy. He was younger and fitter than both of them and was doing more than his share on the patrol, but he wanted to make a good impression on the legendary patrol commander.

Tommy pulled his arm free and grabbed his rifle pulling it under his chest away from Johno. “I don’t know what your problem is Johno, but like it or not I’m in this patrol and plan on staying for a while. It’s blokes like you that keep this place in the stone ages and full of meat heads.” Johno kicked towards Tommy’s face, Tommy grabbed the boot and twisted it forcing a bolt of pain up Johno’s leg. Johno let out a gasp of pain which he stifled knowing any noise would carry down the valley.

“You have two choices mate, you can either pull your head in and get on with the job or continue to ride me for reasons only you would know, in which case I can take your shit and you will run out of energy. You’re a fucking dinosaur!” Tommy let go of Johno’s foot and crawled out of the hole. Johno turned to face the valley rubbing his leg.

Confronting Johno was probably not the best approach and in another place, it could have escalated badly. For that Tommy was thankful to be in the valley operating in dead silence when it did happen.

The stars carpeted the black sky like diamonds. Jane would be lying looking up at the same set of stars that he had stuck in the same pattern to their bedroom ceiling before he left. He told her that no matter where he was on this trip, she could always look up and see the same stars together. The stars took him home and released him from the cold of the valley, for the next few hours at least.