Free Looking Glass 4 - Claws That Catch by John Ringo Page A

on pain of pain.
    Then his RTO had pulled out one of the many contraband rolls the Marines managed to retain and saved his life with it.
    After that, he was a believer in space tape. If the Marines wanted to keep rolls, that was fine by him. As long as he had the budget, he'd buy all the space tape he could get his hands on. He still, however, prohibited using it to make hackysack balls.
    “Just about done, sir,” Lieutenant Ross said, looking up from the paperwork he was explaining.
    “You're looking a bit fried, Two-Gun,” Captain Zanella said.
    “Just trying to figure out when I can see my new bride, sir,” Eric replied, shaking his head. “There's . . . a lot of paperwork here.”
    “Every bit of which Lieutenant Ross has to review and I have to review and sign,” the CO said. “Paperwork is what officers were created for, Lieutenant Bergstresser. It is our lot in life. Get used to it.”
    “I will, sir,” Berg said. “Not complaining, just contemplating.”
    “Well, come on in and we'll get this over with,” the CO continued, heading for the door of his office.
    “Grab a seat, Eric,” the captain said, sitting down behind his desk and contemplating his Inbox. “See this?” he continued, gesturing at the overflowing pile. “That's just what I haven't caught up with, yet, today. Because I had to go over to Quantico. I'll be here until at least nine catching up. Lieutenant Ross will be here nearly as long. For the first few days, you're going to have much the same schedule and you'll probably take what you can home. Not all of that stuff is classified, fortunately. Honestly, though, even as much as I like and respect you, I could wish that the President hadn't stuck his nose in. If he hadn't, or if he'd just said 'Send him to OCS,' then we'd have done this the normal way. You'd have spent at least a year in one of the MEUs getting used to being an officer, then come back here.”
    “I think I'm going to be able to maintain a separation from my former teammates, sir,” Eric replied.
    “I don't,” Zanella said. “And it's the least of my worries, frankly. Force Recon officers are generally closer to their troops than officers in regular units. We spend too much time separated from large groups of other officers. If your platoon is in Thailand, it's hang out with the troops or be by yourself. And you never fly without a wingman in Thailand. That's not the problem. Problems. Comments?”
    “Still waiting to find out what I'm going to do wrong, sir,” Eric said.
    “Good one, Two-Gun,” Zanella replied, grinning. “Okay, if you'd been in an MEU, the stuff that just got dumped on you would have been spread more. Some of that in an MEU is MEU specific. The motorcycle thing would have an officer, a JO admittedly, in charge of it for the whole MEU. Ditto the MWR inventory, but a different officer. So JOs would spread the load and have time to adjust to it. Then, when an officer got to Force Recon and got handed the same shit all over again, just more of it, he'd have already developed the habits that would help him shift the load faster. You don't have that experience because you didn't spend time in the MEU.”
    “I guess I'll just have to learn fast,” Eric said.
    “And so many things,” the CO said. “Among other things, that Direction of the President missed sending you to Officer Basic Course and Force Recon Officer Training. In both of those you would have learned more details of how to handle your troops in a combat environment and in garrison. OCS, necessarily, covers the broad spectrum. You were supposed to really be taught how to be an infantry officer, and then a Force Recon Officer, in those two courses. You've had neither. I've been reviewing the lesson plans of both and realizing just how much you missed. Including introduction to the CMS. You also haven't had any experience running troops. I know that you've had experience being a troop and think you know what it's all about. But