Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:41:27 -0400
From: Gstrdr15 <Gstrdr15@msn.com>
Subject: KOMBAT KIDS #52

Disclaimer; If you are under 18 years of age, or material such as this is
illegal in your locale, please do not continue reading. All persons, places
and things depicted in this story are purely fictional; any resemblance to
people, living or dead, past or present, places or things are purely
coincidental.  However, I will admit to there being a Washington State.


Kombat Kids
By; Ghostryder15
Chapter 51
It's Hard to Soar With the Eagles, When You're Surrounded by Turkeys


	Looking back at the events that shaped the Unit and the party that
was almost two weeks ago, James stood in the hallway watching as the last
of the Squaddies followed Matt to the third deck and the arms room.  He
squared his cap on his head and headed up to the first floor and on to the
range, remembering both the good and the bad times he had experienced since
the Unit came in to being.  Sighing, he climbed into a HUMVEE and drove out
of the garage and out to the rifle range, a slight smile on his face.
Reaching the range, he eased out of the HUMVEE and limped up to the range
office.  Entering the office, he found the Gunny sitting at his desk
working his way through the stack of paper work that never seemed to get
any smaller.  James smiled at the older man and said; "Tell me you didn't
know about this 'Turkey Shoot' Matt has set up for today."
	The Gunny looked up and smiled at James; "Actually I did, Matt
reminded me about it around 19:00 last night.  I figured you knew all about
it and were ready for it, was I wrong?"
	"Yeah ya were" James nodded.  "Matt blindsided me this morning, him
and the rest of the Unit.  He and the kids were about ready to drown me as
I chased him up stairs after he woke me with two gallons of ice water.  I
swear ta God I felt the ice cubes hit my back when he dumped that bucket on
me while I was still sleeping.  That's okay, he'll get his, he won't know
when or where it's going to happen, but I guarn-damn-tee you he's going to
get his."
	The Gunny was laughing so hard he had to grasp the arms of his desk
chair to keep from falling out of it.  "Now James, you wouldn't really hurt
your only brother now would you?"
	James smiled for a minute before replying; "Naw, but I'll still
figure a way of getting back at him when he least expects it."  James gave
the Gunny an evil smile before continuing; "So Gunny, what's my rotten
little brother have set up for the 'Turkey Shoot?'"
	The Gunny smiled back and said; "Nothing much, it's going to be a
standard '100 yard' competition, with one exception."  Gunny Mcnaughten
gave a nasty little chuckle as he turned to the three boxes stacked in the
corner of the range Office.  Picking up the top one he laid it on the desk
and began opening it.  Much to James surprise, it contained a Marlin single
shot bolt action .22-caliber rifle, just like the one Jap had used when he
was part of the ambush they'd pulled against the National Guard Green
Berets.  Before James could ask, the Gunny said; "Matt and I figured it
would be unfair to the other guys to let Jap, Jacky and the James boys use
their own, or even a standard issue rifle.  This way, the other guys at
least have a chance of winning."
	James started laughing, when he was able to get himself under
control, he asked; "Does anyone besides us know we're gonna make them use
the .22's?"
	The Gunny got that nasty grin on his face again; "Nope, we figured
we'd surprise them, kinda let them think they had it in the bag and then
spring these on them.  Course, I plan on standing as far away from Jap as I
can when Matt tells them that they gotta use the .22's, but hey, what the
hell, Matt's a big boy, he should be able to handle one skinny little
redheaded thirteen year old." The Gunny's smile turned in to a frown; "At
least I hope he can."  James smiled at the Gunny's frown, shook his head
and asked; "Anyhow, has Matt briefed you on what's going down today, if so
how about cluing me in.  Like I said, the last thing I heard about this was
last March and I'm totally in the dark about what he's planned."  "It looks
like it'll be a standard hundred meter shoot, forty rounds total, ten
rounds each from the prone, sitting, kneeling and standing positions.  Best
groups from all four shooting positions win.  He's got some . . . . shall
we say . . . . unusual prizes for the winners.  I like the way he's going
about it too, nobody can win more than one of the positional prizes and
he's set it up for first, second and third place overall winners.  The
thing is, I think he's got a prize for everyone of the Squaddies, and one
special one for Jap.  The overall winner will be the one with the combined
highest group score and rifle range score.  Matt wants to make sure that
everyone does his best in both the individual and group competitions." The
Gunny said.  James smiled at the Gunny's last comment; "What exactly did my
scatter-brained little brother get as prizes, and, I hesitate to ask, what
kind of special prize has he got waiting for Jap?"  Gunny Mcnaughten
chuckled then broke out into a belly laugh before saying; "Follow me." With
that said, he stood up and led James out of the range office and over to
the rear of one of the Unit's HUMVEE's. As James approached, he opened the
rear door of the cargo variant HUMVEE and James saw a very large metal
cage.  Moving closer, he found the cage contained the largest turkey he had
ever seen.  After staring at the turkey for a few seconds, he turned to the
Gunny and was about to ask where he'd found the giant bird when he heard a
HUMVEE pull to a stop at the front of the range office.  Instead, he said;
"Sounds like things are getting ready to start, let's go and try to get
this circus on the road."

	After closing and securing the rear door of the HUMVEE, the two men
walked over to the HUMVEE and greeted Matt, Keener, George Babcock and
Gunnery Sergeant MacCarver as they were climbing out of the cargo
configured HUMVEE.  "Well, it looks like my baby brother's got everyone
involved in this 'Chinese Fire Drill,' how come I was the last one to be
reminded of it?"  James asked.

The three Marines tried to maintain a look of innocence on their faces, but
failed miserably.  George Babcock cleared his throat before saying; "Well
you see James . . . "

Matt broke in laughing and said; "It's my fault, I told them not to say
anything, I thought I'd be fun to 'fuck' with you a little bit.  I guess I
shouldn't have done it, but this is the first time I been able to pull one
on ya for a long time and I couldn't pass up the opportunity."

James smiled at his little brother, "Okay."

Matt blinked at James and asked; "Okay.  That's all you got to say is
'okay?'"

James smiled at him again, a rather evil smile if the truth be known, and
said; "Yep, I can't think of anything else to say right now, maybe later
I'll come up with something, you know, special."

As he finished saying that, Squaddies started arriving, the first was Bobby
Bauer, followed closely by his boyfriend Marty Morton.  Phil Martin and
David White arrived close behind them.  Shortly, in groups of three or
four, singly or in pairs the membership arrived and waited quietly (for
them) broken down by squads or sub-groups.  Matt, James and the four
Marines moved to the front of the assembled boys, Matt holding a wireless
microphone.  Bobby Bauer, Matt and James' Aide-de-Camp (ADC) yelled out;
"Attention on deck."  The Unit came to attention, all talking and movement
ceased as they waited for Matt to speak.

"Morning troops, ya'll ready to pop some caps?"

The boys all responded with a variety of calls; "Hoo, Yah, brrrrrrp,
haw-yoo and the like, all picked up from the various members of Army, Navy
and Marine Corps that they had interacted with over the previous year and a
half.

Smiling, Matt continued speaking; "We've got a lot of activities to get
through today, besides the turkey shoot we're going to have competitions at
the confidence course, the vehicle test track, and the 'JJ Course.'" Matt
stopped talking and thought about how he was going to continue; "Some of
the competitions won't be the 'Traditional' type that we've done in the
past, ya'll have to compete in all of them to have a chance at the grand
prize though.  So do we have any questions before we start?"

Naturally several hands shot up, knowing he might as well get it over with,
he pointed to Jap first.  "All right Jap, what's your question?"

Jap looked at Matt for a second before he asked; "Whatcha mean when you say
the events won't be 'traditional'?"

Matt smiled at the little redhead and said; "You'll find out when you get
to the specific event, until then, you'll just have to wait."

Marty Morton was next; "What's the 'Grand Prize' sir?"

Matt smiled again before saying; "That's for me to know and you to find
out."  An implied 'neener, neener, neener' type smirk was displayed on
Matt's face when he finished his answer.

Marty just shook his head and threw his hands in the air; "Sure, be that
way.  Just remember sir, what goes around, comes around."

Matt just laughed at him and told the Squaddies to fall in, after everyone
was in ranks he said; "Okay guys, this is the way we're gonna run it today.
Squads One and Two will start on the 'Confidence Course,' Squads Three and
Four will run the three mile 'JJ' track twice; Five and Six will be on the
rifle range.  Snipers, their spotters and security detail will run the long
distance 'JJ' course.  Jumpers will swim twenty-five laps of the outdoor
pool while the Divers will be taken by helicopter halfway to the airstrip,
fastline to the ground and make the fastest possible transit time back to
the range.  Questions?"

Bobby Bauer raised his hand; "How are we being judged on the different
activities?"

Matt smiled at the boy; "Good question Bobby, when everyone's cycled
through the different courses, the squad times will be used to determine
the winners of the grand prize.  The scores recorded during the shooting
range portion of the activities will determine the overall winner of the
'Turkey Shoot."  Matt looked at the assembled boys for a few seconds before
asking; "Any other questions?"

Justin Stanton raised his hand, when Matt pointed to him he asked; "What do
we wear when we're swimming the twenty five laps Sir?"

"Another good question." Matt said; "You can wear anything from skivvies to
MarCam, or nothing at all, your choice."

"Anything else?" Matt asked.  When their were no other questions asked,
Matt yelled out; "Unit One, ten-hut, Divers to the parking lot for pickup,
all others to their designated courses, oh yeah, make sure everyone uses
the hydration stations on each course.  Fall out."

The Divers double-timed it toward the parking lot in front of the house,
half way there; a Marine CH-53 could be seen landing.  General Stanton had
'loaned' the large aircraft to the Unit after Matt had contacted him and
explained what was happening that weekend.  As the Divers rounded the
corner of the building, they almost ran over the General as he was about to
enter the garage to pick up a HUMVEE.  Barton Fisk, the Divers Squad Leader
hurriedly called his squad to a halt.  Facing the General he saluted and
started to apologize; "Sir, please excuse us, we had no idea you were here
until we rounded the corner and . . . " Was all he could get out before
Phil Stanton smiled and said; "No problem Squad Leader, I should have known
you'd be en route' and took a different way to the garage.  You better move
out, the chopper's waiting for you and your Squaddies."

Barton let out a sigh of relief before responding; "Aye aye sir."  He
saluted the General and turned to his squad and yelled out "Detail, forward
march."  After the squad marched four paces he then yelled; "Squad, double
time, march!"  The squad took off at the same pace they had been going when
they almost ran over the General.  As they approached the rear of the
copter, the crew chief of the big helicopter signaled for them to move up
the rear ramp and find a seat. Inside the copter, there were six other
Marines dressed in MarCam, one of whom was Gunny Johansson. When the Divers
were all seated, the 53's crew chief closed the rear ramp and notified the
pilot the ship was ready for launch.  As the helicopter was lifting off,
Gunny Johansson started to brief the Unit One boys about what to expect
over the dedicated team intercom.

While the Divers were boarding the helicopter, the Jumpers had started
swimming their 25 laps in the outdoor pool, while the rest ran the two JJ
courses and the confidence course.

Jap and Jacky were on the long JJ course (eight miles) running side by
side.  The two boys were maintaining an eight-minute mile, Jap kept up a
running conversation with his boyfriend as they ran; "Sure am glad they
didn't make us wear our rucks, this is almost fun."

Jacky snorted at his lovers' last statement; "Yeah, I imagine you'd like
this, after all the times they made you run JJ's with a full ruck, I can
see how this is almost a stroll in the park for ya."

Jap glanced at his friend as they continued to run, shaking his head he
flipped him off; "Fuck you, if I didn't love you so much, I'd kick your
ass."

Jacky started to laugh and suddenly doubled over and fell to his knees with
his arms clutching his sides and his head nearly touching the ground, his
whole body shaking as he appeared to be gasping for air.  Jap, his and
Jacky's spotters and the sniper security detail all rushed over to see if
he was okay.

Jap dropped to his knees alongside his boyfriend, wrapping his right arm
around Jacky's shoulders, with a look of concern on his face he cried out;
"Jacky, Jacky, what's wrong?  Are you hurt, what can I do . . . . . please
Jacky, talk to me?"

Tears were dripping from Jap's eyes, a deep look of concern on his face as
he kept asking his lover to talk to him, to tell him what was wrong.  The
rest of the guys in the group were clustered around the two boys, all of
them with concerned looks on their faces, all of them wanting to help but
none knowing what to do.  Jacky stopped shaking and straightened his body
too an upright kneeling position, using the heels of both his hands, he
wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at his lover before gasping out;
"You, you, ha, ha, ha, you whip MY ass?"

Jap's mouth dropped open; he stared at the larger boy for several seconds.
During the time he stared at his lover, his face got redder and redder
until it was almost the same color as his hair.  Sputtering and growling
out dire threats, no promises, of great bodily harm, Jap started to reach
for the larger boy's throat with both hands all the time becoming more and
more pissed.  Jacky didn't give his little man a chance to strangle him,
before Jap could throttle him he was on his feet hauling ass up the trail
as fast as his feet would carry him.

Jap jumped to his feet and sprinted after the larger boy, slowly gaining on
Jacky.  Jacky should have been able to outrun Jap, but he was laughing too
hard.  Jap closed on the man he loved, the man he intended beat the shit
out of, after fifty yards, he leapt on his back and both of them fell to
the ground.  From the rest of the guys' point of view, all that was visible
of their two friends was a dust cloud and once, or twice, a flailing arm or
leg.  While it was unusual to see Jap and Jacky fighting, it wasn't unheard
of.  Because the two boys were "Alpha Males," that is, they always seemed
to gravitate to positions of authority; you know the ones most everyone
else deferred to.  So it was natural, actually a foregone fact of life that
every once in a while, the two would disagree on a subject.  With Jap's
mercurial personality, nine times out of ten his disagreement manifested
itself in a physical confrontation.  Jacky on the other hand usually didn't
lose his temper, that is usually.  Even though his laughing had lit Jap
off, he was just a little pissed at his boyfriend right now; Jap had gotten
through his guard and had busted his lip.  Jacky still wasn't pissed off
enough to hurt his little buddy, but he was irritated enough to want to
give him a good spanking.  As the other boys in the group caught up to the
two feuding guys, the dust had started to settle and the found Jap lying
over Jacky's outstretched legs.  Before any of the guys could say anything,
Jacky had Japs' trousers and skivvies pulled down to his ankles and
proceeded to spank his bare ass.  "Oww!  Fuck!  You son of a bitch!  Oww,
come on Jacky stop it, damn it man, stop it.  Pleassssssssssssse.  I give,
I give all ready, please stop."

With Jap's surrender, Jacky flipped him over and looked him in the eye
before saying; "Ya know I wasn't trying to hurt you, but I needed to get
your attention and I couldn't think of any other way.  If you weren't so
damn hard headed we wouldn't have to go through this shit every time you
throw a tantrum."  Jacky leaned in to Jap and gently kissed him on the lips
before lifting him to his feet, glancing down at Japs' crotch, he noticed
his little lover was well on the way to having a full blown `hard on'"
Laughing a little he reached out and gently squeezed Japs' dick and said;
"Whoa dude, calm down we ain't got time for that now."

Before Jap could respond, Toby Bishoff, Clint Davidson, the James Brothers
and Jeff Dunlop surrounded the two. Jeff sighed; "Come on you guys, you're
gonna fuck up our chances of winning." Jap turned to look at Jeff, but
before he could say anything, Jeff blurted out; "God damn it Jap point that
thing somewhere else before it goes off and puts somebody's eye out will
ya."  The other guys started laughing as Jap turned bright red while trying
to pull up his skivvies and trousers at the same time trying to sputter out
a come back.  Failing in both attempts, he lost his balance and fell on his
cherry red ass.  Jacky moved over to him, grabbed him under his arms and
set him back on his feet while standing between Jap and the other guys.
Jacky looked down at his lover and spoke softly; "Pull your trousers up
little buddy, don't worry about them, I'll block their view while you get
your shit together."

Jacky turned around and faced the other guys and said; "Okay, that's enough
shit flipping.  It's over with so let's get our game faces back on and as
soon as Jap's ready we need to make up for lost time."

While Jacky was talking to the guys, Jap hurriedly pulled up his skivvies
and trousers, adjusted them and took a deep breath to calm himself down.
Reaching up, he grasped his lovers shoulder, squeezed it gently and said in
a soft voice that only Jacky could hear; "Thanks Jack and I'm sorry I
started the shit."

Jacky turned his head and looked down at the boy he loved, with a soft
smile on his face he nodded his head, accepting Jap's apology.  Turning
back to the other boys, he said; "Okay guys let's move out, we got to get
caught up or we're gonna loose our ass."

James and Matt who'd been watching Jap's 'temper tantrum' and Jacky's
manner of tending to it on the area security camera, both laughed.  Matt
looked at James and said; "Ya know, it's a good thing Jacky's the mellow
one of the 'Dynamic Duo,' otherwise we'd need a 24 hour sick bay attendant
and an ambulance on permanent standby.  Damn, that little redheads' gonna
have to learn to control his temper better or someone's gonna get hurt."

James nodded his head in agreement before answering his brother; "The thing
he does have going for him is that Jacky loves the shit out of him AND
knows how to restrain him.  The only thing he really hurt with that
spanking was Jap's pride, and he'll get over that quick enough.

As the day went on, the Squaddies made their way through the different
tests of endurance and skills, Matt and The Gunny ensured that the snipers
and their teams were the last to complete the marksmanship section of the
days' activities.  When Jap and Jacky's team finally made it to range, they
found, with the exception of four AR15's, it was bare of firearms.  Jap was
the first to ask the question that was on the entire teams mind; "Hey
Gunny, where are our pieces?"

The Gunny smiled at the mercurial little red head before saying; "We sent
them back to the arms room, we decided that you guys needed a special
handicap."  Turning to the James brothers, he once again smiled and said;
"You two go into the range shack and drag out the boxes stacked by the
door."

The James boys looked at The Gunny with a quizzical look and their faces
and said; "Aye, Aye Gunny.

A couple minutes after entering the shack, the boys came back shaking their
heads and carrying two boxes each.  When Jap saw what they were carrying,
he started to turn red, then he started sputtering, and then he started to
head for The Gunny.  Before he could take more than a single step, Jacky
grabbed him around the waist and held him off the ground.  Jap sputtered
and spit and yelled; "Oh no you aren't, there's no fucking way I'm gonna
use that piece of shit, it ain't fair."  Matt came up and stood by The
Gunny and started laughing, pretty soon everyone, everyone except Jap that
is, was laughing too.

Jacky Twirled Jap around and looked him in the eyes; "Calm down now little
buddy, just calm down.  If you think about it, it's only fair for James
boys and us to have a handicap, even with the 15's, the four of us would
out shoot just about everyone else in the Unit."

Jap sputtered and spit for a couple of more minutes and then finally ran
out of steam.  Looking at his lover, he sighed deeply and nodded his head
in acceptance. "Okay, put me down and I'll be good."  Turning to The Gunny
and Matt, Jap frowned at them before saying; "Just ya'll wait, soon enough
it'll be my turn to laugh."  With that said, he went over to the boxed up
firearms and searched out the one they had issued him for the ambush of the
first Green Beret unit they had gone against, pointed it down range and
opened the bolt to make sure it was empty.  Jap then walked over to the
firing line and placed it on the carpet of one of the shooting positions
and went back to stand by Jacky to wait orders to begin shooting.

So that the other shooters wouldn't be intimidated, Jap and Jacky were
scheduled to shoot last, allowing the other boys of the sniper detail a
chance to shoot without having the `Alpha and Bravo' shooters breathing
down their necks.  The six boys grabbed the .22 they wanted to use and
after insuring the firearms were empty, moved to the line and prepared
themselves to shoot.  As would be expected the James Brothers scored the
best, but everyone knew they'd outshoot most of the other boys in the
Unit. Surprisingly, Toby Bishoff, the youngest rifleman on the security
detail shot the best of the group with a 377, coming within five points of
Marty James score, who was only two points off his brother Doug's top score
of 384.

While the other members of the sniper teams were shooting, Jap and Jacky
stood back from the line and talked quietly.  Jacky was the one who'd
brought up the subject of winning the match; "Ya know Jap, we really don't
need ta take the match, we both know we're good, we both know we can beat
everyone else.  I been thinking, maybe we should just go ahead and shoot a
good score, just not as good as we could."

Jap looked up into his lovers eyes and smiled; "Ya know buddy, I kinda been
thinking the same thing.  This contest don't mean squat, we're still gonna
be the Alpha and Bravo snipers, like I said, it don't mean squat and we can
blame our lower scores on these Mickey Mouse rifles."

They both smiled and nodded to each other, turned and went over to the
status board to check on the leaders for each age group scores.  Not
surprising either one of them, all the Unit One shooters would have scored
as being `Expert,' some just barely, but none less than `Expert.'  Jap
having turned thirteen the previous December twenty fourth looked for the
highest scoring thirteen year old, who happened to be Lee Chan.  Lee had
shot a very respectable 342, Jap considered that to be excellent, at least
he didn't have to shoot a score that was ridiculously low.  Jacky's high
scorer in the fourteen year old division was Marty James, at 395.  Jacky
was even happier than Jap because he would be able to shoot a higher score.
When the sniper detail cleared the shooting positions after recovering
their targets, Jap picked up his youth model .22 and moved to the far left
shooting position while Jacky took the far right firing point.  The Gunny
went through the firing line litany and Jacky commenced firing immediately,
while Jap took a minute to consider what he was going to do.  Finally
deciding what he was going to do, Jap commenced firing.

Jap took longer to complete shooting his forty rounds, a full minute longer
than Jacky had taken.  Once the firing was complete, the rifle placed on
the carpet with the action up and open, the Gunny called the range cold.
Jap and Jacky trotted the distance to the targets, removed them and trotted
back, handing them both to the Gunny. After a quick glance at Jacky's, he
looked at Jap's and almost choked, the Gunny looked at Jap and saw the
shit-eating grin he had plastered on his face and smiled, shaking his head
at the little redhead.  Walking into the range shack he motioned to James,
Matt, George, Keener and Gunny MacCarver to come with him.  A couple of
minutes after the door to the shack closed, the sound of laughter could be
heard coming from inside.  What the other boys, Jacky included didn't know,
was that Jap had shot his rounds so that a series of 'Smiley Faces' were
created in and out of the black on each of his four targets so that his
final score would end up to be exactly 341, one point below Lee Chan's 342.
About five minutes after the laughter was heard, the door opened and the
men filed back out, all of them wearing huge smiles.

James had the Squaddies fall in and smiled at the boys.  "All right guys,
I'm going to announce the winners of the different age groups and the
overall winners.  James started calling the names of the boys with the best
scores from the shooting event, the only real surprise was that Jap and
Jacky weren't called to step forward.  The prize winners all received
'X-Box 4's' and a number of games for them.  The really neat thing about
the prizes was the fact that the 'XB 4's' weren't on the market anywhere in
the United Sates or Canada, and wouldn't be for at least another six
months.

The overall winners of the day's events were the boys in the 'Armor'
subunit, they not only won a XB 4, they also were awarded a 36 inch flat
panel HD TV monitor to go with them.  All the rest of the boys in the Unit
were given $200.00 gift certificates that could be used in any mall in the
Bi-Cities, or for that matter, in the Washington, Oregon or Idaho area.
When the prizes were handed out and the boys all calmed down, Matt stepped
forward and said; "Jap, front and center."

Jap, with a sense of trepidation, came to attention and marched up to Matt,
came to attention and saluted, saying; "Squaddie Peterson reporting as
ordered sir."

Matt returned the salute, smiled and said; "That was a really interesting
pattern you shot, I don't believe I've ever seen one quite like it outside
the movies."  Looking over Jap's head at the other boys, Matt smiled and
said; "Before the 'Turkey Shoot' started, it was decided by the 'Command
Group' to award a special prize to Jap, no matter how well he shot.
Sooooo, Squaddie Jap, I take great pleasure in giving you the 'Bird.'"

As he finished speaking the HUMMVEE that had been parked to the side of the
range shack was backed up to about five feet from Jap and Matt.  Keener and
George opened the rear doors and the two of them pulled out the cage
containing the giant turkey and placed it on the ground.  The Unit gasped
at the sight of the large Tom Turkey, and then burst into laughter.  Jap
just stood there gaping at his 'prize', not really knowing what to say or
do.  Finally he moved up to the side of the cage, looked closely at the
bird for a few minutes and then turned to look at the 'Command Group'
before saying; "Oh thank you sirs, I always wanted my very own live turkey.
I know just what I'm going to call him too.  Turning back to the cage he
looked at his turkey and said in a very loud voice; "'Matt', you and I are
going to get along just fine.


End of Chapter, End of Kombat Kids

Coming Soon to Nifty and Ghost Ryder's Stories; "Attack and Response," A
Collaboration . . . . And, "Jap and Jacky Go To College."