Endurance

"I'm gonna say something"

"To who?"

Flo could hear Bull and perco talking behind her in their 12 mile walk formation

"Lt Winters"

"What is it?"

"Permission to speak freely sir?"

"Granted"

"Well sir, there are 6 company's, and easy companies the only one walking 12 miles on a Friday night"

"What's your point Bull?"

"Lt Sobel hates us sir"

"Lt Sobel does not hate easy company Pvt Randleman, he just hates you"

Floss tried to stifle her laugh but soon it rang out across the 3 platoons and they were glad their designated sister was finally allowed to laugh.

"Yes sir" replied Bull

"He hates Floss the most though" laughed Joe as he put an arm round her

"He hates you to Joe" yelled luz

And soon everyone was laughing, relieving the tension.

Next to her christenson looked like he was about to faint, he was pale and swaying on his feet.

"Chris, drink some water from my canteen, then i will get the blame and you won't faint and need to be put in the med bay" Flo said gently

"Fizz, I can't let you do that, you know how hard he is on you"

"I don't care about him I care about all of you, now drink some bloody water"

He did as he was told.

With 6 miles still left of the march, Floss decided the boys needed cheering up. She had been trying to teach them songs from home.

Flashback

"How come you have so many war songs?" Muck complained

"Maybe because we've been in the war for 3 years already"

"Oh yeah"

"Right now again, let's do blue birds over the white cliffs of Dover"

End of flashback

She had taught them all the words to blue birds and soon the company was in high spirits again after a good singalong.

"Lt. Winters, I want canteens out,

caps unscrewed."

"Canteens out and open."

"They will pour the contents

onto the ground."

"You will upend your canteen."

- "Now, lieutenant."

- "Pour them!"

"Well, well,well Hilton, it seemed you directly disobeyed orders again, any excuse?"

"I was thirsty sir"

With her sarcastic comment, half the company had to stifle thier laughter. Sobel looked like her could murder her right on the spot.

"You will repeat all 12 miles of the march without drinking from your canteen and if you do, you will be dismissed from the army"

"Yes, sir"

Flo got about 5 minutes into her walk before Christenson, Winters, Nix, Guarnere, Malark and Joe joined her.

"What are you doing, i did it so Chris wouldnt get punished"

"We know, but we cant let a little lady like you walk around in the middle of the night by herself" said Guarnere

"We're a team Fizz, we'll support you through hell" Malark piped in.

"Your one of my 'men', my job is to protect all of you" Winters smiled.

"Guys your gonna make me cry" Floss said a a blush appeared on her cheeks, she hoped it was dark enough that they couldnt see.

By the time they finished the march again, they all flopped into bed without changing and as it was saturday they slept right through till tea.

On sunday, Floss did her usual sunday routine of waking up at 5:30am and running up Currahee before everyone woke up. As she reached the bottom a familiar voice called out

"I thought you would be too tired to turn up today"

"Like I would miss our runs, they are my highlight of the week"

Speirs laughed as she nudged him and they started running.

Flashback

She needed practice, if she didnt pick up her time running up that godforsaken hill she would be kicked out.

Early on sunday morning is best for no one to notice Flo thought.

So on the 3rd sunday since she arrived at Toccoa, Flo woke up quietly and threw on her PT gear, braided her hair and set off.

Half way up the hill she heard footsteps behind her. Flo turned around quickly and in front of her stopping quickly was Lt Speirs.

"Sir"

"Hilton"

There was a silence of about 2 minutes as neither knew what to say. In the end Speirs said

"Dont let me interuppt your run"

With that they started running again in silence.

The next week they met again and this time they exchanged pleasantries.

Eventually they started waiting for each other at the bottom of the hill and talking about anything and everything on thier run up and soon they realised how much they looked forward to each others company.

End of flashback

"I heard about the friday march incident, dont give him excuses Florry" Speirs warned

"I was only doing what was right from a medical persepective, Chris was going to pass out"

Speirs knew there was no point in arguing

"Anyway how are you?"

"Alright, i guess its just enduring training now, at least he can't have a go at me in PT, i can get over the bloody wall and am fast enough, what about you"

"I agree about enduring training, i just want to get the war over and done with now, we've been training for a year and half now"

"At least we are doing our jumps soon, that will be fun, i can't wait to fly"

"Your too much of an adrenaline seeker, i worry about you during the war, you'll go right into enemy lines" Speirs laughed, but he said it seriously.

"Ron, i know im not the brightest button in the box, but please i'm not that stupid" Flo laughed back.

"You just care too much, it's not a bad quality, it's one of my favourite qualities about you, but please think about yourself as well, for me"

"Of course i will, as long as you think about your safety as well"

As they reached the top, they looked at the sunrise and felt at peace.

PT

The bane of Flo's life, as she lined up at the start of the obstacle course, she noticed col Sink standing to the side with Sobel. They were both watching her, "maybe this is a test and if I don't do well enough I'll be going home" thought Flo.

With that thought, adrenaline pumped through her and she looked over to Tab who she was racing against.

When the whistle blew she ran fast and made it past the tyres, next she threw herself at the monkey bars and got through no problem. When she came to the crawl through she heard Tab next to her start to retch as they crawled through pig guts as bull had shouted at them. Now Floss was well ahead of Tab and she prepared to launch herself over the wall. All the boys were shouting encouragement

"Come on fizz, you got this"

"Climb it like it's Currahee"

"Ignore the fact your about 2 inches tall" shouted Luz which made her eye roll.

She put all her frustration at Sobel and the war into her jump and she managed to get over the 7 ft wall first time. She sprinted to the end and couldn't stop her momentum fast enough and she fell into Webster and Chuck who laughed and helped her up.

As tab crossed the finish line Flo pulled him into a hug and then pulled Lieb, Guarnere and Muck to guard the showers for her.

As the officers were talking Sink said to Winters and Sobel "that girls got some gumption hasn't she, now I know why she was chosen for the experiment"

"Experiment sir?" Winters asked apprehensively.

"To see if women are fit for the army, of she works out then the government are going to start putting women in training for war, there will always be one to fight" Sink replied.

As he left Winters was thinking what a large amount of pressure was being put on this 19 year olds shoulders, she had to succeed otherwise the country would never move forward.

And if she knew that, no doubt something disasterous was going to happen.