Evans walked into the office. Tiscornia was leaning on the desk, “Hey Evans. Good to see you. How’s Zwev and the kids?”

“Anna’s fine. Got to spend a few nights with her and the kids before being shipped back here. So, how’s the Squad? I tried picking Howe’s brain, but her brain’s on Nivelle.”

“Seems good so far. Two team leaders are Lances Callahan and McGilligan. Callahan’s been with us for a while. Never really been that noticeable, but he’s survived since Northern Gate, and that ain’t nothing. He’s got a good grenade throwing arm. Personally, I like him. He wants to go to university to study history. Get’s along with everyone pretty well. Cool head under fire.

“McGilligan is a transfer, I sent a letter to her last unit asking for any information, but she’s got some medals and has been in since the first Tsiv River. Seems to have plenty of command experience. Personally, she’s a bit of a loner, mostly just reads books when off duty.

“For the Privates, Howe is still a bit nervous about going back combat. She can run pretty fast and can fire the fastest. You know her personally already so we can skip that.

“Nivelle is a good kid. Strong as an ox. Good with bayonet play. And I know it’s a stereotype, but he’s a good cook. Terrible with jokes. Though Howe laughs at everything he says.

“Sheppard follows orders well. A bit tetchy with dirt. So you needn’t worry about her during inspections. Plus her rifle is very clean. I’ve actually been getting her to clean my rifle. She says she likes it. And never wear civvie clothes around her. She is up to date on all the fashion and will go on about how some sort of thing is last season. What the hell is last season?

“Madison is…. I really don’t know, came in a few days ago. Says he wants to be a Pastor when the war is over. So I’ve been calling him Pastor Junior.

“Next is the Marksman team. Leader is Corp Johnson. You’ve managed to perfectly miss her career. She was a marksman with the 202nd up until White Beach. She took some shrapnel there and when she recovered she was reassigned to a training battalion to teach shooting. She complained until she finally got back to the front. She kinda acts like she’s a lady though.

“Finally is Ollie. Just like your wife, he has an unpronounceable Silesian name so his name was shortened to Ollie in bootcamp. He joined the show after Northern Gate. Good shooter. He’ll be the spotter for the Corp. Plus, he’ll fight like Hell if you need it. At Third Tsiv, he held with a few other soldiers to cover our retreat.

“And that covers the whole lot. Our Lieutenant hasn’t been assigned quite yet, so Captain Gates just stops in every once and a while to check in.

“We’re having a Sergeants and Corporals meeting later so you can meet the other Sergeants in the Platoon. Corporals and me. Still refuse that promotion on principle.”

Evans nodded, “So how are you doing Dom? Last time we talked at Tsiv you weren’t doing so hot.”

“I’m taking it day to day Evans,” Tiscornia laughed grimly, “How is it that someone who has nothing in the world makes it out of that mess when all these kids with everything get killed.”