Nivelle walked in and sat down in the chair across from Evans, “Sergeant. I heard you are interviewing us.”

“Yes Private. Just a formality,” Evans said, “So, what do you think about the state of the squad?”

“I like Howe. She is a good soldier and a beautiful woman.”

“This is an official record Private.”

“Well does not fighting alongside a beautiful woman raise your morale.”

“Just answer the question Nivelle.”

“Tiscornia seems good. Johnson I trust, but she… acts like she is a noblewoman. Callahan is a fighter. McGilligan…” Nivelle spat onto the dirt floor before continuing, “She is no good. We are fighting against barbarism, yet we have a barbarian in our squad.”

Evans sighed as he wrote down the comments. The rest of the interview was a breeze, and he had Nivelle send Ollie in afterwards.

Ollie came in and smiled, “Sergeant. It is good to see you.”

“You too Lance Corporal. Take a seat,” said Evans as he pointed to the empty seat.

Ollie took a seat, “So, first question is how I think the squad is going, right?”

“Yes. There a lot of gossip going on in the main room?”

“Yes Sergeant,” Ollie smiled, “And I like the Johnson. She’s a good marksman. I have other opinions, but Johnson is the only one who matters for me, because I am her assistant.”

“Sounds good,” Evans noted the response down and continued through the checklist and then had Sheppard sent in.

“Morning Sergeant,” Sheppard smiled, “Interviews?”

“Yes Private, take a seat,” Evans responded and gestured to the seat across from him.

When Sheppard sat down, Evans smiled, and started with the questions, “What do you think of the squad Private?”

“I like the squad. Nivelle thinks he’s funnier than he is though. And McGilligan is so boring. And a bit stupid”

“Stupid?”

“I’d rather not share. But my fiance and I have participated in certain activities. But we take precautions so nothing stupid happens. She seems to be a good soldier though. And I think Johnson doesn’t like me”

Evans nodded, pondered what to write, and continued, “So, on to the next question then.”

And after the next questions were done, it was on to Tiscornia. Home free. Tiscornia’s interview should be easy.

Tiscornia walked in and took a seat, “Interviews going well?”

“Eh. Could be better. So, you know all the questions?”

“I like the squad. If they can just get over McGilligan. And she’s a good soldier. If everyone gets over that, we should be pretty good.”

Well, the inspection had gone well. And now time for the personnel interviews. Which probably wouldn’t go well. Fuck. Well, Callahan was first because alphabetical order. The best way to do things. Plus that put Tiscornia last which would at least be a more pleasant interview.

Callahan sat down across from Evans, “Sergeant. Is it personnel interviews time again?”

“Yes it is Lance. So, how do you think…” Evans sighed, “OK, what do you think of the whole McGilligan situation?”

“Ugh, I hate all this drama,” Callahan leaned back in the chair, “I mean, I really can’t judge. She’s pretty fine. If she wasn’t such a bore I’d probably take her out and give her a green grass gown.”

Evans put down his pen, “You remember that these are official interviews, right? Please don’t… have relations with your squadmates.”

“Well, McGilligan is incredibly boring, Johnson and Howe won’t do that, and Shep’s engaged. So I’ve been hunting elsewhere.”

“OK, any other thoughts about it that aren’t… Innapropriate?”

“She seems to be a good soldier. Was near her at Third Tsiv. She fought well, commanded her fire team well. I don’t see why her making hay with a man makes her a bad soldier. If those idiots think that she’s a whore, then fuck ‘em.”

“All right then,” Evans went over the rest of the interview and then had Callahan send in Howe.

“Good Day Sergeant. I hope I didn’t do anything wrong,” Howe laughed.

“No Howe, nothing wrong, just standard personnel interviews,” Evans pulled the cap off his pen, fiddled with the papers, then looked back at Howe, “So, what do you think about the unit?”

“Well, Corporal Johnson seems trustworthy. She’s been giving me advice on marksmanship. Nivelle is lovely. I can’t trust McGilligan. She’d probably be on the prowl for men right now if she weren’t on duty. And of course I’m glad to be under your command Sergeant. You saved my life.”

“Very Well Private,” After the next few questions, Evans had Howe send Corporal Johnson in.

“Sergeant.”

“Corporal. Have a seat.”

“Yes Sergeant. This is the personnel interviews?”

“Yes. So. Let’s just get straight down to it. What do you think about how the squad’s been doing?”

“I think we know how I feel about this Sergeant. But, since you will not back down, we can talk about the others. Ollie is a good spotter, during our training, very quick with the math. Howe seems promising. I have been working with her on marksmanship and she’s been doing very well.” The rest of the interview was surprisingly pleasant. And once it was over, Evans had Johnson send Madison in.

“Sergeant Evans. I heard we are doing interviews.”

“Yes Private Madison. So, first question, what do you think of the squad?”

“It’s a good group Sergeant. They might have their squabbles now, but once they get over it, they’ll be stronger for it. Personally, I like McGilligan. She’s a smart woman and I like talking to her.”

The interview after Madison was McGilligan. She looked sad. Unsurprisingly. “Lance. What do you think about the state of the squad?”

“I’m going to ignore it and do my job.”

The interview was quick. McGilligan wasn’t interested in talking. Madison was waiting for her when she left to get Nivelle.

Evans opened the door to the tent and entered, followed by McGilligan. Evans went to Tiscornia . McGilligan went to her room, and moments later she ran out crying. Fuck.

Evans stormed over to the room and looked in. Someone had used ink to stain “WHORE” onto McGilligan’s bunk. Evans walked over to Tiscornia and whispered, “Is everyone here?”

“Yeah Evans.”

“Good. Tell the Sergeant Major that First Squad will not be present for dinner, as soon as you get back here, full combat dress and kit.”

Taking a deep breath in, Evans took a moment to compose himself. He then turned to the room, “TEN MINUTES, FULL COMBAT DRESS AND FULL KIT. ASSEMBLE OUTSIDE THE TENT.”

Evans went to his office and got his full uniform and kit on. Once he did he waited out the rest of the time. And as soon as ten minutes passed, Evans got an angry look on his face and marched out to the entrance. The squad was standing outside, “I SAID ASSEMBLE. NOT LOLLIGAG. YOU KNOW THIS. FIRST ROW: JOHNSON, OLLIE, MCGILLIGAN, HOWE, NIVELLE. SECOND ROW: TISCORNIA, CALLAHAN, SHEPPARD, MADISON.”

The squad shuffled around into the formation. Evans pulled up alongside and marched the squad to the training ground. They spent the next hour crawling through the thirty meter mud pit and then sprinting the forty meter track. After the first half hour, it wasn’t really sprinting, it was more of jogging. But they kept at it. Once that hour was up, the squad started a run through the mud with occasional dives into the mud for another hour. Then a run around the compound until people started to drop. Sheppard dropped first. Howe was next. Madison followed. Then McGilligan and Ollie at about the same time. Once Nivelle fell, Evans stopped the run. He gathered the squad and they made their way back to the tent.

“You all look like shit,” Evans looked at his watch before he continued, “It’s 8 pm. We have company inspection tomorrow. To make sure we don’t all look like idiots, I’m going to have an inspection of the tent in two hours. Don’t fail. Dismissed.”

Evans went straight to his office and started getting ready. Hopefully that would get everyone working somewhat together.