"I still to this day don't know why Frostbite held me back." said Sweepy pensively. "Maybe he didn't like Floodwatch, maybe he didn't like Sarge, maybe he just liked a good fight, or maybe he liked watchin' other people suffer... "
VIETNAM 1969
It was Sarge that threw the first punch, but it was miles off. Floodwatch saw the wind-up from a mile away and sidestepped it. Sarge then threw a back-fist at Floodwatch, but he took a quick step backwards and it just missed him, "I warn you Sarge, one more punch and I'm gonna fight back!" Sarge yelled and threw a kick aimed for Floodwatch's gut and this time Floodwatch didn't sidestep, he twisted in place, letting Sarge's boot graze his fatigues. "Kicks count too!" yelled Floodwatch as he grabbed Sarge's leg and swept the other out from beneath him. He dropped his knee into Sarge's gut and punched him in the face, hard enough to knock him unconscious. "Well Ahn-Toh-Ni, Dusty, Frostbite, we had better get to know each other real well. I don't think that were going to live here very long after good old Sarge here wakes up." Frostbite said, "Huh, I would've bet money on Sarge."
They spent the next half hour telling each other their stories (except Frostbite, who swore that he'd only tell his story on his death bed). Ahn-Toh-Ni told the story of his childhood growing up in the streets of Saigon, how his mother died when he was only 6, how he learned how to shoot a gun by 8, and how he learned how to play baseball by age 10. (which is where we got the name shortstop!) Floodwatch told us his real name, Damien Stachowski, how he lived in California amongst the hippies, and how he never did any drugs, because his mother told him not to and he loved his mother to death. He told them that his name actually came from a dill instructor back in the states. He had been issued fatigues that were 2 sizes too small and his drill sergeant said "Are you waiting for a flood Stachowski?" Dusty said that he didn't have much of a story to tell, that he worked in his parents butcher shop, how the beef bandages that he got in the care package were the novelty ones that were kept on display on the counter in the shop. How he'd successfully disarmed 99 mines. Frostbite looked disturbed by all of this talk of mothers, started playing with his pound and walked away to check on Sarge. The group disregarded Frostbite and agreed that they'd give Dusty a nickname as soon as he disarmed mine number 100. Frostbite then called out to them "Hey guys! He's comin' around..."
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