"Joe Haldeman - 1968" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haldeman Joe)

Happy Trails

The company formed three ragged lines in the dust, smoking and trading comments with the artillery
crews. The top sergeant stomped through, yelling "Spread 'em out, spread 'em out, you know the drill,"
in a hoarse but penetrating voice. The soldiers picked up their gear and shuffled around until no one was
closer than six to nine feet from anyone else, so that not too many people could be wiped out by a single
grenade or mortar round.

Wilkes walked back to where the engineers were standing. "Killer, Spider, come on up. You got point."
Killer looked happy at the prospect, but Spider felt his knees go weak. The guy who walked point was
likely to be the first one to meet the enemy.

"This should be an easy one," Wilkes said to Spider. "Killer'll have it for the first hour or so; just watch
what he does. Mainly you keep tabs on the point men on your right and left, stay even with them. Watch
the ground for tripwires or any sign that somebody's been digging."

"And look up in the trees for snipers?"

"Yeah, but you won't see 'em. They don't shoot the point man, anyhow. They wait for the RTO. They
bust the radio, we're in deep shit.

"If you do spot a mine or a tripwire, do like this." He dropped to one knee and raised a fist. "Batman will
bring Moses up and figure out what to do."

"Disarm it?" Killer said eagerly.

"Jesus, no. They just do that in the movies. Blow it in place. Maybe mark it and have everybody walk
around it, if they don't want to make noise. Batman's done it a couple of times."

"You're not comin'?" Spider said.

"Huh uh. Fin staying here with Chevy and Spaz and Tonto and Doc. We'll join you if something
interesting happens."

"We're goin' out without amedic?" Killer said.

"Infantry's got medics. Don't worry; it's gonna be a walk in the park."

"You sure?" Spider said. "Lotta people."

"Just a feeling, talkin' to Top. Somebody at Brigade got a hair up his ass about those sappers. So you get
to walk around for a couple days, report you didn't find anything, come back to the fire base." They got
to the front of the line. "Okay. Here and here." Killer and Spider took their positions.

Like a lot of people, Killer took the weight off his shoulders by standing up his M16 and propping the
packframe of his rucksack on its muzzle, leaning back slightly against it. It looked dangerous, but of
course the weapon wouldn't go off unless there was a round in the chamber. If it did go off, the bullet
would enter in the small of his back and come out somewhere between his scalp and his navel (see "The
Black Death [2]").