Frag
Another short story for paid subs
The first thing Private First Class Glenn Frederickson noticed about Lieutenant Colonel William Miller was his eyes. They were a penetrating shade of viridian that demanded at least attention, if not the utmost respect and complete fealty. He had initially noticed these eyes a month earlier and now they were looking at him as he and his squadmates were being briefed by Miller back at the Cu Chi base camp near Saigon. Miller had not been very popular or even well-liked amongst the members of the 14th Infantry Division 2nd Battalion that he had met but it was hard to ignore his zealous confidence, his dry wit, and his almost overwhelming charisma, especially for Frederickson. As Miller outlined their next objective, Frederickson nodded slowly along, saying nothing, no expression crossing his face, following the movement of Miller’s piercing gaze with his own.
Glenn Frederickson never knew how to behave around Lieutenant Colonel Miller without an obvious and embarrassing awkwardness during the first few weeks he arrived on the base. They would pass each other throughout the day, usually when Frederickson was crossing from one section of the base to the other. It would become more frequent, progressively less and less due to necessity, and more and more due to Frederickson’s desire to witness Miller’s embodied confidence in one form or another. Miller would bark orders at slacking privates, making it perfectly clear who was in charge, showing them that they actually had a job to do that was worth doing. He never seemed to sleep; Frederickson would see him smoking one of his big cigars outside his quarters, pacing the base, sometimes while the sun was setting, sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes as the sun was rising. Sometimes Miller would be standing at the edge of the base overlooking the river, simply staring at the moving water below him, as if he were keeping a constant vigil on the churning rapids for something lost. Anything that other privates would see as peculiar, Frederickson would see as a reason to be drawn to him.