What they are made of
Ranger Citadel
Exterior Area [*I always mixed it up for the outer area. My bad.]
Graveyard
The last of the caskets are each hauled carefully next to their dedicated hollowed ground. Lt. Charles Adams kneeled down near to one of his fallen friend, Lt. Brandon Matthews. Dressed up in tattered army woodland garbs like the rest of the fallen. It was the Desert Rangers' way to honor their people and as their connection to their past as an Army Core Engineer. Till to this day, Adams's built-up anger within him stirs so much when he remembers the mangled state of his friend. Till on to this day, he had this feeling of guilt that he can't describe... it goes away when he's here, apologizing to Matthews again and again.
"You have to eat, El Tee." Adams heard a call behind him and felt a warm object on his shoulder and a mouthwatering smell to it. "Hungry was asking me to see what you're doing, and he wanted you to at least eat something. It's corn and egg soup."
Adams didn't need to peer over his shoulder as he recognizes the voice, "Thank you, Corporal Hawco." He grabbed hold of the bowl and placed it down on the ground. He then sat down and rested his back on the casket. He looked down without saying another word to Hawco and proceeded to eat the soup in silence.
Evan Hawco tugged on the red handkerchief on his neck as he was sweating cause he was running and talking all over the place. He didn't mind it that much. Apparently, Charles was not the only person like that here, and with one thing in common--Grief and Regrets. Evan took it to himself to check on each one's condition, making sure nobodies too out of it and unable to come back. He empathizes with the people and felt this whole thing was a mixed bag. The last time he remembered this kind of many casualties was way back when Cochise's bots attacked the Ranger Base when it was still a prison. On the other hand, this shit-ass disaster has brought them totally unexpected new members, with a fuck ton of stuff with them. There's praise to God right there, he thought.
With the last of the bowl in Adams's hand, Evan scans over the graveyard one more time to see what everyone is doing. Feeling that his work is done, he was about to go back inside the Interior Area when he heard someone, "To my left, you can just feel the pain in everyone. But, if you look at my right, it's a celebration. It really makes you think about who we are, don't you think, Hawco."
"We're a bunch of resilient misfits, Nur." Evan sighed at the Gate Guard and showed him a reassuring smile. He knew what Nur was hinting at. The way he sees it, it's a Desert Ranger thing, it's a cultural thing--a word that stuck to him when watching one of the old movies they have in the Citadel.
"We're arent rocks, Hawco," Nur raised his helmet replied as he hefted his melee weapon on his shoulder.
"Yeah, we're not. But, we'll break one, even if we have to use our teeth. The Desert Rangers will keep on fighting and fighting-"
"-Just so we can save those in need." Nur beat him to it.
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Ranger Citadel
Exterior Area
Makeshift Range
"You go in, you do it right, and you go back home." Castle said to the mixed crowd of rookie and veteran rangers. "That's Special Forces for all of you. It's not the same as Special Operation Forces where you have to be that, going to do that, then go back home to write a book about it--The point is, they're not the same." He had a bitter taste in his mouth after saying that.
"Anybody have any idea of where you fall in those two?" Castle gave a question that the rangers were having a hard time understanding the concept in the first place. Bear pulled his yellow shemagh up to cover his laughs as he was familiar with Castle's bullshiting habits.
Castle didn't even wait for long and answered the question himself. "Actually, whatever you're thinking, you're all wrong. You're a group of SOF's trying SF work."
Someone from the rangers was about to answer back when Bear suddenly continued on, "Excuse me, sorry about our friend here. Don't mind him. Okay, where to now... Right, right." Bear distracted himself to gain traction to speak to a crowd. "From our experience and some answered questions from General Vargas himself, we made the safe conclusion on what you are, and you're capabilities are."
"We're the Desert Rangers! Dirt and Grit are in our blood!" One proud ranger answered.
"Hoahh! Brother!" Bear wasn't expecting to have someone that hyped up, but he quickly recovered and got himself back on track. He also noticed that everyone felt it weird when he replied with the Hoahh expression. "That's the question, really. What are the Desert Rangers?"
"Where we came from, which is a century ago, me and Allen, Castle's real name, being a Ranger have a different note and tone to it. Especially in the big army." Bear saw their confused reaction and remembered the time when he was back at home, teaching his kids how to write their names.
"For everyone here, the Desert Rangers came from the surviving Army Corps of Engineers, right?" Bear spoke steadily without missing a beat. "Then years and years it changed and develop to what it is now--The Desert Rangers that even robots can't kill."
"A bunch of scrap metals can't beat hard work!" One of the rangers shouted while grinding his teeth.
"Absolutely! Brother!" Bear quickly said, secretly though, he wasn't sure what that was about. Shooking his head, He then looked at them seriously. "Going back to Allen's question: Special Forces or Special Operation Forces. What really are you? It's clear to see that the Desert Rangers have a lot to live for. However, the way we see it,"
"Everyone is losing out on their fullest potential."
This made everyone quiet. It was a flaw that every ranger knew to themselves. From training, supplies, and experiences, everyone had to rely on the battlefield for this sort of thing. It was high risk and high reward situation for them. Forcing them to pick out a specialty due to the lack of resources. The results usually fall in extremities and no in-between. That's why no one in Desert Rangers knows two things at the same time.
"Ah-hah." Sitting on a chair behind Bear, Castle always knew Papa Bear has a knack for baiting everyone to where he just needed them to be at the exact moment. "They took the bait."
"Let me introduce ourselves again," Bear moved his body in a trained manner, facing them in a parade stand. "I'm Sargeant First Class, Peter 'Bear' McGann, and with me is Sargeant First Class, Richard 'Castle' Allen. US Army Group for Specialized Tactics or Ghosts for short."
The Rangers jolted back to the reality that the new people in the Desert Rangers were people that came from the past. For all of the authenticity's sake, these are the real last people associated with the US Military. The way how these two carries themselves was even more professional than how they do it. It was hurting their pride...
"What we are, and what we do is something only you could or couldn't dream off," Bear reminded everyone in a clear tone. "You saw us on the screen, you heard it from the General, you know it in yourself... We are the God Damn best thing you have ever seen in a fight. Even if you compare yourself to our division counterparts, they're still better than you."
They started munching on those words, and a sense of inferiority floated inside of their hearts. Madly grinding their teeth but couldn't give a retort to everything they said. They were fucking good! That's the fucking truth! Maybe when it comes to guts and determination, they may have a chance. However, that's just wishful thinking. They saw these Ghost took a group 5x their size in a minute. Maybe blowing up the 50-meter area can give them a real chance.
"The General gave us the go-ahead to train everyone. To how the 75th Ranger Regiment attack, To how the Special Forces fight, and how the Ghosts operate. Bear persuaded them like someone with a devil's tongue. "Think it now, Rangers. There's a lot of schooling you'll be getting from us, Ghosts, and the Division Agents. You have to chance to be the best of the best."
Flustered, The rangers looked back to their general, wanting to hear a confirmation from himself. Except, they didn't expect them to see General Vargas gave Bear the go-ahead nod, which made everyone felt they were being thrown to a Badger pit.
"But, you have to savor the taste of the dirt." Bear gave them a break with a warning about what's to come. "We'll let everyone know when the re-training will start."
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"What are they doing?" Angela asked Joe. It didn't suit well hearing that. Her pride as a Desert Ranger was being tarnished right in front of her. Much more, that Vargas was alright with what's happening. Fuck that, they stopped a Robot Apocalypse! What does this fuckers do in the past? Sleep for a century. That is.
"Breaking them down and building them back up." Joe casually replied. "Let's see what these Rangers are made of."
"No, make them stop." Angela was eager to push on but got held back by Ace. Telling her to calm down and stop.
"Why?" Joe turns to her. "This is just starting to get better."
♪ Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop. ♪
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Author's Rambling:
For the Ghost Team's rank, I made up Bear and Castle's rank since they don't have it in the lore.
It's a 1.5k word count. Hopefully, the flow of things is much better this way? Hopefully.
I apologize in advance if I offended someone when it comes to the difference between the Rangers and Special Forces. I'm not a military guy and my military concepts are not the best. I'll be bothering you by asking for your help with some clarifications.
Also, is the title okay? I've wasted too much time trying to figure out if that title is wrong or something.