17 His past (3) & Night Hawks history – Alexis POV (3)
Before Alexis could even think about joining the Night Hawks. He had to go through a very rigorous selection process. The very first requirement, to be able to join the Night Hawks, is that prestige and merit build during your military career must be sufficient. For Alexis that wasn't a problem at all. He had put in blood, sweat and tears, therefore quickly earning sufficient merit and prestige. Which meant that Alexis met the first requirement of the Night Hawks without any problems.
The reason why he pushed himself so hard was because Alexis had always kept the words of the wiseman in the back of his head. Therefore, he was always the one taking the lead in missions and making sure everyone who was part of his mission could retreat safely. Often, Alexis requested to do the most dangerous parts of the mission himself. Some people only saw the achievements Alexis made, which could lead to jealousy. They, however, didn't realize how much hard work and effort Alexis had put in. Very few people realized how often Alexis had come home from a mission, once again heavily injured, to protect his comrade in arms. Some only saw his glory and not what Alexis paid every single time he went on a mission. Nothing comes from nothing, and only hard work will lead to valuable results.
The fact that Alexis did the most dangerous part of the missions himself often build him a lot of prestige in the army and made him quickly accumulate merit. It also was the reason why Alexis was the youngest person yet to be applying for the Night Hawks, at just 18 years old. Most people could only apply to the Night Hawks at 21, because only then would they have built enough prestige and merit to qualify for application. Of course, just merit and prestige weren't enough, to join the Nigh Hawks, you would also need to have enough skills.
Just having the required skills on paper wasn't good enough. It was enough decades ago, but a very bad experience made the higher ups in the army wiser. Although this wisdom was paid for in blood.
Once before decades ago, someone who had all the right skills on paper joined the Night Hawks. When going on an emergency mission however that person didn't seem to have half the skills those papers boasted about. This wouldn't be bad if this had been discovered during a training exercise. The squad in question however wasn't that lucky. His lack of skills had been discovered while conducting an emergency mission. The regular team member they usually trained with had been injured and would be out of the running for quiet some time.
Therefore, it was very important to get the new member up to speed as fast as possible. So the team was getting ready and packing up to go on a training expedition, when an emergency call came in. The new team member which just joined might not have trained with them, but his skills were needed. When he was asked in the briefing if he was able to meet what was required of him during a mission briefing, he stood up and said: "Yes sir, that definitely won't be a problem." It was a dangerous mission, and they didn't have time to call in other squads to perform it, because the mission was time sensitive.
The higher ups made sure to make clear the dangers of the mission. So, when the new member again stated he was fully qualified and ready the higher ups decided to make do. Usually, the group would be skilled enough to make up for any error's which were caused by their unfamiliarity when acting together. Therefore, they didn't think about it a second time and set out on their mission.
Nobody would have thought the new member would put his life on the line and lie to join a mission he wasn't qualified for. The problem however was that this new guy didn't have an accurate grasp of his real skill set. Arrived at the mission site all went to hell. The person who joined and was "deemed" skilled, dropped the ball big time. Not having the skills, he boasted about and not being able to react in dangerous situation how a regular soldier would be able to. Let alone have the trained reaction and reaction speed of a seasoned special forces soldier.
Since the Night Hawks had to be dispatched it showed how dangerous the mission was in the first place. The fact that the mission was time sensitive it made the mission even more dangerous than it could have been, if the squad had more time to adequately prepare.
The sniper who was giving cover from over 50 km away saw it all go to hell in front of him. Team members with whom he worked with for years dying right in front of him, because of the inaction from the new team member, while he couldn't do anything about it. Worse yet some team members even died, because of friendly fire, because of how scared this new team members were.
The sniper couldn't do anything but bear witness, through his scope, how his comrades in arms were dying. Simply, because of an idiot, and there was nothing he could do about it because he was too far away to offer any assistance. Earpieces didn't exist back then, and missions were done in absolute blackness. Which means there was no radio traffic because it could tip of the enemy. He shouted but he was to far away. Unable to warn any of his team members about their impeding deaths which he could see coming through his sniper scope. He had a quick thought to shoot the new member, but he wasn't God, and he also wasn't judge, juror and executioner. It wasn't up to him to make this call. So, the only thing he could do is despair and be a witness to the tragedies happening in front of him.
The team members who came home from the mission were flabbergasted about what went wrong and wondered why so many of their members could never return. Only the team members who were lucky enough to survive their encounter with the newbie and finally knock him out, knew what happened. The Night Hawks team however still showed their skills and without the newbie dragging them down they finished the mission. The death toll in this mission however was higher then ever before. To high to feel any sense of achievement, because of the successful mission.
You could wonder, how could well trained soldiers die, when the newbie soldier is such an idiot? Well, that's easy, when its your comrades in arms you entrust your back to them. No matter what disagreements you had before. Therefore, the well-trained special forces soldiers would watch out for everything around them, but they would never be wary of a team member. That is how several trained soldiers died, because of an idiot soldier without any real skills to speak of.
The Night Hawks have the motto "go out together, return home together". Therefore, when the mission ended, they will always collect the bodies of their fallen brothers to take them home with them. Only in very special cases they will not collect the bodies, because they are unable to. Even in those cases they will make sure to bury their fallen comrades in arms, whenever possible. In those cases, the comrades will take home the dog tags of the fallen soldier. Any soldier in the armed forces believes that the dog tags represent the heart and soul of a soldier, by returning the dog tags to their own country borders, they return with the soul, heart, and identity of that soldier.
The situation of the Night Hawks is a bit special though. Often when they left for missions, they needed complete deniability, to protect the country and the families they left behind. These soldiers often left their dog tags at the mission center before leaving on their mission. In this mission center every soldier, before leaving on every single mission, would also leave behind a handwritten letter. A last will of sorts to hand over to their loved ones, if they didn't return from the mission they were sent on. Leaving behind their dog tags in the mission center was always solemn, they knew they might never have the chance to wear them again. This however showed the determination of every single soldier walking out of the base and going out on whatever mission they had. Their heart and soul belonged to the country and the families they left behind.
When the sniper returned home from the mission, he reported what he saw to higher ups. This was all he could for his fallen comrades. That's why no matter how hard it was he bore witness to everything that happened, without adverting his eyes.
The actions of the higher ups were quick and efficient. They detained the new squad member, pending investigation. Then country showed his full power by conducting a quick and accurate in-depth investigation. This investigation showed that this new member had a father who was a general. Some merits were falsely claimed by using his father prestige. Other soldiers who enlisted, because it was either jailtime or enlisting in the army, knew they wouldn't go far. They just didn't have the drive or the passion for the job and wanted to make their time easier. To flatter the general, they tried to help the general's son claim merits he didn't actually earn. Of course, there were also some good examples of people who enlisted instead of going to jail. These people were very repentant of their actions and served their homeland steadily and loyally as atonement for their wrongdoings.
All this happened in a very overt way, that the general's son never realized he wasn't as good as he was made out to be. Which led to the newbie squad member having a skewed idea of what his skill sets were. Therefore, when he received an invitation of the night hawks he joined right away, after all who wouldn't want to join one of the best forces in the armed forces, the cream of the crop. Without his father's knowledge, his son had gone on a mission for which he was in no way qualified and dropped the ball. Which led to the country's investigation.
The country is powerful and what the general had done couldn't stand scrutiny. The general only knew what a stupid thing his son had done when he was arrested and taken to jail.
