Leon climbed out of the truck with a great degree of internal dismay. The entire journey had been one long slow realization that there was no way he'd be back in time for his final exams, and that the marriage he'd planned for three months later was going to have to be postponed. He'd wanted to write about it, to put down his feelings on paper and lock them away for now, but that hadn't seemed appropriate amidst the nervous and disgruntled almost half-squad that showed up for deployment. When he saw the others missing, some of them the best shots in the platoon, Leon almost wished he'd decided to stay home as well. Of course, he didn't voice that feeling to his Korporal or his comrades, and neither did he mention the pain caused by the angry shouts that had followed him out the door as he left for the muster point.

He was thankful at least for his familiarity with Korporal Kreb's brisk and straightforward command style. It kept him from thinking too much. Still, as the men industriously set to digging emplacements around him, Leon couldn't help but wonder how in the world they could hold a thin line against a full-on attack without heavy support in their sector. He almost turned and voiced these concerns to Manny, but when he saw the Korporal already talking angrily on the phone Leon trudged over to his assigned position and began looking for a good spot to dig an emplacement.

He didn't know Heinrich very well, but given the man's recent experience and recent promotion he was happy that the man was with him. At the very least, he could be corrected if he was about to do something wrong... though Leon hoped that four years of on and off practice hadn't dulled his reflexes too much! The young PFC grimaced and hefted the shovel that had been offered to him by a cute young thing vaguely reminiscent of his Sophie. It didn't help his focus any, for sure, not that any one spot in this sector was better than the other; it was all mostly open terrain. Finally, Leon pointed to an overgrown indentation in the meadow, where at least the tall alpine grass would offer them a degree of initial concealment. From then on out, it was all back breaking work as the semi-vertical dugout was made. Leon had just finished adding a narrow slot at the bottom of the foxhole for grenades to be kicked, remembering a lesson from five years ago, when he too heard the sound of engines break the evening air.

Quickly, Leon pulled the equipment he and Heinrich hadn't stored in the barn into the dugout and laid his rifle to his left in case the damned MG24 jammed. He hoisted the LMG into position in the hastily built firing groove, and aimed it towards the treeline. Leon wanted to check the feed one more time, to check everything one more time, but he knew as he flicked the safety off that Heinrich had already organized the ammo to his right and was similarly peering out of the entrenchment towards the tree line. Sweat began to drop from Leon's brow, but his eyes never left the trees ahead of him, and when the leading halftrack emerged from the trees ahead and to the right of Leon's position he could feel the droplets rolling down his face.The halftrack continued its steady advance towards the barn and the squad CP, and Leon spared a short glance at Heinrich, his mouth dry as he rasped his question:

"Orders, sir?"