“Specialist, hmm, O’Neal, one of the mortar squad leaders,” the sergeant major whispered as they approached. He climbed out of the jeep and the colonel followed, getting ready to deliver a world-class ass chewing, Horner style.

“Sir,” said Reynolds, continuing his saga of despair, “when I arrived at the weapons platoon, I found all the vehicles were gone to refuel… ” As he spoke O’Neal walked to the rear of the jeep without a word or a greeting to the senior officer or NCO. There he dropped the log and his pack and grasped the bumper. He squatted, then straightened, lifting the corner of the thousand-pound jeep into the air with an exhalation.

“Yeah, we can do this,” he said with a grunt and tossed the jeep back into the mud. It bounced on its springs and splattered Reynolds with more of the cold glutinous clay. O’Neal’s actions had effectively shut off the flow from Reynolds. “Good afternoon, sir, sergeant major,” O’Neal said. He did not salute. Despite standing division orders to do so, the 82^nd continued the tradition of considering a salute in the field a “sniper check” and thus a bad thing to train for.

The sergeant major stuck out his hand. “Howarya, O’Neal.” He was astounded at the return grip strength. He had dealt with O’Neal peripherally but had never appreciated the specialist’s almost preternatural condition. The baggy BDUs apparently hid a body made of pure muscle.

“Specialist,” said the colonel, sternly, “that was not a good idea. Let’s try to think safe, okay? Rupturing a gut would just make a bad situation worse.” He cocked his head to the side like a blue-eyed falcon, pinning the soldier with his most arctic stare.

“Yes, sir, I guessed you would say that,” said the specialist, the officer’s stare bouncing off him like rain off steel. He worked a bit of dip over to one side and spit carefully. “Sir, with all due respect,” he drawled, “I work out with this much weight every damn day. I’ve lifted the gun jeeps before for exercise, I even clean jerked one, once. I just wanted to make sure the extra radios didn’t make it too heavy. We can do this. I lift it, the sergeant major slides the log underneath, we change the tire, reverse the procedure and you’re outta here.”