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WooooooohooooO! All hail Miss Scruffy I dare say, behind every great commander there is always a good woman!
But in a more serious tone, glad to hear that you and your miss had a talk and what not, and well. Getting drunk on Tuesday is highly underated!

Alright!!!! Hooray for the Misses. Mines the same way. And getting drunk on a Tuesday, meh, I prefer Thursday.

Glad things are looking up.

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:
Well, Had a good long talk with the wife - after the hangover wore off - and well, she really is the best. We have a plan of action and this may be an opportunity. I have two potential new positions already so I've decided to continue with the AAR.

Nothing quite like the other half as the support group.
I had discussed this kind of thing with my wife; we both realize either of us could find ourselves in this position so understanding comes pretty easy.

Sorry for the scare guys, it's amazing what 24 hours can do. I'm not out of the woods as far as income goes, but my wife convinced me that just losing a job isn't the end of the world and I don't need to become some sort of job-hunting robot.

You have to feed your soul while on the job hunt, happiness is noticed in an interview so think of this as marketable upkeep!

So, in short, my wife has convinced me to continue the AAR. 2nd Squad's exploits will be up tonight.

Well, my selfish side is all happy that my X-com adventure series is back up and running

PS- been a while since I got drunk on a Tuesday.

With the added novelty of not having to get up in a hurry... priceless!

Hope things turn around quick for you Scruffy, I'm in the same situation right now, it sucks. Lost my job 8 months ago, been washing dishes in a restaurant for the last 2 to try to keep up with my student loan bills. Thought it would be relatively easy to get a new gig, I have about 3 years experience in project management plus an engineering degree from one of the top engineering schools in the country, but everywhere I interview is the same story, I'm interviewing against people who are more experienced and more qualified willing to work for less money. The worst was last week, I had an interview with ARDEC (US Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center) that went exceptionally well. Best interview of my life. Was told by multiple people I was their first choice for the position and they thought I was a great fit, etc. my neighbor worked in the division I was interviewing with for about 30 years and was vouching for me too, etc. etc. Basically left there thinking I had the job based on the feedback and everything... well Friday morning rolled around and I got a pretty much standard boilerplate rejection email saying they offered the open positions to other individuals with the usual 'good luck, we'll keep you in mind for the future' bit, etc. Spent the entire weekend crying (and washing dishes).

Only thing I can say is that I hope that they gave the positions to vets and I didnt get bumped out by somebodies kid.

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:
Well, Had a good long talk with the wife - after the hangover wore off - and well, she really is the best. We have a plan of action and this may be an opportunity. I have two potential new positions already so I've decided to continue with the AAR.

Sorry for the scare guys, it's amazing what 24 hours can do. I'm not out of the woods as far as income goes, but my wife convinced me that just losing a job isn't the end of the world and I don't need to become some sort of job-hunting robot.

So, in short, my wife has convinced me to continue the AAR. 2nd Squad's exploits will be up tonight.

PS- been a while since I got drunk on a Tuesday.

We are not that young anymore to get hammered on a Tuesday night and do PT in the morning at 0600. Since we no longer do PT at 0600 (yes I was one of those that showed up 20-30 minute prior) I say go for it but in moderation and keep the Hell away from the Kraken whiskey

Its rum. Kraken Rum. And its delicious.

Good luck with the job hunt mate. Im off work for a bit atm between jobs too but I am staying with family which is ok.

Hope it all works out mate.

RUM!? Who's got rum. I want rum. Give me some.

Kandosii, I'm a sergeant now.

Glad to hear things are looking up Scruff! Good luck with the job hunt and the potential positions!

Good luck with the job hunt! And thanks for continuing to do this.

OPERATION SOARING MOON: 27 June, 2015. Yokohama, Japan



Squidhills, officially Anna Strong, stretched her legs and cursed the necessities of post-alien invasion air travel. With Russian airspace closed, travel across the world involved a torturous route either across the Atlantic to the US then to Japan or through the Middle East thence to Japan. At least XCOM had enough cash to put her in first class - perks of saving the world. Still, Mr. Nagy had traveled here for a reason. Perhaps he was courting a buyer for his stolen alien junk or maybe he was setting up another arms deal. In the days she had been following the brilliant Hungarian, she had come to understand XCOM's interest in him. His genetic research was state of the art. Funded by several smaller governments and a whole lot of shady organizations, he had made remarkable strides in both weaponry and genetic research. The genetic research is probably why Exalt had been stalking him in Budapest. Kamikaze had run into them, and called her in as backup. Specifically, Kamikaze had called her in to follow Nagy while the Canadian dealt with the Exalt agents.

It was night in Yokohama as Squidhills paid the cab driver and entered her hotel. The sleepy concierge checked her in and she made her way to her room. She needed to sleep, but paranoia and training made her check the perimeter and establish escape routes. Mr. Nagy was staying in a hotel across the way and Squidhills knew where he would be in the morning so there... wait... what's that? That's an exceptionally tall man standing under that street light. An exceptionally thin man as well... Things were about to get interesting. Squidhills activated her transponder and quickly set about assembling her weapon.

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/o624/Sgt_Scruffy/soaring%20moon/2015-03-12_00633_zpsw5p58rgm.jpg

"Okay second squad, You need to get our VIP - codename Sergeant Carlocke - out of Yokohama before the aliens grab him. Our sources say that multiple thin men are closing in on his position. We had planned on tailing this individual but command has decided to bring him in. You are to secure the VIP and escort him to safety. The VIP may not acquiesce to our saving his life, so don't let him wander off. Questions? Good. We load up in five."
--Dead Meat prior to Soaring Moon.




Squidhills watched from a window as the Skyranger came screaming in as the pajama-clad Istvan Nagy cowered in the street. She had sprinted right to his room after dealing with the thin man. The two guards at his door had not been an issue. Mr. Nagy, for all his intelligence and ruthlessness, was not a coordinated individual and only minimal.. persuasion convinced him to follow her. The fact that his hotel room had been thoroughly perforated by plasma fire less than a minute after they left it convinced Mr. Nagy more than any amount of strong arming could have. Squidhills faded into the shadows as 2nd squad collected up Mr. Nagy...

"gak! Incoming fire, 3 o'clock! Thin men approaching!" The skyranger shot skyward as 2nd squad scrambled for cover. Jihadin surveyed the approaching force of aliens - approximately 15 or so of the tall aliens approached 2nd squad. "Recommend you move north-east to end of the dock for dustoff. Be advised approximately 2 squads of aliens approaching from north east. Platoon sized force inbound from the west."

LEGEND:
blue box: Operation Soaring Moon AO
Blue Arrows: XCOM axis of advance
Red Arrows: Alien axis of advance
Green Circle: Evac zone
Red X: Istvan Nagy pick up point


"Get in here.... sir, and keep your head down. We've got aliens inbound." Dead Meat shoved the disheveled Hungarian into a small fish warehouse as the squad cleared the space. Even as the scientist cowered the squad took up firing positions at the windows. The aliens had lost sight of them for the moment - a perfect opportunity for a counter ambush...


The first thin man is quickly dispatched as 2nd squad regroups from the initial ambush at fights back



"Scruffys, Docta Deth, take point! Chaos, Berry and I will bring up the rear." Advance and engage that god damn Seeker!"
--DeadMeat


The squad moved swiftly through the debris of the warehouse sector as the aliens pulled back to regroup. Already they had lost one pod as XCOM operative used the momentary lull to advance on their PZ. Operation Soaring Moon would slowly develop as the squad found itself in an almost continual series of low intensity engagements that hampered progress through the level.
Ms. Scruffy and Docta Deth find themselves well in front of the rest of the squad as they seek to flank the dug in thin men


Frankenberry's torrent of fire bring down another dug in thin man.


The squad finally had decisively cleared and secured the open area they would have to cross in order to make the PZ.Several slowly dissipating clouds of poison marked the final resting places of three thin men.


"I think Scruffy finally proved herself that mission. She'd always been a good troop but had... struggled with the nature of the alien threat. Soaring Moon I think saw her put a lot of her fears behind her. That or she got lucky. Whichever it was, I'll take that shooting any day."
-Lt. Deadmeat
Sgt_Scruffy downs another alien


"Standing orders in those days were to capture any alien we could get our hands on. Dr. Vahlen's team was notoriously rough on the intergalactic visitors so we needed a fresh supply of subjects. Of course, we were starting to seriously appreciate the limitations of the arc thrower. Several of Dr. Shen's engineers were spending long nights talking about voltage, amperage, and some sort of arc rifle..."
-Col. Bradford (ret.) recounting difficulties with the early model arc throwers


"Luckily, if we couldn't stun them, we had a pissed off Russian to kill them for us!"
-Dead Meat


Legion 3 peeked her head around the shipping container and jerked it back as a hail of plasma fire came here way. "Found the bad guys," she said sheepishly as 7 thin men scattered for cover.


"If there's one thing that 2nd squad does well, it's employ explosives in the effort to make a lot of aliens into a whole ton of alien pieces. We may not bring home a lot of corpses, but then we don't particularly care."
-Lt. Dead Meat
Explosives rain in on the clustered thin men



The firefight took place at point blank range as 2nd squad followed their grenades in, guns blazing.

Frankenberry blazes away at another thin man


The decimated thin men were bleeding and stunned. Their return fire was weak and ineffectual. A half-hearted charge was mounted, but it was rapidly beaten back.



"I've never seen someone so perturbed at the thought of misssing out on slaughter, but Chaos sprinted halfway across the dock for the chance to shoot one of those thin men in the face. It was kind of heart-warming really"
-Ms. Scruffy


"Alien resistance after that just sort of collapsed. The thin men made two more attempts to halt our progress, but they never even got a shot off. It was all over in 5 more minutes. I don't know who this guy was, but he must have been important for XCOM to dispatch us like that. He didn't look particularly pleased to see us though."
-Dead Meat
Istvan Nagy is hustled back to XCOM HQ where he will have a long talk with the Commander and Dr. Vahlen about the life-extending benefits of working for XCOM.


"I know you have questions, but please know that all will be clear in time - not now though. Thank you for a mission flawlessly executed. Lieutenant Dead Meat, get your squad some rest. You've earned it."
-The Commander

Lt. Dead Meat now carries a shredder rocket at all times

Corporal Scruffy now overwatches to greater effect


The Commander watched as 2nd squad shuffled off to bed. XCOM was so quiet now. Her small organization had exhausted itself. Did Earth have the resources to win this war? Would we win every battle but simply drop of exhaustion before beating the alien threat? Already her command staff was on a skeleton crew as the overworked and over-stressed officers came down with the flu or simply could not function. She had given every guard in the command the day off - only the SHIVs patrolled the perimeter. The sick bay was full of wounded and recovering soldiers. Even her ... special assets were exhausted although they remained in the field.

Dr. Vahlen approached just then indefatigable as always. "Commander, I have... convinced Dr. Nagy to stay on with our New Man Project. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be. He is quite fascinated by our progress and I believe he will be a valuable addition to the team. We will proceed on schedule."

The Commander smiled. "Good. We've bled enough for it. Don't let me down."

Now that was a stellar job by 2th, and exempelary use of ambush, and the handeling of the CQB near the containers was a joy to behold. Well done all involved

 Trondheim wrote:
Now that was a stellar job by 2th, and exempelary use of ambush, and the handeling of the CQB near the containers was a joy to behold. Well done all involved

Thanks. I have one more mission for June and then we'll get a graphics upgrade and we'll do a round up of everyone in XCOM. Righteous Rob, you will also make your debut!

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:

 Trondheim wrote:
Now that was a stellar job by 2th, and exempelary use of ambush, and the handeling of the CQB near the containers was a joy to behold. Well done all involved

Thanks. I have one more mission for June and then we'll get a graphics upgrade and we'll do a round up of everyone in XCOM. Righteous Rob, you will also make your debut!

Np praise when praise due and all that jazz Sounds like good times comming then. Wht sort of mission?

 Trondheim wrote:

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:

 Trondheim wrote:
Now that was a stellar job by 2th, and exempelary use of ambush, and the handeling of the CQB near the containers was a joy to behold. Well done all involved

Thanks. I have one more mission for June and then we'll get a graphics upgrade and we'll do a round up of everyone in XCOM. Righteous Rob, you will also make your debut!

Np praise when praise due and all that jazz Sounds like good times comming then. Wht sort of mission?

Why, the same mission as all the missions, Trondheim. Try to SAVE THE WORLD!




Only slightly complicated by the fact that our current active roster of XCOM operatives looks like this.


That's right, three dakkanauts, three rookies, and a SHIV is the entire operational force of XCOM right now.

I have faith in Dakka Dakka-2...

Well I knew that, I was inquiering if it was a UFo assult, abduction or slaying the vile traitors known as Exaclt. Also HIRE MORE MEN!!!!!!!

 Trondheim wrote:
Well I knew that, I was inquiering if it was a UFo assult, abduction or slaying the vile traitors known as Exaclt. Also HIRE MORE MEN!!!!!!!

I know . It's a simple abduction. More men is already in the works, but it takes time.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

streamdragon wrote:Glad to hear things are looking up Scruff! Good luck with the job hunt and the potential positions!

AdeptSister wrote:Good luck with the job hunt! And thanks for continuing to do this.

motyak wrote:Kandosii, I'm a sergeant now.

deadmeat85 wrote:RUM!? Who's got rum. I want rum. Give me some.

carlos13th wrote:Good luck with the job hunt mate. Im off work for a bit atm between jobs too but I am staying with family which is ok.

Hope it all works out mate.

chaos0xomega wrote:Hope things turn around quick for you Scruffy, I'm in the same situation right now, it sucks. Lost my job 8 months ago, been washing dishes in a restaurant for the last 2 to try to keep up with my student loan bills. Thought it would be relatively easy to get a new gig, I have about 3 years experience in project management plus an engineering degree from one of the top engineering schools in the country, but everywhere I interview is the same story, I'm interviewing against people who are more experienced and more qualified willing to work for less money. The worst was last week, I had an interview with ARDEC (US Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center) that went exceptionally well. Best interview of my life. Was told by multiple people I was their first choice for the position and they thought I was a great fit, etc. my neighbor worked in the division I was interviewing with for about 30 years and was vouching for me too, etc. etc. Basically left there thinking I had the job based on the feedback and everything... well Friday morning rolled around and I got a pretty much standard boilerplate rejection email saying they offered the open positions to other individuals with the usual 'good luck, we'll keep you in mind for the future' bit, etc. Spent the entire weekend crying (and washing dishes).

Only thing I can say is that I hope that they gave the positions to vets and I didnt get bumped out by somebodies kid.

Talizvar wrote:

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:
Well, Had a good long talk with the wife - after the hangover wore off - and well, she really is the best. We have a plan of action and this may be an opportunity. I have two potential new positions already so I've decided to continue with the AAR.

Nothing quite like the other half as the support group.
I had discussed this kind of thing with my wife; we both realize either of us could find ourselves in this position so understanding comes pretty easy.

Sorry for the scare guys, it's amazing what 24 hours can do. I'm not out of the woods as far as income goes, but my wife convinced me that just losing a job isn't the end of the world and I don't need to become some sort of job-hunting robot.

You have to feed your soul while on the job hunt, happiness is noticed in an interview so think of this as marketable upkeep!

So, in short, my wife has convinced me to continue the AAR. 2nd Squad's exploits will be up tonight.

Well, my selfish side is all happy that my X-com adventure series is back up and running

PS- been a while since I got drunk on a Tuesday.

With the added novelty of not having to get up in a hurry... priceless!

Thanks for all the well-wishes and advice. I really do appreciate it. This is the first time in 6 years where I haven't really had a clear idea of what I would be doing a week from now, so it's interesting. Luckily, I have a wonderful wife and some pretty sweet opportunities. I'm submitting applications to Lockheed Martin, DynaCorp, and Several AGR positions in the next few days. Look for Malfred's Malcontents tomorrow as we close out June.

Excellent work 2nd - hopefully the new egghead can be put to good use by the science staff. My vote is for a pocket vacation universe for our soldiers to recover in

Just wondering how things are going?