You are sleeping blissfully when your dreams are interupted by loud cracking sounds like a whip.
[Private to Plt Sgt Tanya Redgrave; Sergeant Michael Gallin; WO2 Andrew (Andy) Corrigan: Please keep posting in the "picket" thread till everybody is awake and aware of the situation.]
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 14:13, Sat 12 June 2004.

Throw off my sleeping bag (not zipped into it - that's a good way to get dead, a real FNG move), put my hand out to the right onto my rifle, and roll into a position facing where I think the shot came from, remaining prone. The judgement on what to do next will depend on light levels, ability to identify the enemy, further sensory input, etc.

It is a good thing I learned to catch cat-naps whenever I can. I haven't managed a full night's sleep anytime recently....

Gary stifles a yawn while dragging his mind into enough alertness to fight.

As usual, Don has no problems sleeping. Therefor he gets quite dozy when he awakes. He feels the warm comfort in the sleeping bag, and decides to stay in it. It is probably time to take his guardhours or else the hunting party has returned. He decides to not get up until he knows he has to. The gun lies among his other stuff under his head, so if need be, he can get up and be done in less than a minute. That is, if the girls will let him be, if they see him. After all he is only sleeping in his underwear.

" 'ey lassies, ya know where to find me", Don whispers in his lowest voice. Then he rolls over again to get some more sleep, if possible.

His eyes gummed with sleep, Dimitar clumsily sits up and grabs his rifle.  He attempts to take stock on his surroundings, but his sleep clogged brain and blurry eyesight prevent him from seeing more than the hazy outline of the UAZ-469.

Muttering to himself, he waves the gun across the campsite and trys to kick the sleeping bag off his legs.

Cram my helmet onto my head while I work out whats going on. Stay low.

Camilla wakes bleary eyed at the noise. It feels as though she only got to sleep a few minutes before. Who the hell would be cracking a whip at this hour? She fumbles about in the dark till he hand closes on the stock of her rifle. Throwing the sleeping bag off, she sits up and peers off into the dark atempting to clear the fog that blankets her mind.

William wakes instantly, springing out of bag and reaching for his gun, while scanning for any threats
This message was last edited by the player at 10:16, Sun 13 June 2004.

Several more shots ring out of the darkness nearby as the sound of multiple somethings pound away through the trees.

Moments later off in the distance the dull crump of a small explosive is followed by about 15 seconds of steady small arms fire. It sounds like it is in the direction the hunting party headed.

The remaining deer scatter into the forest as Tanya finishes off the five wounded.
150kg of fresh meat can be added to the freezer (if you had one that is!Better fire up the BBQ once you've reacted to the distant shots.)

 After seeing there was no threat, and it was deer, Michael smiles to high heaven. "If we do them over a open pit, it may take a while but it will almost jerky the meat and it will last forever.  We can cut a few up for steaks and have them ready to eat in no time." Having grown up in the woods as a good old boy, michael has been hunting a lot and will gladly help skin cook and whatever is needed.

 I think I had A good idea about hunting. Makes it a lot easier on the tummy.

"I don't think the deer are armed in these parts, that sounds like our people could be in trouble" William says quickly to the Leiutenant. "Maybe we need to find out whats going on, Sir".

Andy jogs back into the camp and says,

Sorry for the fright lads, thought the meat we would get would be worth interrupting your beauty sleep!

He then says, i agree with Brown sir, that explosion probably means they have encountered something not so defenseless as deer. I volunteer to go and see whats happening.

Major Smythe, I do not believe the average herbivore packs explosives. It is possible our hunting party has encountered hostile forces, or possible that some other forces are clashing - we are still within proximity to Kalisz and it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn other NATO units had escaped. Or it could even be two Pact units shooting it out, as this is hardly unheard of. Or somebody shooting at bandits.

My recommendation is that we do *not* dispatch another small group into the dark. Our hunting party isn't expecting one, and consequently the possibility of a Blue on Blue incident must be considered. Furthermore, the gunfight in question may not even involve our people. Does it make more sense two have two groups of our people out there in the dark? I think not.

I also happen to believe the hunting party can take care of itself - it has experienced professionals. The odds of them all being caught nappying is low.

If the hunting party does not return by the time we expect them to, perhaps then we should consider searchers. Until then, they might only add confusion.

Or so goes my recommendation, Sir. We've got Deer to process. And we've got civilians to protect.

Gary makes his entire recommendation while scanning the near darkness around the camp. He clearly hopes that the hunting party have not found something they could not handle....

"Listen to Gary, there"

"Let's stay. I need to sleep. G'nite"

Andy chimes in, With all due respect sir, they are our people out there. We should at least send a small party out to see whats up.