Adrianna Holsten walked through the barracks halls still tugging at various bits of her uniform and making sure her lance corporal patches were sewn on right. As usual with the military, it was either too big or too small, and in her case it was edging on the latter and uncomfortably. The usual logistical snafu when it came to hasty mobilization (or maybe a quartermaster with a nasty sense of humor), one more thing to file a requisition for once she actually got some more battle time logged with this unit and thus more priority. Not that she minded a close fit in the confines of the tank, but it was annoying to have shifting discomfort in the clothes one wore. The only thing that felt reassuringly right was her Fouzen town watch leather cap and radio headset which she kept from her town watch outfit.

Striding through the assembly area, Adrianna took note of the two tanks in the space where Squad 11 was coming together. One of them looked beaten to hell, with the very visible mark of a armor-piercing round in the frontal glacis and the hodgepodge armoring of a crew desperate to augment their protection against the heavier Imperial guns. A veteran tank with a veteran crew, the same look her [i]Can Opener[/i] had before she fired her final shot.

The other one on the other hand looked factory-new, literally. Several layers of paint were absent, and the tank was a plain flat hue of blue, likely from being rushed straight off the assembly line to equip the mobilizing militia. And judging from the serial number on the side, it was going to be her new ride.

"Corporal Hosten? Lance Corporal Hosten?" A young kid that looked like he barely made conscription age wearing a helmet called out jogging up to her, and by the looks of his uniform one of her tankers.

"Thats me. And you?"

"Private Miles Natch, your driver ma'am! And, wow, can I say its a real honor to be here. With you I mean. Its great to hit the field with someone with actual combat experience, real confidence-booster and all."

"I can bet." Adrianna curtly replied while mentally juggling whether to give the kid a headpat for his enthusiasm or a punch to try to get the naivety out early. From his accent and tone, he was from one of the southern cities that hadn't seen the war yet, a real FNG fresh out of highschool military courses. She decided to try being professional around him to begin with. "Listen kid, don't sweat it too much on your first day. You know your forward and reverse and listen to my every order and you'll do just fine by me. Clear?"

"Crystal ma'am! Oh, guess we might want to go get the rest of the crew since the lieutenant is here, we got one of the new three-person turrets so we're running with four." Adrianna nodded at that and waved her subordinate off to grab the other two tankers in her crew. Her old miltia tank was a three-seater, where the gunner had to load their own shells if the commander didn't pitch in. While it entailed deleting some ammo and some tightness in elbow room, having a dedicated gunner/loader pair would make it easier to focus on her job. If they were competent at their jobs that is, the level of training the other town watches and militia recruits was a bit concerning from what she had seen so far. 

She only hoped the rest of the squad were better than these rookies as she waited for them to fall in while turning to face the CO's of the squad. Those two looked reliable at least, but there was no telling what they really were like until they introduced themselves. She heard some squads were ending up with college students in social sciences and arts in charge, and hoped she didn't end up with one of those ivory-tower types.