u/Wild-Independent-541

So I have been imagining this for a long time now, but I want to share it. I have been thinking of making a humanised Thomas AU where instead are drivers that would work for a company. Only instead of them driving locomotives for the NWR, they drive road vehicles (like buses, taxis, pickup trucks, vans, and semi trucks), for a company that provides bus and road freight haulage services.

Now, I am aware of what the equivalents of most of the famous concepts and terms would be in an AU where Thomas and his friends drove road vehicles. However, the question I want to ask is this: What would the equivalents of the Troublesome Trucks, coaches (particularly what jobs Annie and Clarabel would have served with Thomas along his branchline or bus line In this case) and Scrapping would be in this AU?

Note - Oh boy, I don't know if this will receive backlash or not because normally humanised AUs of Thomas often consist of Thomas and his friends driving locomotives or go to high school. But here, they drive road vehicles. I could probably feel the heat coming.

You are a veteran who served and survived in the Forman Wars (either as an Orionite (or Aurigan in the Orion Army), Antarean, Ursan, Hydrusite or Libran soldier). You have been interviewed to tell about your war-time experiences.

So, as if you were a veteran of the Forman War, give a wartime experience(s) in the Forman Wars you would like to share.

Madison Island, January 23rd, 1948

>Four days after the occupation of Western Madison Island, troops of the Orion Army rolled on the outskirts of the occupied Port Delphinus from their deployment zone in the eastern region. 

>An hour before, a bomber attack had already shaken Antarean defensive positions and even destroyed a few armoured units in the city, though it destroyed most of the city itself. This crippled them from ever preparing for a ground invasion, forcing shokktroopers to take up the defensive from within destroyed buildings as well as the ones that survived.

>Pvt. Garcia Rinoca of the 9th Infantry Division (One of many Aurigans enlisted in the army as part of neutral Auriga’s pro-Orion war effort) is riding on the back of an MTV-V halftrack with his friend Giovanni Coseni.

>He broke the silence with a question. “Giovanni, since we are arriving at Port Delphinus, is this your first time going here?” “Mmm, I’ve actually been to its beach once last year and it was… passable.” Answered Giovanni with boredom, leading Garcia to chuckle. 

>“Really? You’ve got to be sarcastic. Port Delphinus is one of the best places on Madison Island. I mean the beaches and the port near it is like its main attraction, you get to see the ships.” Giovanni answered. “Look, it's just I don't like the ships honking every time when they come to port and the smoke ruins the beach’s atmosphere. That’s why when it comes to Orion’s beaches, you never catch me at Port Delphinus.”

The Liberation of Port Delphinus

>Just as they entered the CBD district, a lone shell rocketed towards and penetrated the VT-2 medium tank leading the convoy, turning it into a flaming wreck. “Contact, contact!” a voice shouted to the rest of the convoy as vehicles either took cover or advanced towards enemy fire.

>Shokktroopers in the ruins of buildings or behind sandbags peppered the approaching vehicles and men with their E-XXXVI machine guns and E-XLIX rifles. “Crap!” Garcia shouted as they got off the MTV-V halftrack and scrambled for cover. The two friends took shelter in a ruined building and fired their C27 rifles at them.

>In seconds, they were partaking in one of the most chaotic battles in the Forman War. From the ruins, Garcia and Giovanni witnessed other Orionites getting picked off by enemy fire while an M2-A armoured car erupted into flames after getting hit by an enemy RML-V light tank. 

>“Come on you two maggots, knock out that machine gun!” Their sergeant called out to them from the back of their now-advancing halftrack before suppressing the machine gunner and the soldiers shooting at them with his C42 SMG. “Grahhhh, eat that!” Garcia shouted in rage as the two friends charged towards the building, braving the storm of bullets coming their way and point-shot at the soldiers inside.

>When they got to the building, Giovanni took out a grenade. “Fire in the hole!” He shouted as he threw it in to clear out any Antareans taking cover inside. After a small explosion, the two men went inside then upstairs where they encountered the machine gunner still firing. “Hey, Ant!” Garcia shouted to him as they peppered him with rifle fire.

>They then ran out into the open streets to see their fellow soldiers as well as tanks, armoured cars and halftracks moving forward as the Ants retreated from the CBD, accompanied by AF-46 fighters and AM-48 attackers flying over them. “The Ants are retreating out of the CBD, haul butt!” Their sergeant shouted to them from within the charge. The two then rejoined their unit.

>The Orion Army continued to push the shokktroopers back to the beaches and port with their overwhelming manpower and firepower. The friends’ unit arrived at the coastline where they saw that the homefleet had arrived and started destroying some of the  ships of the Antarean North Group. Meanwhile fighters picked off their Antarean counterparts while the attackers launched their rockets towards the ships. This hinders the Antareans’ evacuation, forcing them to hold the beaches until they can evacuate safely.

>“Come on Giovanni, they’re cornered! We’re winning!” Garcia shouted to Giovanni as they ran towards the coastline. By dawn, the battle was finally over and the remaining shokktroopers surrendered and became prisoners. That night, Garcia and Giovanni rested outside a deserted restaurant, eating some MREs at a campfire with their unit. 

>Their sergeant spoke to them. “Boys, you two have done me proud, we drove those Ants away from the island.” Garcia asked him a question as he shared a smoke with a fellow soldier. “Sarge? What’s next for us?” “I don’t know.” responded the sergeant. “Just sit on this island and begin reconstruction efforts on Port Delphinus. It certainly has taken a beating.” 

>Giovanni interjected. “Really? No going out to get revenge against those Ants?” “No.” answered the sarge. “Just sit on this island. Unless high command wants us to go out there in the Libran Ocean. I’ve also heard that the rest of the Antarean fleet along the coastlines of Palmsville and Coral City were driven out.” Garcia turns to Giovanni and asks him. “Giovanni, how long is this war gonna last?” The latter, uncertain, turns to the former and responds “I don’t know, but I do know that we will always be together, Garci.” Garcia smiles at his nickname before the men return to eating their dinner.

After the Liberation of Port Delphinus (along with the victories of Palmsville and Coral City), the Antarean North Group were driven away by the Orionite Homefleet and Airforce after losing four cruisers and three destroyers while most of the remaining ships were crippled. These battles would only be the beginning of Orion’s revenge against Antares for the attacks.