An oral reprimand
A female boss proposes an alternative punishment
As the Blackhawk helicopter touched down at Camp Victory in Baghdad, I could feel the knot in my stomach begin to tighten. Unlike my last visit to Baghdad, for a day of R & R, the purpose of this visit was far from pleasure. A day earlier myself and a few team members, at our small combat outpost in Karbala, had obtained a bottle of Cuervo tequila and quietly shared it in our team room. My mistake was drinking heavily on an empty stomach. Sure enough, within a few hours I was throwing up. Unfortunately for me, the base Sergeant Major happened to be walking by at that very moment. He immediately came over, concerned for my well-being. However, after smelling the alcohol on my breath, he put two and two together and reprimanded me for drinking alcohol. He then brought me to the base commander's office and demanded to know where I had obtained the alcohol and who I'd been drinking with. I refused to tell him where I'd obtained the alcohol or dime out my other team members; simply telling him I was drinking alone and had thrown the bottle over the perimeter wall.
Because I did not belong to his battalion, he promptly called my battalion headquarters in Baghdad and informed them of the situation. I had violated General Order number one which, among other things, prohibited U.S. soldiers from consuming alcohol in Iraq. Now, I would have to face the consequences of my actions which would likely be punishment through an article 15 with reduction in rank and forfeiture of pay for a couple of weeks. By the next morning, I was on a helicopter flight to Baghdad to face my punishment.
After getting off the helicopter, I took a shuttle bus to the Al Faw palace, where our battalion headquarters was located. Al Faw had formerly been Saddam Hussein's main palace in Baghdad. As I walked inside the palace, I was impressed by the extensive use of marble on both the floor and stairs. I slowly walked up the large staircase as I made my way to battalion headquarters on the third floor. As I walked down the hall, I looked at the names of other unit headquarters located at the palace. Finally, I arrived at my battalion headquarters office. I pulled open the heavy wooden door.
As I walked into the office, I saw empty desks with various name placards on them. I immediately recognized the names of the battalion Sergeant Major, Executive Officer and other key headquarters' staff. However, at the moment, the only person in the office was the battalion administrative sergeant. She looked up as I entered the office but didn't say anything. I stood in the position of at ease and told her I was there to see the Colonel. She then picked up the phone and informed the Colonel that I had just arrived. After she hung up the phone, she told me to have a seat until the Colonel was ready to see me.
As I sat there, I looked around the office. I had to admit they had life pretty good here in Baghdad. Truthfully, I resented the Battalion Commander and the headquarters staff. They had almost every amenity available and were mostly immune to the dangers of the war. As I sat there enjoying the nice air conditioning, my anger soon gave way to fatigue and I found myself dozing off in my chair. After a short while, the administrative sergeant woke me up and told me the Colonel was ready to see me. I slowly got up, composed myself and walked towards the Colonel's office. The door was closed, so I slowly I pulled it open and entered the office.
My battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Blackburn, was seated behind a large wooden desk looking at her computer screen and typing on her keyboard. I walked over to the front of her desk, stood at attention, saluted and reported to her. She returned my salute and I stood at ease.
Prior to today I had had not had any direct interaction with my her. I had not even spoken to her; having only seen her in passing during my pre-deployment training months earlier. I had been cross leveled to this battalion and she had taken very little interest in getting to know myself or the dozen or so other soldiers who had been transferred into her battalion.
Despite not knowing anything about her, my first impression of Lieutenant Colonel Blackburn was that she gave off a comforting motherly aura. Although she was somewhat attractive, I would not consider her a MILF. She was in her mid- to late 40s, had fair white skin, dirty blond hair, which she wore in a loose bun, and blue eyes. I estimated she was about 5'8 and weighed about 150 pounds. The first time I saw her, during the pre-deployment training, I thought she looked slightly overweight. Perhaps that was due to her very distinctive childbearing hips, which I concluded from some of the pictures that adorned her office walls, had in fact bore her three college age children. There were also pictures of her and her husband taken on various trips. Further accentuating her motherly aura, she wore thick black rimmed glasses. As I stood there sizing her up, it hit me that she reminded me of the actress Connie Britton, from the movie
Friday Night Lights
which I'd seen with my girlfriend right before I deployed.
After about a minute, Lieutenant Colonel Blackburn turned away from her computer, took off her glasses and faced me. I could tell she was sizing me up. She then opened a file folder on her desk, briefly looked at the papers inside, before returning her attention to me.
"I'm very disappointed in you, Private," she said in a distinctive southern accent.
I nodded.
"How old are you?" she asked.
"I'm 21, ma'am," I replied.
"You know I could almost be your mother?" she said condescendingly.
I nodded.
"What do you think I would do to my own children if they disobeyed me?"
"I'm sure you would punish them, ma'am," I replied.
"I would want them to learn their lesson, so they didn't do it again," she said.
I nodded. I was a bit caught off guard by her condescending attitude as she continued berating me. It only made me resent her even more.
"Sergeant Major Baker, who caught you throwing up, said you refused to tell him where you got the alcohol or who you were drinking with."
I nodded.
"I cannot condone this blatant violation of general order one," she said.
I nodded.
"This leaves me few options," she said.
I nodded.
"How do you think it makes me look when another battalion commander calls me and tells me one of my soldiers is violating a general order?" she said.
"Not good ma'am," I sheepishly replied.
"In accordance with the commanding General's directives, I should punish you with an article 15, reduce you in rank and dock your pay for two weeks."
"I understand ma'am," I replied.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself as I consider your punishment, Private?" she said.
I thought for a few seconds.
"Ma'am, all I can say is that it's been a rough deployment, I was trying to blow off some steam, I made a mistake and I promise this won't happen again." I said.
She looked at me with a stern expression and thought for a few moments.
"Have you ever been with a woman, Private?" she asked.
"Excuse me, ma'am," I replied.
"Are you a virgin, Private?" she asked.
I was suddenly a bit caught off guard and flustered.
"No ma'am. I have a girlfriend," I replied.
