Colonel M nodded after viewing the last slide of the briefing, yet his stern face showed no real satisfaction. “Okay,” he said quietly through tight lips. Once the projector clicked off, he swept his pointed yet somewhat accusing finger around the table at the staff. “Anyone have anything else to add?”

Each member at the table shook their heads “no”, desperately wanting the meeting to end and go about his business. Then the finger paused at me, and the Colonel pointedly stated, “J, see me in my office after this meeting.” Then he continued to sweep his finger past me around to the shaking heads.

“All right, then. That’s it,” said the Colonel as he stood from his seat. On instinct, everyone in the room popped to attention. There was complete silence as the commander took his time gathering his slides, enjoying the idea of his staff catering to his whims. Once he exited the room, everyone relaxed then silently gathered their materials and departed. At least they were lucky enough to go back to work. I discovered from the meeting I’ve got a stack of overdue performance reports due tomorrow morning. Now, I get to see the commander. Yeah…this was going to be a great day.

Before I could formally report in, Colonel M motioned to the couch across from his desk. “Close the door and sit down.” This was not a good sign. I sat upright on his couch as if a school marm was correcting my posture.

The commander sank into a massive leather chair and touched his fingertips together. “Captain J,” he began stiffly, “Do you know why I called you into my office…again?”

I paused. I think it had something to do with the delinquent troop we discussed last night. “Sir, is it about Sergeant A mistakenly getting the training slot and Group Headquarters finding out about it?” I asked cautiously.

“That’s part of it,” the Colonel replied, emphatically nodding his head as if he had more to accuse me of. “I find it disconcerting, Captain, that your Chief knew about the situation before you did.”

I furrowed my brow. I wanted to tell the commander I was often the last to know these things because he had the tendency to call my Chief before calling me. This was just a paper trail mistake we didn’t catch in time. No big deal. However, I remained silent, though somewhat annoyed by the accusation.