Case Study #2: The Loyal Wife
- Thread starter Marauder06
- Start date
Yeah, you probably beat me to it! I didn't want to read 400 posts to find what I was looking for!
C
cb88
Guest
Great read, Mara...thanks!
OK, some of you asked about truth vs. embelishment for this thread. The events that this case study is based of of happened like four years ago, and events start to run together... if memory serves, here's fact vs. fiction for this thread:
-We did have a guy who found out his wife was cheating on him through his answering machine, while we were in Iraq. She did, in fact, have a brain tumor.
-Using an alias, “Jody” did in fact send emails back and forth to “Bradley.”
-Bradley took the whole incident like a man, he did what he needed to do and kept his chin up the whole time.
-In one of his emails, Jody did use the phrase, “I am the Group,” I still don’t know what that was supposed to mean. It did piss off the Sergeant Major, though.
-I did send an email to Jody, telling him to knock it off. He did talk shit to me. Sometimes Brenda would send emails, too.
-The emails that Jody and “Brenda” sent were embarrassingly lacking in basic grammar, punctuation and spelling. Hence the “two completely different marginally literate individuals” comment in the impact statement, which was also real but from which any identifying information has been redacted.
-The Sergeant Major did keep Bradley in-country, I didn’t agree with it at first but it ended up being the right call… that’s why he was the CSM and I wasn’t.
-Bradley did not die in Iraq. As far as I know, Bradley, Brenda, and Jody are all alive and well.
-As I think is somewhat natural in such a situation, initially there was some talk about kicking Jody’s ass, but that's not the way we do business. From start to finish, everything was conducted above-board and done with the knowledge and support of the appropriate JAGs and chains of command. I do not condone the behavior demonstrated in the story- the captain and first sergeant demonstrated an inexcusable lack of professionalism and emotional control. It did make a better story… nonetheless, that whole scene was a complete fabrication, and is not the way real-life incidents should be handled by career Soldiers, particularly leaders and especially officers.
-Regrettably, the “Soul Plane incident” was not a fabrication, and I did spend all Thanksgiving wondering how many bars I was going to lose over it. That’s a separate topic on its own.
-We did find out who Jody was through a forged check and an AKO search.
-Once we got back home, we did track Jody down. After a brief conversation with his chain of command, we did have a confrontation with him, it didn’t go down anything like it was portrayed in the story. Also unlike in the story, in real life his chain of command was cooperative in pursuing UCMJ action because as expected, the dude was a shitbag.
-Jody was “storing” a lot of Bradley’s property in an off-post storage shed. After we went and got Bradley’s stuff, Jody tried to accuse us of stealing some of his things. Hence the reference in the impact statement. If I remember correctly, he even named me in the complaint, which is interesting because I wasn’t even there. During the inventory, which was conducted with Jody and members of his chain of command present, some items that were stolen from Jody’s company were found in Jody’s storage locker. No weapons- just a gas mask and some other random gear.
-At one point, it did look like they were just going to let Jody ETS in lieu of a court martial (or whatever that procedure is), that’s why the impact statement was required.
-After I PCSd, I found out that Jody got some jail time and a BCD (bad conduct discharge).
-None of the main characters in the story, such as the captain, the first sergeant, the sergeant major, or the DCO are based on real people. Just like the story, the characters are part reality, and part outright fabrication.
-We did have a guy who found out his wife was cheating on him through his answering machine, while we were in Iraq. She did, in fact, have a brain tumor.
-Using an alias, “Jody” did in fact send emails back and forth to “Bradley.”
-Bradley took the whole incident like a man, he did what he needed to do and kept his chin up the whole time.
-In one of his emails, Jody did use the phrase, “I am the Group,” I still don’t know what that was supposed to mean.
It did piss off the Sergeant Major, though.-I did send an email to Jody, telling him to knock it off. He did talk shit to me. Sometimes Brenda would send emails, too.
-The emails that Jody and “Brenda” sent were embarrassingly lacking in basic grammar, punctuation and spelling. Hence the “two completely different marginally literate individuals” comment in the impact statement, which was also real but from which any identifying information has been redacted.
-The Sergeant Major did keep Bradley in-country, I didn’t agree with it at first but it ended up being the right call… that’s why he was the CSM and I wasn’t.
-Bradley did not die in Iraq. As far as I know, Bradley, Brenda, and Jody are all alive and well.
-As I think is somewhat natural in such a situation, initially there was some talk about kicking Jody’s ass, but that's not the way we do business. From start to finish, everything was conducted above-board and done with the knowledge and support of the appropriate JAGs and chains of command. I do not condone the behavior demonstrated in the story- the captain and first sergeant demonstrated an inexcusable lack of professionalism and emotional control. It did make a better story… nonetheless, that whole scene was a complete fabrication, and is not the way real-life incidents should be handled by career Soldiers, particularly leaders and especially officers.
-Regrettably, the “Soul Plane incident” was not a fabrication, and I did spend all Thanksgiving wondering how many bars I was going to lose over it. That’s a separate topic on its own.
-We did find out who Jody was through a forged check and an AKO search.
-Once we got back home, we did track Jody down. After a brief conversation with his chain of command, we did have a confrontation with him, it didn’t go down anything like it was portrayed in the story. Also unlike in the story, in real life his chain of command was cooperative in pursuing UCMJ action because as expected, the dude was a shitbag.
-Jody was “storing” a lot of Bradley’s property in an off-post storage shed. After we went and got Bradley’s stuff, Jody tried to accuse us of stealing some of his things. Hence the reference in the impact statement. If I remember correctly, he even named me in the complaint, which is interesting because I wasn’t even there. During the inventory, which was conducted with Jody and members of his chain of command present, some items that were stolen from Jody’s company were found in Jody’s storage locker. No weapons- just a gas mask and some other random gear.
-At one point, it did look like they were just going to let Jody ETS in lieu of a court martial (or whatever that procedure is), that’s why the impact statement was required.
-After I PCSd, I found out that Jody got some jail time and a BCD (bad conduct discharge).
-None of the main characters in the story, such as the captain, the first sergeant, the sergeant major, or the DCO are based on real people. Just like the story, the characters are part reality, and part outright fabrication.
Mara...
GREAT STORY... THNX lots...
Steve
I give it: *****
GREAT STORY... THNX lots...
Steve
I give it: *****
as did I. I think it's interesting we both called that one and it turned out true.
And it was an awesome story. too bad it's over.... When's the next story time?????
I would love to do this again, as long as Boon says it's OK and as long as there continues to be interest. It was fun for me as well, and it gave me a reason to do some of the writing I've always talked about doing, but never seemed to get around to (thanks Chop!).
The way I interpret the guidelines I've read up on, any other "stories" or "case studies" or what have you will have to be cleared first through security, and then through public affairs. That will slow the process down somewhat, but it's necessary. I'm not going to inadvertently leak anything, and I'm not going to make my service look bad. I'm not going to be "that guy."
Something I've talked about with my wife... I think it's a little presumptuous of me to say what happened to "you" and what "you" would do... I don't know you, and I don't know what you would do, so who am I to tell you what you did or didn't do? I think I'll write subsequent stories more in the third person. Any suggestions for names or descriptions of characters?
What story do you want next?
The worst thing about the Soul Plane incident is, I'm not going to have to make a lot of it up for it to be interesting :doh: I think I'll have to wait on telling that one though, because some of what happened won't make sense without a lot of backstory. I might be able to pull something off though.
No fetus turned up during the autopsy, so it looks like Brenda was lying about that too.
The way I interpret the guidelines I've read up on, any other "stories" or "case studies" or what have you will have to be cleared first through security, and then through public affairs. That will slow the process down somewhat, but it's necessary. I'm not going to inadvertently leak anything, and I'm not going to make my service look bad. I'm not going to be "that guy."
Something I've talked about with my wife... I think it's a little presumptuous of me to say what happened to "you" and what "you" would do... I don't know you, and I don't know what you would do, so who am I to tell you what you did or didn't do? I think I'll write subsequent stories more in the third person. Any suggestions for names or descriptions of characters?
What story do you want next?
The worst thing about the Soul Plane incident is, I'm not going to have to make a lot of it up for it to be interesting :doh: I think I'll have to wait on telling that one though, because some of what happened won't make sense without a lot of backstory. I might be able to pull something off though.
No fetus turned up during the autopsy, so it looks like Brenda was lying about that too.
Mara,
Great job. If you need a security-cleared secondary editor, I would be happy to take the job.
Soul Plane? not Soul Kitchen?
This one sounds like a real weeeener!:eek:
Great job. If you need a security-cleared secondary editor, I would be happy to take the job.
Soul Plane? not Soul Kitchen?
This one sounds like a real weeeener!:eek:
B
Boondocksaint375
Guest
Why would I have any issue? It obviously gained interest, and it isn't like you're posting a thread dedicated to porn lol ;)
what? no porn threads? what the hell kinda forum is this anyway?????
j/k ;)
j/k ;)
I mean in real life, did she have a baby and was it determined who the father was?
Queen Beach
Member
X3 on the frontal lobe issues!
Post another one. This was fun!
Sounds like you have the family involved as well. Totally cool!
Thanks, I just like to clear things with the boss first.
I don't know.
Yeah, Soul Plane, that was what my det sergeant called it. He was much less emotionally involved in it, because he wasn't there. If he had been, most of what happened probably wouldn't have. :doh: I'm sure if I ran into him again, today, he would still give me shit about that incident.
As far as the secondary-editor thing goes, thank you and I'll probably take you up on it. When my wife was reading through this thread and looking at the responses, she said, "Wow, there are some really smart people on this site," and she mentioned you by name. I was like, "Who, that guy? Are you serious?"
(j/k, I made a similiar observation)Then again, she liked Rick too, and she even met him multiple times, in person...:doh:
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