Three more posts.
Case Study: Karma
- Thread starter Marauder06
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So there is no need for a drug test?
I'm wondering where James picked up a bleeding disease that is compromising his mental status... and when, and why it wasn't caught in his physicals. But, hey, I'm a medic and a runny nose under stress is a giveaway.
Mara, check a few of your construction issues, and misuse of past where a past participle was called for... one specific is the use of sprung where the correct word is sprang, and Chief Collins, and Faith speaking yet it is attributed to the DCO.... hey, I realize you don't have an NCO or even a SP4 to edit for you....:-"
Mara, check a few of your construction issues, and misuse of past where a past participle was called for... one specific is the use of sprung where the correct word is sprang, and Chief Collins, and Faith speaking yet it is attributed to the DCO.... hey, I realize you don't have an NCO or even a SP4 to edit for you....:-"
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Doesn't sound like he's been doing a few lines, Doc?
He could just need his nose cauterized, but I think otherwise.
Good catch on "sprang," thank you. It's fixed now.
Where is it that I misattributed the quotes? I"ll go back and fix it.
I've got a huge Spanish test tomorrow I need to go study for, so here is the rest of the case study. Good night, all.
/////
In addition to being stripped of his Special Forces status, James was also fined and sentenced to a short confinement to the post stockade. But he failed to report for his confinement, and was listed as AWOL.
Twice more after James had gone missing yet again, Faith got phone calls from Al James’ cell phone. Both times, there was only silence, although the last time he thought he heard something that sounded like, “Help.”
The morning after the most recent call from James, Faith was seated at his desk doing some last-minute preparation for the annual inspection, which was due to begin on the following Monday. The phone rang. It was the DCO, with some troubling news. Faith listened, said “Roger sir,” and hung up. He sat in stunned silence for a bit before picking up the phone and calling the one person he thought he could turn to in a time like this- First Sergeant Reynolds.
“Hey, Will, it’s Scott,” Faith began. “The MPs found CPT James this morning in his truck out in the Back 40.”
“Good, I hope they MPs toss that piece of shit UNDER the post stockade,” replied Reynolds. “Maybe next time they can escort him to the front gate and make sure he never comes back.”
“ Will, Al James is dead.”
“What?” “He’s dead. Cause of death unknown. The cops found a gun on the seat beside him, but there were no marks on the body and no signs of foul play.”
“He had it coming,” muttered Reynolds unsympathetically, “Karma, bitches.”
“Whatever he owed, it is paid now,” replied Faith, flatly. “Let’s not speak ill of the dead.”
A few minutes later, the phone rang on Faith’s desk. Faith identified himself, and then listened for a few seconds.
“I’ll be right there,” Faith informed the caller, and hung up. Then he called Reynolds back. “That was the MP’s. They want a unit rep to come claim the stuff they found in Al’s truck.”
“Let me get my hat and I’ll meet you there,” replied Reynolds.
A portly sergeant handed over a large paper bag containing CPT James’s belongings, and provided the information they had so far. James’s truck was found in the parking lot of Range 37, a small arms range frequented by members of the unit for both training and recreational shooting. James had his .45 on the seat beside him, along with two boxes of ammunition and a couple of paper targets. His seat was leaned back, his eyes were closed, and his hands were folded I his lap. He was found by members of a conventional unit who had signed for the range for the day. He was found by Range Control when they came to get the range ready for the day’s shooting. The first ones to find James said it looked like he had fallen asleep in his truck while waiting for the range to open. They called the MPs when their efforts to rouse James failed. The MP further noted that the ignition was in the “on” position and that the truck had run out of gas. James’ nose was slightly bloody but there were no other marks on his body. At the moment, the speculation was that James had fallen asleep with the engine running while waiting for the range to open, and had succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. But there was going to be a full autopsy just to make sure.
Faith and Reynolds secured James’ belongings and signed for them on behalf of the unit. On the way back to Group headquarters to turn the material over, Faith asked Reynolds, “Do you think I did it?”
“What?”
“Do you think I did it. When we got into that fight,” Faith clarified.
“Do I think you killed James by punching him in the head? No I don’t think that. You couldn’t hit someone hard enough to kill him,” Reynolds explained.
“But that kind of thing happens sometimes, like that SF guy out of Bragg that killed a guy in a bar fight in North Carolina,” Faith protested.
“Oh I know it happens, I’m just saying YOU can’t hit someone hard enough to kill him.”
“What makes you say that?” inquired Faith.
“Because I know for a fact that you hit like a girl,” said Reynolds, rubbing his chin and grinning. Then Faith and Reynolds both laughed.
“Look,” said Reynolds comfortingly, “Whatever was wrong with Al James, it had nothing to do with you. Dude was messed up somehow, and whatever he was into, it killed him. It might have been drugs, that would explain the erratic behavior, the paranoia, and the aggression.”
“And the bloody noses,” Faith added.
“Cocaine is a hell of a drug,” Reynolds stated, quoting comedian Rick James.
“True, that,” Faith responded.
A few days later, a group of officers from 2nd Group had gathered at the Blackhorse saloon downtown to celebrate the departure of Captain Criss, the Group Support Detachment commander who was leaving to become part of the 16th Special Aviation Unit (SAVE). The gathering was convivial; CPT Criss was enormously well-liked, and his sense of humor kept the group of officers greatly entertained. The event, know as a Hail and Fairwell, coincided with the promotions earlier that day of both 1LT Delano and 1LT Castelli, both of whom were now captains. Both of the newly-minted captains were present, as were a smattering of officers and senior NCOs from across the Group. The mood was festive; everyone seemed pretty happy so far. Since they had all come straight from work, everyone was in their battle dress uniforms (BDUs).
CPT Delano was allowed to keep her job as commander of the MID. CPT Criss’s replacement, CPT Swann, proved to be highly capable; so much so that he was made temporary commander of the GSC until a permanent replacement for MAJ Ripley could be found. Best of all, at least from CPT Faith’s perspective, was that the big annual inspection had been postponed until the end of the month. Score.
Once the speeches were complete and the laughs were winding down, CPT Faith gestured in vain for the waitress so he could settle the bill. His intent was to pay for both his and CPT Criss’s meals and drinks, but he was having a hard time catching the waitress’s eye. Annoyed, he got up and finally ran her down at the register.
“Hey, I’m going to have to leave in a few minutes, I need to settle up,” he told her.
“It’s already taken care of, sir,” said the waitress.
“What do you mean?” Faith asked, confused. He knew that he hadn’t paid his bill, so how could everything be ‘taken care of?’”
“Another patron, a couple actually, already paid the bill.”
“Wow, that had to be a pretty hefty tab,” Faith observed, looking back at the plates and cups strewn across the table where the Hail and Farewell was being conducted.
“Yes, and they left a pretty big tip too,” the waitress commented.
“Who are they? I want to say thanks.”
“They were very clear about that, they want to remain anonymous. They said, ‘tell them thank you for your service’ if anyone should ask.
“OK,” said Faith. “Look, I don’t need to know who they are. But if they haven’t left already please give them this,” he pulled a unit coin from his pocket, “and please give them our profound thanks.”
The waitress thought a moment. “OK, I’ll do that,” she said, dropping the coin into her apron.
When he got back to the table, Faith told everyone what had happened.
“Wow, if I knew someone else was picking up the tab, I would have drunk more!” exclaimed CPT Criss, who then led the assembled group in a rousing rendition of “Hip, hip, HOORAY” as an expression of gratitude for their anonymous benefactors.
Shortly thereafter the group broke up, and only Faith, Criss, Castelli, Reynolds, Rollins, and Rollins’ friend Paul remained. Just before they too were going to depart, the Group surgeon, CPT Chen, walked in, a dark look on his face.
“Hey, Li,” said Criss genially, referring to CPT Chen by his first name, “You almost missed the party!”
Chen was not in the mood for a party. “The results of Al James’ autopsy came back,” he said, without preamble. He had Crutchfeld-Jacob’s disease.
“What is that?” inquired now-Captain Castelli.
“He had mad cow disease?” asked Paul, incredulous.
“That means…” said Chief Rollins.
“Yeah,” replied Faith.
“How did he get that?” Castelli asked.
“Probably got it from eating all those goat brains in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” commented CPT Criss.
There was a short period of silence, broken when Reynolds summed up what everyone else was thinking: “That means he wasn’t’ the piece of shit everyone thought he was.”
There it was- the Great Unsaid; the elephant in the room.
“Mad cow disease affects the brain, causing dementia, memory loss, personality changes and hallucinations,” stated Chen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt%E2%80%93Jakob_disease
“It is incurable and very difficult to diagnose, added Paul, who by trade was a Special Forces medic.
“ So his conduct was a result of an service-incurred illness, it wasn’t James’ fault?” inquired Castelli. Chief Rollins began to cry.
CPT Delano was allowed to keep her job as commander of the MID. CPT Criss’s replacement, CPT Swann, proved to be highly capable; so much so that he was made temporary commander of the GSC until a permanent replacement for MAJ Ripley could be found. Best of all, at least from CPT Faith’s perspective, was that the big annual inspection had been postponed until the end of the month. Score.
Once the speeches were complete and the laughs were winding down, CPT Faith gestured in vain for the waitress so he could settle the bill. His intent was to pay for both his and CPT Criss’s meals and drinks, but he was having a hard time catching the waitress’s eye. Annoyed, he got up and finally ran her down at the register.
“Hey, I’m going to have to leave in a few minutes, I need to settle up,” he told her.
“It’s already taken care of, sir,” said the waitress.
“What do you mean?” Faith asked, confused. He knew that he hadn’t paid his bill, so how could everything be ‘taken care of?’”
“Another patron, a couple actually, already paid the bill.”
“Wow, that had to be a pretty hefty tab,” Faith observed, looking back at the plates and cups strewn across the table where the Hail and Farewell was being conducted.
“Yes, and they left a pretty big tip too,” the waitress commented.
“Who are they? I want to say thanks.”
“They were very clear about that, they want to remain anonymous. They said, ‘tell them thank you for your service’ if anyone should ask.
“OK,” said Faith. “Look, I don’t need to know who they are. But if they haven’t left already please give them this,” he pulled a unit coin from his pocket, “and please give them our profound thanks.”
The waitress thought a moment. “OK, I’ll do that,” she said, dropping the coin into her apron.
When he got back to the table, Faith told everyone what had happened.
“Wow, if I knew someone else was picking up the tab, I would have drunk more!” exclaimed CPT Criss, who then led the assembled group in a rousing rendition of “Hip, hip, HOORAY” as an expression of gratitude for their anonymous benefactors.
Shortly thereafter the group broke up, and only Faith, Criss, Castelli, Reynolds, Rollins, and Rollins’ friend Paul remained. Just before they too were going to depart, the Group surgeon, CPT Chen, walked in, a dark look on his face.
“Hey, Li,” said Criss genially, referring to CPT Chen by his first name, “You almost missed the party!”
Chen was not in the mood for a party. “The results of Al James’ autopsy came back,” he said, without preamble. He had Crutchfeld-Jacob’s disease.
“What is that?” inquired now-Captain Castelli.
“He had mad cow disease?” asked Paul, incredulous.
“That means…” said Chief Rollins.
“Yeah,” replied Faith.
“How did he get that?” Castelli asked.
“Probably got it from eating all those goat brains in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” commented CPT Criss.
There was a short period of silence, broken when Reynolds summed up what everyone else was thinking: “That means he wasn’t’ the piece of shit everyone thought he was.”
There it was- the Great Unsaid; the elephant in the room.
“Mad cow disease affects the brain, causing dementia, memory loss, personality changes and hallucinations,” stated Chen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt%E2%80%93Jakob_disease
“It is incurable and very difficult to diagnose, added Paul, who by trade was a Special Forces medic.
“ So his conduct was a result of an service-incurred illness, it wasn’t James’ fault?” inquired Castelli. Chief Rollins began to cry.
The process of re-instating James’ Special Forces qualifications was fast, almost instantaneous.
The Last Roll Call was conducted the following Monday. If anything, it was more somber than usual; too many unanswered questions. A lot of people were now wondering if the Group had done the right thing by casting him out in the first place. Al James’ parents were present at the Last Roll Call, and were able to see their son’s honor formally restored as the Group Commander and DCO pinned a metal Special Forces tab to the pocket flap of James’s dress green uniform, and placed a brand-new green beret in the coffin with him.
“We’ve been to too many of these,” Reynolds said to Faith at the reception following the Last Roll Call. Faith grunted his concurrence. Across the room, Faith observed Al James’ family speaking with the Group commander. Given the totality of the circumstances, Faith thought, they were being pretty understanding about what the unit did to their son. Also present were CPT James’ widow and young son. Seeing their grief was a truly heartbreaking experience.
After circulating at the reception for he felt was an appropriate period of time, Faith left the chapel to head back to work. When he walked out the door, he saw the DCO, who had his back to him, speaking with the Group command sergeant major, who was enthusiastically puffing away on a cigarette.
“I can’t believe this happened,” the DCO was saying.
“The way he was acting.., you did what you had to do.”
“I’m never going to make this mistake again,” said the DCO, his voice choking with emotion. I should have backed him up, 100%. From now on, I will always err in favor of my people.”
The Group command sergeant major’s eyes narrowed as he took a long pull on his cigarette. “When you do that, sir, you make a whole other set of mistakes.” It wasn’t until much later that Faith found out how true those words were.
THE END.
The Last Roll Call was conducted the following Monday. If anything, it was more somber than usual; too many unanswered questions. A lot of people were now wondering if the Group had done the right thing by casting him out in the first place. Al James’ parents were present at the Last Roll Call, and were able to see their son’s honor formally restored as the Group Commander and DCO pinned a metal Special Forces tab to the pocket flap of James’s dress green uniform, and placed a brand-new green beret in the coffin with him.
“We’ve been to too many of these,” Reynolds said to Faith at the reception following the Last Roll Call. Faith grunted his concurrence. Across the room, Faith observed Al James’ family speaking with the Group commander. Given the totality of the circumstances, Faith thought, they were being pretty understanding about what the unit did to their son. Also present were CPT James’ widow and young son. Seeing their grief was a truly heartbreaking experience.
After circulating at the reception for he felt was an appropriate period of time, Faith left the chapel to head back to work. When he walked out the door, he saw the DCO, who had his back to him, speaking with the Group command sergeant major, who was enthusiastically puffing away on a cigarette.
“I can’t believe this happened,” the DCO was saying.
“The way he was acting.., you did what you had to do.”
“I’m never going to make this mistake again,” said the DCO, his voice choking with emotion. I should have backed him up, 100%. From now on, I will always err in favor of my people.”
The Group command sergeant major’s eyes narrowed as he took a long pull on his cigarette. “When you do that, sir, you make a whole other set of mistakes.” It wasn’t until much later that Faith found out how true those words were.
THE END.
OR IS IT?!
Setting us up for another one, sir?
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Wha...
Damn. Didn't expect that! Also didn't expect to see a comment relating to MY in there. LOL
Damn. Didn't expect that! Also didn't expect to see a comment relating to MY in there. LOL
Wow, I was going to ask if James had made a habit of getting IED'd but I never saw mad cow disease coming, herpegonosyphilaids maybe.
No really, that's all for this case study ;)
Most likely. Hopefully the next one won't take five months + to tell
As many of you recall (and have already stated earlier in this case) the mad cow thing actually happened to a guy in 5th Group. The details in this story are made up, but there really was a guy who had his tab revoked, and it wasn't until much later that they figured out he had the disease. He died shortly thereafter, but IIRC they got him his tab back before he passed. Out of respect for this individual's memory, I want to make it clear that any serious misconduct attributed to CPT James in the story... like the adultery thing, the laptop, and especially Chief Rollins getting punched in the face, is a complete fabrication and the real-life Special Forces Soldier never did any of those things.
In real life we also lost a decorated and highly-respected SF officer to an arty hit in Iraq, while he was standing in line waiting to get into the PX at Balad. He was the first guy that I knew who was KIA. The SF base at Balad is named after him.
There were no female officers in Group when I was there, all of that was completely made up. The incident with SGT Smalls' wife is kind of true, as far as the pictures go, but there was never any suspicion of an officer being involved. Although I didn't get along with the Group S2 (actually there was a string of S2s I didn't get along with... maybe the problem was with me?), he was not as bad as the one in the story. But every story needs a bad guy, right? ;)
The real-life DCO and GSC commander of the Group I was in were incredible leaders and would have crushed the issues in this case study on the spot, things never would have gotten to the point they did in this story.
In conclusion, the Group I was in was never this dysfunctional, I just think it makes a better and more instructive story this way. ;)
:) there are also references to at least three members of the site in this case study.
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I think I may have picked up on a couple of those.
I figured this was me. Not very well concealed...
Good fucking story sir. Well-written. Thank you for thaking the time to write it.
lol, I had no one in mind when I came up with that character. He was part of a plot line that I worked on for a day or two and then abandoned, that description of him is all that remained when I got done editing. But "Paul," "CPT Criss," and "CPT Chen" are all characters who are named after site members. There have been others in earlier case studies as well.I figured this was me. Not very well concealed...
I enjoyed writing it, thank you (and many others) for the earlier input. Many times the story changes from what I had in mind based on what people suggest in these posts.
-So, now that this story is FINALLY over (after how many months?), what kinds of things can we take away from this case study in terms of leadership lessons learned?
-Is there a particular case study you would like us to take on next? It has to be SOF-related, it has to have major leadership tie-ins, and I have to be able to incorporate some if not most of the main characters used in the other case studies.
Thanks for the story sir. I'm looking forward to the next one already. Hopefully you can start (and hopefully finish..) one prior to my shipping in September. I don't know if I could handle the suspense of dragging out the finish:-".
I read all about the real life story of the SF soldier from 5th Group as my recruiter was very involved in that whole story. So I believe a great take away would be to never question your gut in regards to noticing a dramatic change in someone's behavior and demeanor. It was obvious that many characters had a feeling that something was wrong with him. With that said, even if there is a medical/logical reason behind poor behavior, action needs to be taken swiftly. Oh, and I also learned that it is not wise to store home-made porn on government issue computers.
I read all about the real life story of the SF soldier from 5th Group as my recruiter was very involved in that whole story. So I believe a great take away would be to never question your gut in regards to noticing a dramatic change in someone's behavior and demeanor. It was obvious that many characters had a feeling that something was wrong with him. With that said, even if there is a medical/logical reason behind poor behavior, action needs to be taken swiftly. Oh, and I also learned that it is not wise to store home-made porn on government issue computers.
The case study reaffirmed a lot of things wise men beat into me years ago which was that if someone's behaviour changes dramatically and they don't have a history of being a sack you owe it to them to find out what is causing it and help if you can. In short know your people.
I added a summary of the case study to the first post in this thread, in case anyone wants to just read it straight through instead of trying to keep track of things post-by-post.
Well, no promises; this one started in NOV11, I planned on having it done by Christmas, and it took until JUL12 to finally wrap it up. Unfortunately, I don't think that's a record...:-/
That Soldier and I were in Group at the same time, but I don't think our paths ever crossed and I think I left Group just before this whole thing blew up. Knowing what they knew at the time, I feel like the Group made the right decision but of course everyone felt terrible after, when the truth came out. IIRC they actually had the guy tested for a bunch of different stuff, but it all came back negative. I just don't think it occurred to anyone that he might have C-J until much, much later.
Roger, that's one of the things I took away too. There is a fine line between "looking out for people" and "covering up for them." Leaders get paid to make tough decisions; sometimes that involves holding people accountable for their actions, and saving them from themselves.
Well, no promises; this one started in NOV11, I planned on having it done by Christmas, and it took until JUL12 to finally wrap it up. Unfortunately, I don't think that's a record...:-/
That Soldier and I were in Group at the same time, but I don't think our paths ever crossed and I think I left Group just before this whole thing blew up. Knowing what they knew at the time, I feel like the Group made the right decision but of course everyone felt terrible after, when the truth came out. IIRC they actually had the guy tested for a bunch of different stuff, but it all came back negative. I just don't think it occurred to anyone that he might have C-J until much, much later.
Roger, that's one of the things I took away too. There is a fine line between "looking out for people" and "covering up for them." Leaders get paid to make tough decisions; sometimes that involves holding people accountable for their actions, and saving them from themselves.
0699 is NOT portly. Just sayin'. ;)I figured this was me. Not very well concealed...
Good fucking story sir. Well-written. Thank you for thaking the time to write it.
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