This is a followup to an event I mentioned in a previous thread. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the way this works, I post a starting point for a plot, and you chime in with your thoughts, opinions, snide comments... whatever you like, and I develop the story based on the responses. At the end I'll separate fact from fiction and provide a completed story.
This thread will probably make more sense to you if you read "Case Study #2: The Loving Wife" first.
Once again, this is a work of fiction. Although it is very loosely based on an actual event, anything that sounds "cool" or even remotely interesting is most likely completely made up. Additionally, the dialogue and situations in this work of fiction are representative of how Soldiers think, talk, and sometimes act. Consequently, there are likely to be incidents of "adult language" and "adult situations." Viewer discretion is advised...
The Soul Plane Incident
2nd Group’s deployment to Iraq is coming to a close. You are Captain Faith, an MI officer in command of the Group MI Detachment. Your first sergeant and right-hand-man is 1SG Reynolds. Your MI detachment consists of 100 individuals, most of whom have been spread across the length and breadth of Iraq. Some of them you haven’t seen, spoken to, or otherwise communicated with for the duration of the deployment. It has been a tough deployment for the detachment; many of them have seen a lot of combat and several have been wounded. One Soldier, SGT Billy Bradley, was killed during a major operation in Najaf during the uprising directed by Moqtada al-Sadr. Overall, the deployment has been a resounding success, and the Group commander and command sergeant major are very pleased with your unit. Even more importantly, the ODAs that the majority of your Soldiers are there to support are very satisfied with your troops’ performance. During the packup to head home, uniform standards are unofficially relaxed, and you notice some of your Soldiers wearing “team” hats and t-shirts, a reflection of their status as “honorary” members of the ODAs they supported during the deployment.
As the time comes to do up the manifest for your flight home, there is an unexpected wrinkle in the plan. The CJSOTF J4 tells you that an ODA is now scheduled to fly out on the same flight your detachment is on. No problem, right? Wrong, seating is limited and the 12 members of the ODA are going to bump a corresponding number of members of your detachment to a later flight. The next flight leaving is not for another week. What do you do?
This thread will probably make more sense to you if you read "Case Study #2: The Loving Wife" first.
Once again, this is a work of fiction. Although it is very loosely based on an actual event, anything that sounds "cool" or even remotely interesting is most likely completely made up. Additionally, the dialogue and situations in this work of fiction are representative of how Soldiers think, talk, and sometimes act. Consequently, there are likely to be incidents of "adult language" and "adult situations." Viewer discretion is advised...
The Soul Plane Incident
2nd Group’s deployment to Iraq is coming to a close. You are Captain Faith, an MI officer in command of the Group MI Detachment. Your first sergeant and right-hand-man is 1SG Reynolds. Your MI detachment consists of 100 individuals, most of whom have been spread across the length and breadth of Iraq. Some of them you haven’t seen, spoken to, or otherwise communicated with for the duration of the deployment. It has been a tough deployment for the detachment; many of them have seen a lot of combat and several have been wounded. One Soldier, SGT Billy Bradley, was killed during a major operation in Najaf during the uprising directed by Moqtada al-Sadr. Overall, the deployment has been a resounding success, and the Group commander and command sergeant major are very pleased with your unit. Even more importantly, the ODAs that the majority of your Soldiers are there to support are very satisfied with your troops’ performance. During the packup to head home, uniform standards are unofficially relaxed, and you notice some of your Soldiers wearing “team” hats and t-shirts, a reflection of their status as “honorary” members of the ODAs they supported during the deployment.
As the time comes to do up the manifest for your flight home, there is an unexpected wrinkle in the plan. The CJSOTF J4 tells you that an ODA is now scheduled to fly out on the same flight your detachment is on. No problem, right? Wrong, seating is limited and the 12 members of the ODA are going to bump a corresponding number of members of your detachment to a later flight. The next flight leaving is not for another week. What do you do?