Wanda --The New Mom

Morning formations were anything but fun. They were held every single duty day. Every single duty day. Every single duty day. Get the point? I won't get into the PT formations so I'll just stick with our usual reporting for the day.

They were held outside irregardless of the weather. I guess maybe rain, very torrential rain, would have canceled formation but certainly not snow or cold. These were the same formations I once mentioned were held in the motor pool then later moved to behind the company, which was basically, the barracks with offices on the lower level. Sometimes we'd have a division-wide formation and that would be held in the parking lot of division headquarters.

One morning we were gathering for formation and I met a JAG SP4, Wanda. She had just returned to duty after an 8 week maternity leave of absence. I never met her before this day. It was a cold fall morning, cold enough for us to be wearing our field jackets. Field jackets would be equivalent to a civilian winter jacket. So just before the 1SG came out and called us to attention, Wanda pulled me aside and said, "If I tell you something will you promise not to tell anyone?" I promised because being this was the first time ever I met her, I couldn't imagine she was going to tell me anything too personal or earth shattering. So sure, I told her I'd keep her secret. She said to me, "I brought my baby to work. She's in the car. I didn't have a baby sitter and my husband had to work so I had to bring her with me."

Okay --this isn't computing. I mean, ITS COLD OUTSIDE! I asked her if the car was running, anyone was with her, etc. Nope. She had a 2 month old baby in the car alone in the parking lot in winterish cold weather. Aside from her obvious lack of parenting skills, Wanda had a bad sense of timing too because just after she dropped this bomb on me, we were called to attention. ATTENTION! Attention means --no talking, no moving, no looking around and trust me, I learned from some very unfortunate basic training experiences Attention means ATTENTION (even if a bee is buzzing around your face, DON'T MOVE, don't swat it away, pretend its not there).

I'm standing in formation and I'm torn. I promised Wanda I wouldn't tell. I couldn't just walk out of formation. Who would I tell? BUT THERE'S A BABY OUT THERE FREEZING TO DEATH! Formation seemed to take hours. As soon as we were dismissed I bolted over to my NCOIC. I asked him if I could have a private word with him. We walked a few feet away from the crowd and I told him about Wanda's baby. He looked stunned. He said, "Tell SP4 ----- to come here." So I went over to Wanda and I was so scared she was going to be angry I told but seriously, she left her baby alone in a car in the cold . . . . . We both walked back over to our NCOIC and he asked Wanda if what I had told him was true and she said yes. He just sighed and said, "Go get your baby."

I have no idea what happened after that. I for one was shocked because I have never been around anyone that seemed that incompetent of a parent. Wanda was an interesting soldier too --always a mess, always screwing up, always forgetting things, always . . . .

Wanda would come into my life again later down the road and this time, I'd find her baby yet again in a dangerous and neglectful situation and would have to intervene.

To say the very least, I was meeting some very interesting people in this Army. Tom, Wanda . . . possibly a future husband?