His Pride Was Too Big For This

This whole business between SSG W and I spanned a long time.  It wasn't like these things were happening back to back.  Like I said, for the most part the two of us were able to put aside our personal differences and get along well enough at work to get our jobs done.  But every now and then something would get to him (probably his wife) and he'd start throwing his rank around the room.

He always had names for me that were snotty like, "Miss Big College Degree" and "Little Miss Perfect" . . . Sometimes when he couldn't find something or something went wrong he'd come to me and say, "I know Miss Perfect couldn't have made a mistake so tell me . . " or something like that.  Several times I'd hear one of the attorneys ask him something he didn't know and they'd say to him, "Why don't you ask Sergeant Dodge."  I'm sure that both embarrassed and infuriated him.  I don't think they were trying to be unkind --they just wanted an answer.  I loved my job too much to let SSG W bother me.  I almost exclusively worked with the officers as far as JAG work and when it came to Army business, I went to my Master Sergeant. 

Towards the end of my time in Germany and just after I returned from PLDC things got worse to the point it was affecting our work together.  I just had it with his snide remarks, I had it with him getting credit for things I did . . . and I REALLY had it with his mutilation of the English language.

So one day we were in the office and SSG W was talking to a soldier from a different unit.  I don't remember anything about this soldier or why he was there other than it was a male.  At this point, JAG had moved into a different building while the old building was under renovation.  My desk was right next to SSG W but I surrounded myself with partitions so other than a small entrance, no one could see in.  But you know, they were just partitions so you could hear everything.

SSG W was talking to this soldier and he was bragging about what a great NCOIC he was.  He was telling all these lies and I was sitting at my desk and every word he uttered was getting under my skin but then he said the one word that just made me snap!  He said the one word that was the proverbial last straw.  Talking about what a great NCOIC he was he said, "Me and my soldiers have a good rappert. . . ."

It was like nails on a chalkboard to me and I lost it.  From behind my partition I yelled, "Ra-pore!  The word is pronounced RA-PORE!"

As the words were barely on my lips I regretted them.  I knew I was way out of line. I knew exactly what I had done but honestly, there was a part of me that found great satisfaction in it.  There was a part of me that was glad to just finally get that release.  But then there was a bigger part of me that was remorseful.  I was remorseful because it was wrong, true enough but more selfishly, I knew this sealed my fate with SSG W.  I knew that any pieces of our working relationship that might have been salvageable were completely destroyed.  I knew his pride was too big for this.