"Playing House"

SFC B was the NCOIC of Crim Law so he was our supervisor, four JAG clerks; two in pre-trail and two in post-trial.

I have never loved a job more than I loved working in Crim Law at 1st AD.  It was busy but not stressful and very interesting.  There were always new cases and each case had its own uniqueness.  I loved working with jury selection and I loved the responsibility of updating case files each week.  In fact, every Friday once I got all the case updates I was free to leave and start my weekend.  Sometimes that was noon --sometimes that was 7pm, it just depended on many things.

When I first came to Crim Law I really took over my position.  I was trying to streamline technology, though we would never have used that word back then, into my job.  Things that had been handwritten I updated into a word processing document (hey, word processing was high speed back then!).  Listen, we were still using typewriters so anything I could get onto a disk I did. I was able to make things more efficient and therefore increase my workload.  This very much pleased my boss, SFC B and so he and I got along quite well.

Maybe too well, according to Mrs. W.

I was taking off like wild fire as a pre-trial clerk and getting a lot of recognition from not only SFC B but JAG NCOIC and the officers as well.  And that was a good thing except for --what? Except for the fact that SSG W had previously had that job and I think he thought I was showing him up.  In fact, I'm pretty sure this was the basis of him coming up with the name, "Miss Big College Degree" for me.  So you see, SSG W didn't like the fact that I wasn't on to his advances and he really didn't like the fact that I had revamped his entire old job and made him look bad.

But I don't think that is what others were thinking but I'm sure that was his perception of it.

And people like SSG W aren't likely to just let something like that lay to rest.  No, there was too much pride at stake and besides, Mrs. W had her own disdain for me so I'm sure the two of them dished about it a time or two.

One summer month the JAG NCOIC told SFC B per the Colonel's orders were were going to have a picnic and SFC B was in charge of making that happen.  And as things go in the military rank structure, SFC B tasked me to help make that happen.  So for weeks we were planning our picnic and as the date came closer SFC B asked me to go to the commissary with him to shop for the event.  We did so during duty hours and SFC B drove me in his POV, his personal vehicle that is and we were both in uniform because you know, we were on duty.

So SFC B and I shopped together and thought nothing of it --because there was nothing to think about --except how many hot dogs we needed and how much potato salad to buy, etc.

As soon as we got back to the office the Master Sergeant called for SFC B and after getting out of that meeting SFC B came back to Crim Law in a very foul mood.  Foul indeed --so I knew something happened but I had no idea what.

The rest of the afternoon was strange.  SFC B was distant from me as was SSG W --but both in a different way.  The tension in the office was thick.  Later that afternoon, just before the end of our work day, SFC B called me into a meeting and explained what was going on.

Apparently, while we were at the commissary Mrs. W was there too and she didn't like the fact that SFC B and I were at the commissary together --and she let her imagination run wild.  So she went home and called our Colonel and told him she thought he'd like to know SFC B and I were having an affair (SFC B was married).   She said we were carrying on at the commissary and "playing house" and worse yet, we were doing so while in uniform.  So the Colonel passed that information along to our Master Sergeant and told him to handle it.

But there was nothing to "handle".  But Mrs. W didn't stop there --she also called SFC B's wife and told her the same thing.  It was ugly for a little while but there was absolutely nothing to Mrs. W's farbricated story and soon everyone saw that for what it was worth --You know, I'm not even certain Mrs. W believed her own story but I do know one thing for sure, she hated me and she wanted to get me in trouble.  I'm sure it displeased her that her plan failed --in fact, I know it displeased her because since she got no success and satisfaction at that plan, she later conjured up more trouble.

I guess you'll just have to stay tuned, huh?