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turned
simultaneously to the left.   “ Hambin , give your classmate a proper dress-off,” Jackson
ordered.  
    With Dogety now at her right side, Jackson at her left, and Hambin behind, she had only one route left open—forward.   Jan unlatched her black, webbed belt and
unzipped the olive drab fatigue pants.   Then she slid the pants slightly down over her butt while Hambin grabbed each side of her shirt at her waistline,
pulling it tight.   He folded the
extra shirt fabric back, holding it firmly in place, while she lifted her pants
back up over his fingers.   She
re-zippered and re-buckled while Hambin carefully
withdrew his hands.   If done correctly,
the shirt would lay completely flat across the back with only two hospital bed
folds at the sides.
    “Okay, Cadet Jackson, I’ll take it
from here.”   Dogety sounded annoyed and his eyes tracked Jackson as he walked away.   “ Hambin and Wishart , right face,” he said quietly.   The new cadets turned back to face
him.   “ Hambin ,
from now on, you will report to Wishart’s room before
every formation to give her a proper dress-off.”
    “Yes, Sir,” Hambin said.
    But Jan didn’t like it.   “Sir, may I make a statement?”
    “What is it, Wishart ?”  
    “Sir, my roommate can give me dress-offs.”  
    “Not good enough, Wishart .   Your roommate is Third Squad scum.”   Dogety nodded
at Hambin .   “Fourth Squad takes care of its own, right Hambin ?”
    “Yes. Sir,” Hambin popped off.

 
 
    5

 
    Thursday,
May 6 1982
    1930
hours

 
    The stenographer scowled as Jan walked to her seat in the windowless
room.   The two women sat in silence
waiting for the males to arrive.   Jan wondered how different her Honor Board would be with an all women
jury.   Can’t think about that.   Just pray some of these guys will see
the forest through the vines.  
    Jan mixed up clichés all the time.   She felt it showed she was a big picture person who didn’t get bogged
down with all the details.   Yet, she
needed to focus on the details now in order to find a way out of this
mess.   The details might make or break my case.   There, I got that one right.
    The men entered the room and took their seats.   Conrad cleared his throat.   “All right then, let’s pick up where we
left off.”   He looked to the witness
chair.   “Cadet Jackson, I want to
remind you that you are still under oath.   Now, tell us what transpired after you and Cadet Dogety confronted Cadet Wishart in the CQ office?”
    Jackson leaned forward in his chair.   “She refused to admit any blame for the switcheroo.   She told us she kept the routing
envelope with her at all times between trips from Third to First Regiments.   She used the latrine on two occasions
and stopped in her room two times where she spoke to Cadets McCarron and Trane.   But she was adamant that neither of
those two touched the envelope.”
    “Did you feel that Cadet Wishart was being
truthful at that time?”   Conrad
asked.
    “No, I thought she was lying.   But I couldn’t prove it.   I
figured someone else probably knew something that could show Cadet Wishart was lying,” Jackson said, never looking at
Jan.   “So, we dismissed her and
decided we would verify her story with Cadets McCarron and Trane later.”
    “Why did you think she was not being truthful at that point?”   Cadet Gaskins, Second Regimental Honor
Captain asked.
    “Because she was sweating, shaking, acting all nervous and stuff,”
Jackson said.
    Cadet Tourney asked, “Do you think she could have been nervous for any
other reason?”
    “No, not really.   We have had
many…uh…encounters with Cadet Wishart .   She never acted like that before.”
    I just spent the last couple hours running back and forth between your rooms, I had no
idea how the new note got in the envelope, and you had me alone in the goddamn
CQ room!
    “Okay, what else did you tell Miss Wishart before you dismissed her?”