Return To Honor: A Soldier Story

There are times when we experience days filled with dark clouds that refuse to go away. I experienced such a time in my life when the bottom fell out from under me and left me utterly confused and broken. Only a few years before, I was on top of the world. I had been blessed with so many wonderful things, that often people would ask me if I had an inside track with God. But this day, March 11, 1999, would be the beginning of a storm that would last for years and be etched in my memory forever. My name is John and this is my story.

I was in good spirits when I headed in to work; excited about the team meeting that was scheduled to begin in less than fifteen minutes. Our section had just been voted number one in the unit. It was a proud day for us. Things were finally working in our favor and we were elated that the Brigade commanders were finally acknowledging all of our hard work and accomplishments. We had gotten word that our team was now ranked tenth out of the thirty-five recruiting stations in the Columbia Recruiting Battalion ranking report. That meant that out of the successful, large stations in the Battalion, we were ranked fourth. We were on cloud nine!

Unfortunately, the day would end as one of the worst days of my life; or so I thought. Little did I know, that this was only the beginning; the worst was yet to come. The celebration would be short lived and I would find myself stripped of everything that I had worked so hard to achieve.

The time was 0730 hours and the meeting was just about to begin when I was told that I had a call. Man, who could be calling me right now? I wondered hoping that it wasn’t my wife calling to tell me that one of the kids had gotten sick again.

“Sergeant Isom speaking,” I answered.

“Sergeant First Class Isom, I want you to pack your s---. You’re a-- is fired. Get out of my recruiting station!” The caller hung up the phone.

I recognized the voice of my commander, Captain Henkel. The order that he had just given me was shocking, to say the least. I scratched my head trying to figure out what had just happened. I decided to put it out of my mind and go on with the meeting. A few minutes later, the phone rang again.

“Sarge, it’s for you again,” Sergeant First Class Wright said as she pushed the phone toward me nervously.

“Yes, this is Sergeant…” Before I could finish speaking, my commander’s voice bellowed into my ear.

“Did you hear what I said Isom? I said I want you to pack your s--- and get you’re a-- out of my office.”

“Sir,” I said praying that I hadn’t heard him right. I was dumbfounded. There were no words to describe what I was feeling. I turned to look at the faces of the soldiers sitting at the round oak table, anxious to begin the meeting.

“S-s-sir,” I stuttered nervously. “Did something happen?”

“I said I want you’re a-- out of that office! ”

Before I could respond, he hung up on me again. This is crazy, I thought to myself. What in the world is going on?

I walked over to the table and stood there shaking my head.

“What’s wrong, Sergeant Isom?” Sergeant First Class Boykin asked.

“Man, I don’t know.”

A few minutes later, the phone rang a third time and Sergeant Wright handed it to me looking very confused.

“Isom let me repeat myself one last time. Get out of my d--- office. Report to the company at 1000 hours.”

“Yes sir,” I mumbled as I heard the phone being slammed down on the other end. I hung up the phone. Shocked and bewildered, I turned to face my soldiers, not sure of what had just happened, let alone what I was going to say to them.

“What’s up Sarge?” Sergeant Wright asked.

“I don’t know. Something must have gone down that I don’t know about. That was Captain Henkel and he’s pissed off about something. Sergeant Boykin, would you take control of the meeting until I figure out what’s going on here?”