looked at her and said, “You’ve proven you can command a battalion.”
I looked at them both. “Well, right now, we need to identify a battalion XO for both of you.”
Karen look at me and asked, “Can it be anyone?”
“It has to be someone that can lead the battalion in your absence.”
“Then Adam Palomalu is my choice. I trust him to do anything.”
Pam entered with a questioning look.
“Pam, you and Sherri Winslow will take over Third Battalion.
“We will. OK, sir.”
“Tom, any ideas as to who you want for XO?”
“Well… I do, but she isn’t an infantry officer. Robin Wagner, she’s in Fort Lewis, Washington.”
“Why her?”
“Robin put in for infantry training but hasn’t gone yet. However, she is well versed in infantry tactics.”
“Well, let’s go talk to her. We’ll leave Monday morning.”
“OK, I’ll pack tomorrow.”
“Katie, hold down the fort while I’m gone.”
She responded, “As always, sir.”
We landed at 9:00 a.m. in Tacoma, Washington. A rental car was waiting for us. As I drove to Fort Lewis, Tom called Robin.
“This is CPT Wagner, how may I help you?”
“How about dinner tonight?”
“Tom, how are you? Where are you?”
“I’m on my way to see you.”
“You are? What’s going on?”
“Did you ever get into infantry school?”
“No, why the interest?”
“Can you give me your building number?”
“Go to building 2224. See you in a few minutes.”
It seemed to take longer to get there.
Robin Wagner was a tall African-American. She was surprised to see me.
“Robin, this is COL Preston.”
I shook her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Thank you, sir. What is this about?”
Tom looked at Robin. “Can we go for a walk, we have a job for you.”
“Sure, let’s go.”
Robin grabbed her hat, and we followed her out. Across the street was a huge field twice as big as a football field. We crossed and walked into the field.
“Tom is the commander of my First Battalion. He has a job for you.”
“What, the S1 officer?”
Tom looked at Robin. “No, I want you to be my XO.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“If you say yes, Jane Minder will have your orders here in an hour.”
“I haven’t been trained yet.”
“We will train you with some of the best.”
“Really? OK, I’m game.”
I called Jane to let her know what I needed. Jane sent the orders in fifty-five minutes. When we got back, Robin was called into her commander’s office. I stood by and listened in as her commander yelled at her. I called Jane and told her.
“I’ll call LTC Jefferson.”
I watched as a SGT Roberts knocked on the door. It took a couple of minutes for SGT Roberts to announce the call. LTC Jefferson picked up the call. “This is LTC Jefferson.”
I watched the color drain from his face.
“Good morning, Madam Secretary. Yes, Madam Secretary. Yes, Madam Secretary. Yes, Madam Secretary.”
He looked out at me and then to CPT. Wagner. “CPT. Wagner, you’re dismissed.”
As we walked out of the headquarters, Robin asked, “How did you do that?”
“Sec. Jane Minder is a good friend. She also doesn’t like someone being chewed out because of something that is out of their control. Now get your things and let’s get to the airport.”
We returned to Fort Benning with Robin. Katie was commanding First Battalion through drill and ceremony marching. I enjoyed watching troopers marching. God, did they look good. Katie had done a great job with them. Teaching troopers to march in formation with precision is hard work.
“Robin, get settled in then return to my office so we can discuss your training.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll be back in an hour.”
I watched Katie put another trooper in charge of the formation.
She came to me. “The ceremony will be in about two weeks. Next week, we will activate the unit battalions. I started marching them in formation.”
I looked at her. “Have you marched in a parade before?”
“No, Paul got some of his friends from other units to help teach us how to do it.”
“Good thinking. They are doing a great job. Come with me, we have things to do.”
When we got to my office, we looked at the details for the ceremony. I informed Katie, “The colors are cased until we’re activated. In the ceremony, the colors will be uncased to represent the activation of our unit.”
“Will we be standing long?”
“It should only be two hours or so.”
Katie’s eyes got big. “Wow, that’s a lot of time in one place.”
“That’s if everything goes right on time.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’ve waited four hours before a ceremony started. The general was four hours late for the ceremony.”
Robin walked into our meeting.
“Robin Wagner, meet Katharine Wilson. She’s my XO. We were just going over the ceremony.”
“How do you do, Robin?”
“I’m
