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Conversation halted for the presentation of the flags and the national anthem, after which the senior officers and guests on the dais were served first.
“Noelle, I love the flowers you have in the planters. They look very patriotic,” Erin said during a lull in conversation.
“Thank you,” Noelle answered cautiously. “When we were at Fort Campbell, we had similar planters at all the officer’s houses during the summer. I wish we did something like that here.”
“I like that idea. I can do that at Graham’s. Dianne, are you interested?”
Elizabeth Bryson jumped into the conversation about flowers too. While the compliment wasn’t exactly like a fairy godmother waving a magic wand, it did seem to thaw Noelle’s frigid countenance.
Following dinner, General McKittrick spoke briefly, then introduced Colonel Bailey. His relatability had everyone listening intently. He also had the room laughing with a sense of humor rivaling Bryson’s.
“If you’ll indulge me for a more serious story, I’ll tell you about the two bravest things I’ve ever done.” Bailey paused. People leaned forward in anticipation. “I’d been serving about seventeen years, so I’d already seen a lot when things started to feel off. I didn’t want to burden my lovely wife with what was going through my head. I definitely didn’t want to tell my commanding officer or the men under my command and risk being seen as weak. Then, one morning, I got a call that one of my soldiers had taken his own life.”
Silence settled like the last strings of a symphony dying away while Bailey let the discomfort build. “The next day, I made an appointment with a counselor. A move that probably saved my marriage, career, and maybe even my life. That was thesecondbravest thing I’ve ever done. The first was publicly sharing that decision—with others and you. There’s still a stigma around needing help. We’re supposed to be strong, so we say we’re fine—which stands for freaked out, insecure, neurotic, and evading.”
Ripples of light laughter broke some of the tension as men shifted in their seats. Next to Erin, Elizabeth’s head moved in agreement with Colonel Bailey’s message as he went on to talk about fear only living in darkness and the need to have hope and a purpose and how the two were intertwined.
He closed by encouraging the audience to talk with someone and to find a new purpose once they hung up their weapons and uniforms for good. The Brysons were the first to stand and applaud Colonel Bailey. Graham headed to the dais, shook hands with Bailey, then went to the podium and addressed the guests.
“Thank you, Colonel, for that powerful message. What he didn’t tell you is that after retiring, he went back to school and got his master’s in counseling. He is a board-certified counselor here in the Fayetteville area. He understands what we’ve seen, been through, and might be dealing with, and is,hopefully,accepting new clients.”
Graham looked at Bailey, who nodded.
“At West Point, we’re taught to lead from the front. Be an example. When I lost my wife, I lost the person who kept me grounded. It was the hardest thing I’d ever experienced. I didn’t know how to process it. I feared I’d lostmypurpose.” Graham’s voice cracked, and tears sprung to Erin’s eyes. “I didn’t have the answers, so I talked to someone and still do, as needed. As your commanding officer, I encourage you to take care of your physical and mental health. Anyone who thinks that makes me weak can see me afterward. And you can wrestle with Captain Bryson.”
Laughter erupted. Graham smiled as he scanned the room.
“I knew this would be a bit of a heavy topic, so I asked my captains to come up with ideas to put you in the party mood. The winning idea involved each company participating in a lip sync challenge.”
“Had to be Bryson’s idea,” someone in the back of the room called out.
“Wrong. It was Elauria’s idea,” Bryson interjected.
“Maybe to keep you from singing, Bryson,” the heckler called out.
“The servers are bringing out dessert, and there’s a ballot with each for you to vote,” Graham went on. “Everyone in the winning company gets a gift card from the assortment donated by local businesses. The winning company will be announced at twenty-one hundred hours, which means you don’t have much time to sway or bribe our distinguished guests for their votes.”
“Feel free to vote for my team. No pressure,” Bryson said to the table with an amiable smile.
“We didn’t want our deployed team to miss out on all the fun,” Graham continued. “However, there’s a slight time difference and men out on mission at any time, so they recorded their entry and are first in tonight’s lineup. To keep things fair, our DJ assigned the teams present a random order to perform.”
“There goes my master plan of saving the best for last,” Bryson cracked. “Though they could all concede after they see our masterpiece.”
“They may take their chances, honey.” Elizabeth patted her husband’s arm.
“Now, live—from an undisclosed location,” Graham’s voice dropped, “we have Captain Amaya.” A soldier wearing a bow tie and his uniform filled the screens on either side of the dais.
“We hate missing out on the ball this year, but thanks for including us, Colonel. Warning: we had limited access to props and had to keep our location under wraps, but making our video was a fun activity in our downtime.”
The person filming Captain Amaya panned to show camouflaged men sitting on black couches in a cramped room. An American flag hung on the back wall over a TV livestreaming the ball. Pictures, postcards, and a smaller Canadian flag covered the other walls.
Simultaneously, the men turned to face the camera, all wearing brightly colored bow ties. One donned a cream-colored Panama hat.
Their heads bobbed as they sang the opening Doh-doh-doh’s from “Uptown Funk” before the screen cut to their video as Graham returned to sit next to Erin. Amaya’s men had dubbed over the song’s lyrics to make it fit the deployment theme, substituting combat boots and camouflage, and the men kissing their weapons and calling them pretty, which garnered laughter throughout the ballroom.
“Looks like you’re going to have some competition, honey,” Elizabeth said to Bryson.
“They haven’t seen the suit yet. But it’s all good. It’s about morale. And a deployment is when you need that boost,” Bryson said.
