The Retiring General
Civil War era? I couldn't quite telll. The vibe was there, but the uniforms weren't quite right. The way we interacted was different, not temporally appropriate, and I could swear I was seeing electric lights and fax machines in some offices as I moved through the mansion.
The General was mustering out. I didn't know if we were in 1862, 63, 64, 65, or when, but the guy had had enough of it all, and he was done. He'd submitted his paperwork, a simple and surprisingly short letter. I'd delivered it to the superior, and it had been accepted only hours later. So now it was time to move the general on out. Time to update his awards and decorations, and it turned out he was a good five years behind on wearing and accounting for all of the medals and such he'd earned in the war, on the frontier, all of that stuff. As they were read out and confirmed, I helped the general pore through the little partitioned box of pins and badges and medals and ribbons. A lot of them were service oriented awards, so the medals just got update stripes or stars or number, tiny little devices that had to be punched into or stuck onto his existing awards. The goddamn things were so tiny it was infuriating. Sure, it's great to get a military decoration, but to go through all of this shit just to show you've been in 18 battles instead of 15? I didn't see the utility in any of that.
No one seemed to care about his replacement, either. I guessed the deputy, the assistant general guy would step up and take over, as is usually the SOP. There didn't seem to be any drama about the guy leaving in the middle of a war (the apparent war, that is), no anxiety about finding a man as able and enthusiastic as him to lead the men. Me, I didn't really care either, and apparently I was the aide de camp, or at the very least on the adjutant's staff.
And out the door he went.
The General was mustering out. I didn't know if we were in 1862, 63, 64, 65, or when, but the guy had had enough of it all, and he was done. He'd submitted his paperwork, a simple and surprisingly short letter. I'd delivered it to the superior, and it had been accepted only hours later. So now it was time to move the general on out. Time to update his awards and decorations, and it turned out he was a good five years behind on wearing and accounting for all of the medals and such he'd earned in the war, on the frontier, all of that stuff. As they were read out and confirmed, I helped the general pore through the little partitioned box of pins and badges and medals and ribbons. A lot of them were service oriented awards, so the medals just got update stripes or stars or number, tiny little devices that had to be punched into or stuck onto his existing awards. The goddamn things were so tiny it was infuriating. Sure, it's great to get a military decoration, but to go through all of this shit just to show you've been in 18 battles instead of 15? I didn't see the utility in any of that.
No one seemed to care about his replacement, either. I guessed the deputy, the assistant general guy would step up and take over, as is usually the SOP. There didn't seem to be any drama about the guy leaving in the middle of a war (the apparent war, that is), no anxiety about finding a man as able and enthusiastic as him to lead the men. Me, I didn't really care either, and apparently I was the aide de camp, or at the very least on the adjutant's staff.
And out the door he went.
posted by Scrumpox at 12:29 PM
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