I still remember what my commander said during the unit hail:
He stood up, looked around the room with an annoyed expression, glanced down at his index card, and said,
“I can’t believe we have one lawyer, let alone two.”
Then he sat down. No handshake. No welcome. Just a clear message: I was not trusted, and I was not needed.
I was the new deputy command judge advocate for a special operations unit. I had completed a successful first tour in the 82nd Airborne Division, but I was still new to the special operations community, and to them I was unproven.