“He was twenty minutes away from throwing his future away,” I said.

Corporal Reid stepped forward, his polished leather boots landing with a sharp snap on the floor.

He raised his right hand to his eyebrow in a tight, precise salute.

“Ma’am, may I speak?” Reid said, his low voice steady.

I returned his salute crisply.

“Go ahead, Corporal.”

“Thank you for keeping him in the service, Lieutenant Colonel,” Reid said, lowering his hand.

“He was out of line from the minute we landed in Atlanta.