--it's an honor for me to assume command of this unit, and i look forward to working with all of you.
i'm sure you're all aware of the army's decision to close this installation under the reduction in force plan. that does not mean, however--
--that we've been sent here to mark time until we are absorbed by another unit.
you may have heard rumors that i run a very tight operation. these rumors are not exaggerated.
have we had trouble there before?
they didn't come for a vacation.
substance abuse?
i meant on the post. in general. how are you dealing with it?
why don't we make it once a week for a while?
i sprint the last quarter mile. you gentlemen don't have to keep up if you don't care to.
otis payne was never embarrassed about a thing in his life.
he didn't leave, he moved three houses down with one of my mother's best friends.
"hey, delmore, where's your daddy?"
everybody else's business. and everybody loved big o--
big o was always there with a smile or a loan or a free drink.
not that much.
i thought we already had this out? next year, if your grades are high enough--
how many b-average students do you think they take at west point?
no, we don't.
black seminoles?
that where he was shot?
you get much of that in here?
deal drugs in the bathroom--
nice to meet you, ma'am.
so tell me why i shouldn't make this place off-limits.
i assume a lot of your business is from our people.
we have an enlisted man's club at the post.
that's right.
the army hands you a command, you go wherever it is.
i hear things, too. people call you the mayor of darktown.
and people make their choice--
why would you want to do that?
you'll get official notification when i make my decision. he is out the door--otis pulls himself a beer as carolyn steps back out--
private johnson, are you unhappy in the army?
then how would you explain the fact that out of one hundred twenty people we tested, you're the only one who came up positive for drugs?
when you were given the opportunity to enlist, a kind of contract was agreed upon. i think the army has honored its part of that agreement.
do you believe in what we're doing here, private johnson?
you don't sound too enthusiastic.
what exactly do you think your job is, private?
who's "they"?
and that's the job? nothing about serving your country?
these aren't trick questions, private. you'll be given an article 15 and be going into the adcap program one way or the other. what happens after that is up to you. i'm just trying to understand how somebody like you thinks.
well?
please.
how do you think i got to be a colonel?
do whatever they tell you--
with your attitude, private, i'm surprised you want to stay in the service.
because it's a job?
chaos.
why do you think they let us in on the "deal"?
do you think you've been discriminated against on this post?
any serious problems with your sergeant or your fellow soldiers?
it works like this, private--every soldier in a war doesn't have to believe in what he's fighting for. most of them fight just to back up the soldiers in their squad--you try not to get them killed, try not to get them extra duty, try not to embarrass yourself in front of them.
why don't you start with that?
you're dismissed, private.
colonel. is uhm--is otis in?
if it's too late--
you've been in this house for a while?
i never met her.
where'd he get all this?
uncle al--
i'm a colonel.
it's a small post and they're phasing it out in two years, but i moved up in rank and--well, a command is a command.
my mother said he never asked about--
listen, i uh--tell him i came by. thanks--
homework?
tanks, huh?
so you're going into the army?
that's up to you.
the army isn't for everybody.
not that i don't think you'd be good at it, but--you know--i wouldn't be disappointed if you decided to do something else with your life.
no.
how's your room shaping up?
good.
my father.
he does.
maybe we'll clean that thing out back up, have a barbecue next weekend. we could invite him and his wife over.