Chapter 9 - The General Court-Martial at Fort Campbell
Six months later, the General Court-Martial convened inside the post courtroom at Fort Campbell.
Sitting in the front row of the gallery was General Thomas Carter, dressed in his pristine service dress uniform, sitting beside Colonel Marcus Stone and the eight soldiers whose lives Natalie had saved in Kunar.
Natalie Carter sat beside Major Sterling, wearing her Class A green service uniform with her newly awarded captain’s bars gleaming on her shoulders. Her leg brace was gone, replaced by a slight, dignified limp that she carried with immense pride.
Marcus Briggs and Julian Vance sat at the defense table in plain khaki prison uniforms, their wrists and ankles bound in heavy iron security chains. Their former arrogance and swagger had been completely obliterated by six months of solitary confinement; Briggs’s hair was shaved, his posture sunken and ruined.
Colonel Robert Bennett, the Military Judge presiding over the tribunal, brought down his heavy wooden gavel with a concussive crack.
“Marcus Briggs, Julian Vance,” Colonel Bennett declared, his voice echoing through the silent courtroom. “You disgraced the sacred oath of the United States Armed Forces. You profited from stolen supplies meant for combat soldiers, while actively brutalizing and dishonoring wounded warriors who bled for this republic.”
Judge Bennett struck the gavel a second time.
“Marcus Briggs is hereby sentenced to twenty-two years of hard labor at Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a Dishonorable Discharge.”
Briggs slumped forward onto the defense table, letting out a broken, hysterical wail as military police secured his transport chains.
“Julian Vance is sentenced to eighteen years of confinement, dismissal from the service with prejudice, and total financial restitution.”
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As the military police hauled the two weeping convicts through the reinforced steel holding doors forever, the eight soldiers in the gallery rose to their feet, snapping a thunderous, emotional salute toward Natalie.
Justice under military law was swift, unyielding, and absolute.
