It terrified me! I’m glad Juliet was sitting there to keep me grounded. While we sipped our wine and waited for Mark and John to meet us, she was able to calm me down by explaining that if Scott were somehow “out to get” me, he probably would have behaved quite differently. She also noted that the deputy base commander actually hired John, and would not have done so if he were the type to go on some sort of homophobic witch hunt.

Happily (or sadly depending on perspective) I served during a “lull before the storm” as far as the Air Force went. The institution was about to become much more socially conservative, led by officers shaped by a cabal of evangelical Christians in Colorado Springs who openly proselytized at the AF Academy, tacitly required church attendance among cadets, and worked to privilege conservative Christian ideas all over the Air Force. It took decades for senior leadership to deal with that, and in some respects, they’re still struggling today.

Then of course, DADT itself declared open season on queer servicemembers. All hell broke loose.

But that was in the unknowable future as I sat there sipping wine with Juliet, wine bought by a lieutenant colonel who was a very nice man and good leader who was not all looking to cause me the discomfort I felt.