The Brigadier escorted Alice to the accommodation personally. As they walked, she remained silent while he heaped a steady stream of praise on her.
“I observed how forthright and resolute you were with them immediately on meeting them” he said, “You’re just what the program needs, a strong military presence to keep them in line.”
Alice had experienced some difficulty coming to terms with his attitude, maybe because he had not observed what had happened after he left, he was somehow able to tell himself that everything was normal, that this was simply a case of having to manage some truculent civilians. She reflected that it must have been hard on him, to be a general and yet have to put up with disrespect and threats from a group of what were essentially prisoners.
Alice reflected, that in a way what had happened was an example of military problem solving at it’s most basic, a senior officer had identified a problem, tasked a soldier to solve it, and did not concern himself with the details.
They walked towards what looked like a fairly dilapidated accommodation block, the cheap 1950’s era constructions that were a frequent sight on the various Army transit and training camps throughout the UK.