Grace is an army camp?

Now, that's almost unheard of. But it happened today. All along I have thought and still presume that in army, there is no such thing as grace. Forget about asking for forgiveness, forget about second chances. Those only happens in the World of Civilians, and even so, very seldom. In green uniform, no such thing. Especially in BMT, there is no such thing. But today in Stagmont, I met the first truly kind soul. No doubt there are good and kind people around, but this man, a Captain, he stands out.

I was supposed to be punished, and I expected punishment. The rifle I returned was carelessly without a magazine (gasp!). All that normally means was 2 consecutive confinements, and you know how precious a bookout is to a soldier. So I slipped into panic mode and tried searching in vain, until it was discovered that a friend of mine was holding on to it (though it was also my fault that I did not check properly). So we returned the magazine.

There he was, sitting on his chair, asking me my name, and other particulars. Then he asked me to choose whether I wanted to sign extras. I said yes, it was my fault. Then he told me to count the number of M16s in the armoury (presumably as punishment) By now I had already known he was quite a nice guy, since no vulgarities spewed out from his mouth for such a serious crime. While I was checking, I overheard his conversation with an Indian corporal. They were talking about God's grace, and somehow I felt it was linked to this incident. I only caught him saying that grace is given, and not bought. After finishing counting, he let me off, no punishments, no extras, no confinements, no nothing.

Grace! You don't see this often in an army camp.