At My Wedding My Mother Said Uniforms Were Not for Me Until Hundreds of Service Members Rose to Their Feet

But I knew that sound. I had heard it ten thousand times in formations and briefings and ceremonies across three continents. It is the sound a person makes when they are coming to attention.

Then another chair.

Then another.

I felt the room change the way a room changes when something is happening that was not on the schedule. A collective shift of breath. A quality of attention different from wedding attention, which is warm and slightly soft. This was something more focused.

Marcus’s eyes found mine over the chaplain’s shoulder, and I saw in them that he was feeling it too, whatever was moving through the room,