FUBAR [Jack]

So much for trying to lighten the mood... Dunham looks down as he chokes on his words, almost literally, and Brody's first thought was 'Oh god, please don't cry'. He had an inkling after finding out Dunham had been stabbed that the kid had been through a lot, but when he'd taken the job Brody had expected yelling and pep talks, not rubbing the guy's back telling him it was okay like some kid who had fallen and scraped his knee. Brody didn't have to have the training he did to know that Dunham probably held himself responsible for what happened to him, to some degree.

Albeit awkwardly, Brody clapped his hand on Dunham's shoulder and squeezed it. It was far more informal a gesture than he'd normally afford, but this was a pretty informal conversation they were having. Brody had only ever been shot, and that had been during the 'confidence course' designed to make new Cadets and Privates trust their bullet-proof body armor. It had left a lot of bruising and knocked the wind out of him, but that had been the extent of it.

"Don't go getting soft on me, Dunham." He replied, hoping he sounded only half as awkward as he felt, "By the time I'm done with you, you'll be able to take on damn near anyone."

The fact that he was the first person to make Dunham actually glad he made the decision to become a Peacekeeper evoked both pride and anger in him at the same time; his ego was entirely too large not to be proud that a recruit had chosen him as his role model. But on the other, how mediocre had the rest of the instructors been that he might have been doubting the decision to join the Peacekeepers? Well, seeing as they hadn't been keeping good enough watch on one of their recruits to prevent him and several others from getting hurt, obviously more than a few of them were second-rate at best. And Brody could not abide by anything less than excellence.

He made a mental note to get in contact with his Lieutenant to see who she knew that could unf*ck what was obviously a stagnance of motivation. It was going to get some of these kids killed.

"You should probably go turn in for the night. First thing tomorrow, we're going to work on disarming techniques and arresting procedures."