Originally posted this on r/maliciouscompliance, someone suggested sharing here as well. I cut out the couple paragraphs explaining military life for y'all.

This happened around 2018, give or take a year. I was in my mid-twenties, a specialist in the US army infantry. I was stationed on Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, which is a pretty small post.

So one day my squad leader tells me I'm getting put on a detail for the next two weeks. I'll do PT with the platoon, but then at 9 I'll report to this address and do whatever they need done. He vaguely says it's something about a warehouse, but he doesn't know what I'll be doing. Roger sergeant, not a problem.

So next Monday after PT, I get dressed, put on my uniform, and head to the adress. It's not a 5 minute drive from my house (I'm married, so I'm out of the barracks.) I show up a few minutes early like a good soldier, and see it's a bunch of warehouses in a chain link fence, with a locked gate, with no one else around. No problem, chill in my car until someone arrives.

915 rolls around and no one shows. I text my squad leader to double check the time and address. He says yes, you're at the right place and time, wait until someone arrives. Roger sergeant.

1100, I'm still just screwing around on my phone in my car, no one in sight. Text sergeant again, tell. Him no one has shown up. He tells me to be back after lunch, someone will come. Roger sergeant.

1300, come back after having lunch with my wife, still no one. Wait 30 minutes and text him again. Sergeant says that I'm supposed to be there for 2 weeks, someone WILL show up, just wait. Roger sergeant, I'll stop bothering you.

So I wait another hour and a half, and then the highest ranking person there (me) dismisses the detail (also me) for the day. Sergeant seemed sure that's where I'm supposed to be, so that's where I went, for the next two weeks. I stopped bothering him, and just showed up at the warehouse everyday at 9. Every day I took my lunches earlier and longer, and every day I let myself go home sooner. By the end, I think I spent less than 2 hours a day at the "detail." But sergeant told me to show up, and that's what I did.

About a month later, I get put on another detail. And by another detail, I mean the one I was SUPPOSED to be on to begin with. I spent 2 weeks with like 10 other soldiers, cleaning out the battalion's spare storage warehouse. My guess is either my squad leader was given the wrong date, OR the detail was pushed back a month from the original date, and my SL didn't get the memo. No one ever seemed to question why I was needed for the detail I already did.