Chapter 522 - The Formal Ceremony (5)

31 May, Military Base, City K

An announcement filled the room "Ladies and Gentlemen, could you all please take your seats to allow us to start."

Lexi watched as Matthew walked towards her, and as he sat beside her, he picked up her hand and squeezed it before whispering "Do you think I am blind. I have noticed how worried about this situation you have been sitting here. There is nothing to be worried about as the focus will be on the soldiers, not on you or the other wives, who simply by convention are required to sit here."

"How…"

"Stop worrying Lexi. Everything will be alright." Matthew squeezed her hand before letting it go and turning to face the audience. There was no way that he was going to let Lexi know how nervous he was feeling, with this being his first time being front and centre at one of these ceremonies.

Legend walked to the lectern and started speaking "Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of the General's present we firstly wish to thank every family member present for making the time to come. As members of the military, we ask much of your husband, wife, father, mother, brother, or sister, and for you to accept that they may never return to you for what we ask of them. For those that serve in this command, this is shrouded in more mystery, with their promotions, commendations, awards, and medals shrouded in more mystery and any public recognition is only by location and some vague identifier. This ceremony not only allows for acknowledgement but for those members to display that on public occasions. For those present, even though you may have attended such a ceremony in the past, this ceremony will be slightly different. One promotion will be acknowledged at the start, before we retreat to the normal order of these ceremonies, with commendations, awards, medals and then promotions announced. We ask that you keep applause and celebration to the conclusion of the ceremony, and we will then move to the general mess for a reception. I now call upon the base commandant, General Man."

With that General Man, walked to the lectern, "Thank you Colonel. I will keep this short as there is a lot to get through. The first promotion, which General Li will formally confer is two-parts. Firstly, we formally recognise the promotion from Colonel to General, for General Rong." At that Matthew stood up, and walked over to there Head Honcho was standing, with the formal warrant of appointment. "The President, who could not be here has asked that I read out a short statement on his behalf."Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click /book/the-soldier-husband_15095783406874805/the-formal-ceremony-(5)_50784883651429429 for visiting.

"It reads 'It is with great pleasure that I congratulate, formally, Matthew Rong on his promotion to General. While I formally took his oath on the actual promotion being confirmed and spoke at length to him at that time, it is unusual that a President confirms the appointment of a General within the special forces in this country. In the time that there has been a dedicated special forces group, we have only had five generals promoted from within, two of whom are present today at your ceremony. Very few soldiers rise as quickly as General Rong through the ranks, but as someone who has personally known the general from his youth, I always knew that he would achieve spectacular things in whatever he turned his mind to. As the President, I can only be grateful that he has turned his mind to service of his country. To his wife Lexi, I can only thank you on behalf of the country that you are willing to put up with a driven man and give him the stability to continue his dedicated service to us all. To Dominic, always be proud of your family, and the choices that they have made not only for you but for us all. The final thing is that normally in City K, the organisation of the base is that there is a base commandant who oversees the whole base, his deputy who is the head of general forces and the head of special forces who is deemed to nominally third in command. With the sudden need, for health reasons for the retirement of the previous base commandant earlier this month, General Man has been appointed as the base commandant, and following my recommendation General Rong will be deemed as second in command. Please take my congratulations General Rong.'"

Matthew stood there shocked. He knew that informally his remaining as second in command for about twelve months would occur until a General was appointed to the head of General Forces enabling him to shift back to the normal special forces head position as third in command. The president in his announcement had something planned, and that was not good.

Had Phillip spoken to him? That better not be the case or there would be hell to pay. But then, is Phillip lost this battle with cancer given JL International's strategic importance to the country, he would have no option but to shift to the reserves and take over JL International. Being second in command, would make that an easier public position to work from for the civilian government. How he hated political games being used like this against him.

Instinctively, Matthew moved over and accepted the formal appointment doc.u.ments that General Man had in his hand before returning to his seat. He looked Lexi directly in the eyes and saw her shock. After placing the folders underneath his seat and sitting down he lent slightly towards Lexi before saying "I had no idea about the second matter. Being Second in Command for the base was only ever meant to be temporary…"

"That better not require us to live permanently on base, Dominic will hate us for that…"

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