Not the controlled, tactical noise of a briefing or the sharp bark of commands on the training field—this was the messy, overlapping racket of soldiers who'd been given one night off and no supervision.

Cheap Halloween decorations sagged from the ceiling. A plastic skeleton hung by its neck from a light fixture, swaying whenever someone brushed past it. Someone had draped fake cobwebs over the rec room TV.

The party was already in full swing.