What if? That is a very tedious question, as well as a potentially dangerous one, depending on the circumstances. I have been asked what if someone else had found Reidling's bottle of alcohol and heard his "story" of how it got there. I have thought about this question, and have come up with the 3 most likely scenarios I can think of; SSG Dion, LT Mwanyiki, and 1SG or CPT Phillips.
The first, and most likely scenario, would be if SSG Dion had found the bottle. This is the most likely because she was the one who wanted us to clean in the first place, and would have been most likely to do an inspection. If she had found the bottle, she would have called us down to formation, and then heard what Reidling claims to be the story. She would have called out the 4 individuals involved, and more than likely smoked us on the spot. She also would have called first sergeant to ensure that this went up the chain of command, and things would continue from there. This would most likely result in the issuance of several Article 15's, and other various punishments. I would likely have lost rank, and wound up with extra duty for 45, with 45 days loss of pay.
Another likely scenario is that LT Mwanyiki found the bottle as he was inspecting us for his own reasons. If this had happened, I think that he would not have even consulted anyone, but begun the Article 15 packet on Reidling immediately. Upon his first reading, Reidling would have tried to sell us out to decrease his sentence, and LT Mwanyiki would ask each of us into his office individually. Our stories would not match what he came up with, and we would be dealt punitive actions accordingly. This would likely also end in Article 15's for each of us, with maxed out punishments, as per LT's guidance.
The least likely of the scenarios is 1SG and CPT finding the bottle during their WAD inspections. This would have turned out the worst, in my opinion, because not only would the 4 named parties be involved, but the chain...