FORT HOOD, Texas — A Battalion Intelligence Officer was relieved late last week after he was found misusing a classified stapler in his office, according to Army officials.

“It was pretty crazy,” said Sgt. Dot Weems, a soldier in the battalion S-2 intelligence section. “We were just working like normal, and suddenly the colonel and some other officers were in here. The colonel read the lieutenant something on a sheet of paper, then told him he was relieved. They made him collect his things from his desk and leave right then and there.”

1st Lt. David Howald was fired in person by his battalion commander and escorted from the S-2 office on Monday.

Investigators from the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) were present as well to interview members of the battalion staff. None were taken into custody, but much of the battalion’s classified storage and equipment were dusted for fingerprints, sources said.