[ this place is about emotional openness, right? And he had said more to that one woman on the drunk night, said more to Betsy on their first meeting. Sure he doesn't know this guy all that well, but putting it together, the reason this guy asked is because he must've been in some similar situation. His mouth dry, he can't really bring himself to apologize just yet, even though perhaps he ought to, so he just keeps talking- ]

None of that. Or at least -- no, the whole point is that they didn't have people to spare. They desperately 'needed' [ the word is venom in his mouth ] their reinforcements. And so all sorts of people were pulled in from all sorts of places.