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My skin is flushed

From this sweltering heat

Drenched in sweat

Looking down

A couple drops hit my feet

“Fucking shit,

It’s a damned oven in here!!!”

It doesn’t help

That over these clothes

Is another eighty pounds of gear

The roar of the engine

The metal tracks grinding the road

Already have me going half deaf

Not even knowing

Where exactly we’re about to go

Shit, we haven’t even really started yet

Time for one last check

Got my Kevlar got my aid bag

Not forgetting my loaded gun

The track slows down

The ramp begins to open

Now it’s time to begin the real fun

Sal jumps out first

Trying to provide just a little bit of cover

I’m quick to follow

As we run towards the cries of a fallen brother

Without ever stopping

We continue to lay down suppressive fire





Even over the hail of bullets

The torturous screams start to get louder

I know he must be close

He can’t be too much further

And there he is

Laying now in silence, like this world never mattered

His body lays limp

Torn and mangled next to a pile of debris

For good or for bad

His entire well being and life are up to me

Well not just me

Sal is here to give me a hand

To keep me sane

To help me save the life of this man

No time to think

It’s time for me to work

No need to even wonder

All I have to do is look

It only takes a second

A second I don’t have to spare

Now this is what I love

Not like you’ll understand

Or  have anything close in which you could compare

First thing I notice

He’s missing part of his leg

That’s too easy

I know Sal can handle a little tourniquet

I have my own worries

In the same timeless glance

I see that he’s not breathing

I know there’s still hope

From the shrapnel lodged in his throat

I get a message that I’m not leaving…