They did it in that dining hall, and some of them do it still.
I let them.
I’ve got a blue shield and a white heron pinned to my collar, forty-three men who got to grow old, and a name bolted to a wall by the people who were there.
“Be careful about deciding what another person has earned,” I told a loud young sergeant over a bowl of cold chili.
It’s the truest thing I know.
May you like
And I earned the right to say it the long way.
THE END
