My Father In Law Said Nobody Invited Me Until Someone Pulled Into The Driveway

from three decades of mountains and jungles, and wheeled himself to the front of the stage to pin my gold bars. His hands were steady. His eyes were not. He saluted me like I was a four-star general, and I was a brand-new butter bar with shaking hands and a future I could not yet see the shape of.

Three weeks later I shipped out to Fallujah.

The second continue reading …