They Called Me A Nobody—Until Someone Said “Welcome Back, General”

again—had a name card with careful calligraphy.

Mine was just blank cardstock, folded and empty, like they couldn’t decide what to call me. Or like they’d decided I didn’t deserve a name at all.

I wore a black blazer that used to fit before my last deployment and the years that followed—years of trying to rebuild a life from rubble, years of learning continue reading …