Battlefield Brothers

Wartime recognitions bring strange emotions

Hampton didn't hear the explosions; nor did he feel the ground shaking from the artillery barrage. He only saw his buddy from childhood, with whom he had reconnected only yesterday. The young man's eyes were fixed, glassy, and dead. He didn't know whether he should cry or not. Did one cry in war? He supposed not; in fact, he wasn't even sure if he could cry.

Instead, he reached out and took Leeson's poncho from his pack and laid it over his face.

"At ease, soldier. I'll take it from here."

And with that, Private Hampton went back to war.