“Veterans, myself included, will rise up when the moment comes.” He’d had six months in the Army. What had he learned? “I was almost blown up.” I didn’t follow the lesson. It happened twice, in training. Mortars landed next to him. His mistake or the artillerist’s? Not the point. Here he perched, polishing off another fat plate from Shooters. The point was that he’d been in the shit, even if the shit was self-inflicted. The point was, he was prepared. “I’m indestructible,” he said. What ended his Army career? “Something like asthma.”
