Even after so many years, it hasn’t gotten any easier, by now this is what I call normal. The phone rings, another man down. Still, I’m surprised when I come across a soldier unscathed. "How’d you manage to escape the war?" It's a simple enough request but I'm met with blank stares. It's as though they don't know they just walked through a mine field.

These days, fortunes are made on medicines that soften the scars. I know that mine aren't going away by popping some pills. I stitched up my wound the best I could with the tools I was given, but I’m no heart surgeon. I knew going in that I was marred for good.