10.20.2004 - 12:57 p.m.

My mom forwarded an email to me this morning, from the guy who used to run my roleplaying games in middle school. He�s in Iraq now, in a rifle line company. The email is all about getting there the day after his squad saw some heavy fighting, about watching the men down the line trade machinegun fire with insurgents, about wanting more food and less candy in his care packages. Most of all, he keeps telling everyone to NOT WORRY, as if caps in an email can speak to something that instinctual.

I can put his face in one of those movies, in the beginning of Black Hawk Down, perhaps, as the soldier what's-his-face from Lord of the Rings played.

So I am glad he didn�t say anything about whether he�s done any shooting. I am glad it�s a Mom-rated email, with even the violent parts using nouns like �insurgent� and �fire� rather than �person� or �body� or �wound.�

I don�t want to picture that.

-stonebridge

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