He never said anything about being a soldier.

In our teenage friendship chatter we always

felt like his occupation was holding a ball in

the air and slamming it into hoops.

It was almost two years later that we heard he

Was marching with the troops.

In the dead of winter this news threw me

for a loop.

He took leave from the army to stop by

and say "Hello". He was always charming.

He had a couple of weeks so he said he would

be back because, "You were always my one true love"

Two weeks later it was on the news that he

was nowhere to be found. When they finally did find him,

he was recovered from the Redwood Dam, bloated

And disfigured.

He was a Father, a Husband and a Soldier...

He had never said anything about being a soldier to me...

But then, that is what he became and this is how

he was buried.

I was never in agreement with fighting...

but for reasons other than the US Army, he was a

soldier and for reasons personal to only me...I salute

him.

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