Raw

War is hell
but that's not the half of it,
because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage
war is nasty;
war is thrilling;
war is drudgery;
you're never more alive than when you're almost dead
they carried all they could bear,
and then some,
including a silent awe for the terrible power
of the things they carried
Together we understood what terror was:
you're not human anymore
You don't know
In any war story, but especially a true one
it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen
What sticks to memory,often,
are those odd little fragments that have
no beginning and no end..
I survived..
but it's not a happy ending