A kindly, compassionate light burning in large brown eyes put Jacob instantly at ease. Jonathan glanced at the soldiers sleeping beside Jacob, and couldn't suppress a smile. The sergeant looked out into the night, and his look was far away. Still, though these boys may look like boyscouts on a campout, but any similarity stops there. People aren't trying to kill boyscouts, and there aren't foxholes or guns on a campout.
Life here is jest a mite more complicated than that.
These boys are hard from war. Things have happened here that will forever change their lives. It's kind of a semi-official calling, but I'm LDS, you see, and we Mormons have to stick together. The church wants to keep a contact line of communication open with church members visiting this fair land of nod. He waited for Jacob to laugh, but when he didn't, he continued.