My shoulder got chewed up bad, and so did my vest, but it did its job. It saved my life. My buddy died a few days later in hospital. For most of his duty on The Hook, he spent many nights on guard, wrapped in a blanket, freezing in the snow and mud, and asking himself over and over the same question. This isn't even good land.
Nobody lives up here.
Nothing can be grown up here. This isn't worth fighting over, and sure as hell not worth dying for. I saw things done in the name of communism. It was worth fighting against that. I believed that.