November 24th, 2010.

Ok. I’ve got the information I need. Corporal Kyle Carpenter. Wounded in action on November 21st during a firefight as an Automatic Rifleman with Company F, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 1, 1st Marine Division (Forward),  Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), at Camp Dakota in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. I'm calling Robin and Jim Carpenter in South Carolina to tell them their son is getting ready to be flown from Afghanistan, to the United States via a military trauma hospital in Germany. Holy shit this is a bad one. Alright alright don’t get distracted. What are they gonna ask? Probably if he’s going to die, and honestly I don’t know but I’ve got the info I’ve got. That should lead into me saying he’s being treated by the best doctors in the world, exactly what they expect me to say. Is there really anything I can do to help them? 

What is this? Call number one hundred and something? Sounds about right. They add up. The more you do the more sensitized you get and it starts to feel normal. This is not normal but it is the norm. I’m just a lieutenant sitting in a temporary office complex in Virginia who the hell am I to have a higher rank than this kid. Goddamn. Ok settle down. 

Hello - This is Lieutenant Nickolas Glassman with the United States Marine Corps calling to inform you