Every night when I close my eyes and I drift off into a deep slumber, I hear their marches; Splashing in the mud that cake their boots and ACU's. I hear their breathing after a battle is won, and feel the tears that fall down their faces when they hang up the phone after talking to their families. I understand their pain, though I've never gone through what they have. Though the only pain I know of is the pain they tell me about, and that I see in their eyes, I feel it.
Those nights that they lay alone in their cots, beds, or on the ground covered with nothing, and their jackets as their pillows. When all they can think about is their family, and what they're doing right at that moment; if they are going to wake up with a knife to their necks, or a scream and a gun shot. There are times to when some can't even fall asleep, and they're not even sure why.
Every night when I close my eyes and I drift to sleep, I dream of the soldiers that I've known; the soldiers that looked to me for help at some time. I dream of the soldiers I wrote to overseas for months or years, and end up dying. They haunt me as going home, bullets, screams, and people they knew dying haunted them. Every night I close my eyes, I get closer to the people I love. I get closer to the Troops and Vets of the United States. Those are the ones I walk with. Walk with me.