War

Third Platoon builds a new outpost while Second Platoon guards them from a hilltop. On the morning the job is finished, Lieutenant Gillespie decides to have the men walk back to base during daylight. Sergeant O’Byrne objects but gets overruled. On the way back, a firefight breaks out, and Steiner, a rifleman, gets hit twice in the head, once by flying rock debris and once by a bullet. The rocks cut up his face, causing bleeding; however, the bullet somehow pierces his helmet and exits without penetrating his skull.

Overjoyed that he’s still alive, Steiner begins laughing; the laughter is contagious. He’s high on life for a couple of days, then his mood darkens with the realization that he could easily have died. He’s doing what the experts call “anxious rumination,” something most soldiers learn to avoid. At the same time, O’Byrne realizes he may not be able to keep his promise to his squad that they’ll survive their tour in Korengal. This awareness hits him hard.

In the spring, the men at Restrepo find a cow wandering lost; they chase it, and it gets tangled in barbed wire, so they kill and cook it.