Thinking we were in the home stretch, and that maybe, just maybe things were going to work out, everything changed. A month after his return from leave, one of Billy's soldiers died during an attack and he took it hard. When we talked, he would bring it up often that he was grateful he hadn't been on leave when it happened. It would have been worse if he had been gone, he said over and over. Like a mantra, he would repeat it often, in almost every phone call, and I began to worry.
     Two months later, his convoy was attacked again. This time losing one of their civilian drivers. When he returned to the FOB, he called me and I could hear the tears he was fighting not to let go of. He had rushed to the other semi and tried to pull the driver from the...

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