The sun rose over the horizon like an angry bloodshot eye. Mortar rounds had kept his whole base pinned down (and awake) since sunset — His eyes were equally as bloodshot. It was a long night. It had been a long tour. His third.
The soldier stretched, headed to the bathroom, showered and shaved. As his razor scraped across his face, he thought of all his friends who had died and been injured in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He thought of his father’s injury in Vietnam. He thought of his grandfather’s time in a POW camp in Germany during World War 2. Sacrifices. Sacrifices for a country that he loved.
He looked at his watch and did the math in his head. The polls were about to close back home. If he could make a sacrifice out in the middle of nowhere, people back home could vote. He wiped the rest of the shaving cream off his face, fumbled with the dog tags around his neck and went to get dressed. He looked at the picture of his beautiful wife and kids and smiled.
He was doing his part. Now it was up to the folks back home to do theirs on this election day.
One Response to On this election day…