They have no idea, He thought as his wife straightened the last of the metals she’d pinned to his dress uniform.

She smiled with a practiced understanding as she stood watching him from the doorway. She turned and left him in front of the mirror.

The bathroom of the high school was cramped and smelled of the foul scents noone wanted to imagine, barely masked by the cleaning chemicals.

He turned slightly as he checked to see that his uniform still looked as good on him as the day it was issued. His hair had paled to less than half the color it once had.

It must be the nightmares he endured every night. The bombs blowing shrapnel into the bodies of his brothers in arms. The torn off limbs and the death of his best friend. All for the love of his country.

He had been so young then. No news repeatedly letting him know just how bad it really was. Only that it was an honor to serve.

The students here had no idea.

He pushed his chair to the podium to relay his story to the waiting audience.