I dig my spike into the rough turf ground and it pierces the earth
Just like the stray bullet had pierced my friends heart.

I don’t want to continue but there is a dream much larger than the Afghani sky.
I’m fighting for a dream much larger than one of winning a war,
I’m fighting for Alice who is probably swinging dolls the same way I swing grenades
And I’m obsessed with her.
With my leg misshapen I manage a crooked smile on those
Rare moments of utter bliss when her face lights up the Skype machine.

She’ll be turning two soon and I have never held her in my arms.
Maybe she doesn’t even know who I am
Or that I put my life on the line so she doesn’t have to,
Maybe she doesn’t know that I would kill for her
But I do.

I know that she keeps me going every morning,
I’m not only running from a Taliban onslaught to save myself. I’m running to save her.
I’m not only spraying Kunduz because their leader is there. I’m fighting for her.
In this desert I have a thirst, deeper than one for water, to save her
Save her from what brought me to this wasteland.

I aspire that one day she’ll be living a life she loves
And I aim and fight to make that happen.
I don’t care what it costs, at all.
Even if it costs my life.