Survivor's Guilt

I once knew this man,

A simple man, 
A small time ago.

Squad three and Squad two

We were charged with others,

We rose above the rest.

In faraway Afghanistan,

We were dropped past the sand,

Near a camp commissioned for the crest.

He is gone now though,

It is hard to forget,

Those decisions he made and left.

He was found later on

Near mine fields long done,

With his right leg near gone.

Sent home still breathing

He could not fathom the meaning

Of why he was still around.

He was bound to remember

The faces covered by shadow

And painfully disfigured. 

He was found one morning,

Hanging from his ceiling,

A deadly turning. 

Not alone in his guilt,

But isolated by shame

Alone he could not handle his pain.

I blame myself,

It haunts me still,

I should be used to it by now.

I have lost so many,

In the small amount of time I've lived,

But one sticks out to me the most. 

This simple man I once knew,

Lost to squad three

And squad two.