In my last column, I told you about Marine Lance Cpl. Nick Mitchel and how, in 2010, he shipped with his infantry unit to Afghanistan with dreams of earning the coveted Combat Action Ribbon. He wanted to be an all-American badass Marine. He earned the ribbon on his first day in the war, but quickly learned, with the brutal deaths of some of his fellow Marines, that war is hell. Many more hard lessons would follow. Some things cannot be unseen.

“It was pretty brutal. I was already checked out,” Mitchel said.