Comrades

You arrived, green, wide eyed
To fill the boots of a fallen comrade
There was panic in your eye
And the smell of one soon to die

You proved yourself at my side
In firefights of dusty suicide
I covered you, you covered me as well
I watched you grow a shell

Then you told me the tale of a previous war
Showed me the scars of a previous tour
And after the battle was stilled
You looked at the dead, grunted and said
On day one I thought you'd get us both killed