"You see fellers, back in the day, personal mail came few and far between. I reckon I was the only one in m'squad to get anything from home, not Sarge, not Floodwatch, not Shortstop, and definitely not Frostbite. Mama's package was like a light that could break through any haze that 'Nam could throw at me..."
VIETNAM 1969
Dusty laughed warmly to himself, the first time he'd done so in weeks. "What's so funny?" asked Lance Corporal "Frostbite." (Nobody knew his real name, not even his commanding officers. Everybody called him "Frostbite" because of his reputation as a sniper, and because it was rumored that he had permafrost on his skin and ice water in his veins. Everybody, including people who outrank him...) "Its nothin' Frostbite, just somethin' my Ma' said in this letter." "What did she say?" "Well I don't se how tha-" Frostbite fixed him with an icy stare. "Uhh... Well she sent me these beef bandages because she thought that I'd get a chuckle outta them, seein' as I used to work in a butcher shop back in Tennessee. And as for the sixty-two cents, she said it was my allowance, and that if I wanted more then I had to get my sorry butt back home and do my chores." Dusty chuckled to himself but Frostbite's expression remained stoic. The man really must have been all that his nickname suggested. The only words he spoke, after pondering for what seemed like ages, were "Huh. That's funny."
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