Antonio Ruiz

“Evan stares at me.
I try to hug him. He takes a step back. I pause, my heart in my throat. I’ve got to reach out to him, let myself be vulnerable. I find the courage, but he backs up again.
“You can’t go to Iraq anymore.”
“I know.”
He looks up at Deanna, then back to me. “Did you fight bad guys? You told me you weren’t.” His voice is suspicious, full of accusation. He doesn’t trust me, and I don’t blame him for that.
“No, Evan. I didn’t fight bad guys.”
I can’t bring myself to tell him the complete truth. I want so desperately to go back into this fight. I miss it every day. I always felt I could change the world with a rifle in my hands and our flag on my shoulder.
“Did you get shot?” he looks me over, apparently searching for bullet wounds.
I grin a little. “No, Bud, I didn’t get shot.”
“People get shot in Iraq.”
“Yes, they do.”
It strikes me then that Evan for the first time has a grasp on the dangers that are faced over there. He’s six now, and the world is coming into focus for him.
“People get shot, Daddy. They die. Bad guys kill them.”
I think of Edward Iwan and Sean Sims.
“Yeah, I know they do, Evan.”
― David Bellavia, House to House: An Epic Memoir of War

“All the sins I've committed, I've done them with one objective: to keep my men alive. Those kids in my squad, those kids of mine, they are everything. My wife doesn't understand this job or why I do it. My son is too young. My dad wouldn't get it if I tried to explain. My mom would have a heart attack. The need to keep my men alive makes everything else negotiable, and everyone and everything a potential threat.”
― David Bellavia, House to House: An Epic Memoir of War

“I am a Christian, but my time in Iraq has convinced me that God doesn't want to hear from me anymore. I've done things that He can never forgive. I've done them consciously. I've made decisions I must live with for years to come. I am not a victim. In each instance, I heard my conscience call for restraint, I told it to shut the fuck up and let me handle my business. All the sins I've committed, I've done with one objective: to keep my men alive.”
― David Bellavia, House to House: An Epic Memoir of War

“anyone who has a problem with what guys do over there is incapable of empathy. People want America to have a certain image when we fight. Yet I would guess if someone were shooting at them and they had to hold their family members while they bled out against an enemy who hid behind their children, played dead only to throw a grenade as they got closer, and who had no qualms about sending their toddler to die from a grenade from which they personally pulled the pin—they would be less concerned with playing nicely.”
― Chris Kyle, American Sniper