I recently returned to work after a year abroad with the Army Reserve. On my first day back, a visitor from headquarters took me aside. “How are you?” he asked, looking concerned. “Do you feel all right?”

“I’m fine,” I replied, nonplussed.

“Great!” he said. “I heard that you were away from work for a year because you were in a wreck.” It took a minute before it dawned on me what he meant.

“Iraq,” I said finally. “I’ve just come back from Iraq.”
— Derek Schneider