Matty ran after them, his quick laugh carrying across the open lawn in the cool evening air.

I sat back down on the wooden step and looked at my empty combat boots on the bottom stair.

The dry beach sand lay scattered over the dark flower bed under the hydrangeas.

Base security logged Lieutenant Easton Wyler’s misconduct and he was reassigned to administrative duty at base command, while I went back to my EOD squad at Little Creek.

I chose to tell the plain truth on stage and let Master Chief Vance lay out my service record, and I refused to press formal charges that would have wiped out Wyler’s military pension.

Matty went back to Shoreline Middle School on Monday morning full of confidence, carrying my EOD patch to show his classmates.

I sat on my front porch steps that evening, unlacing my combat boots in the warm autumn air.

The beach sand fell away from my boots, leaving nothing but clean ground beneath us.