I looked at the corrugated metal wall across from my chair.

The ribbed steel was painted flat tan and coated in fine desert dust.

“How long has this been going on,” I typed.

“Since October. I think so.”

It was mid-November.

I’d been at Al Asad for four months.

My combat deployment pay was supposed to be shoring up our family finances, paying down the Elm Street mortgage, and covering the last invoice for the bathroom remodel we’d hired a local contractor to finish the summer before.

“Are you completely sure, Haley.