a naval officer from the bethesda media team met the injured marine floor and made plans with marines to meet them later at the dinner in d.c.. my first impulse was to bolts. i hadn't been to hospital since my brother died. i knew the smells and sounds and antiseptic and the world of machines that give and take life. i knew the collective heart beat of a hospital for holding so many lives in balance. i did not belong here. i would wreck the balance. that was not the plan of the day. the naval officer showed me into a room where a mother bent over her young marine son who arrived two days before. they were not sure the kid would live. week earlier he had taken a sniper round to the forehead. the swelling was down. he blinked when his mother spoke to him but only for a few hours a day. i remember the family was from ohio. someone from the naval media team asked me to sign a copy of jar head. i rode it out to, your tenure whatever his name was knowing he would never read it. his mother was overly polite and took the book for me and smiled and said she would read it to him and i thought j

a naval officer from the bethesda media team arrived to escort me to the injured marine floor. i made plans with the marines to meet up with them later at the dinner in d.c.. as they walked out my first impulse was to bolt. i hadn't been to the hospital since my brother died. i knew this mill, the sounds, the antiseptics and the low sound of machines that give and take life. i knew the heartbeat of a hospital floor holding so many lives in fine balance. i did not belong here. i would wreck the balanced. but i wasn't the climb of the day for me to leave was not the plan. the naval officer showed me into the room where a mother bent over her young marine son. he had arrived few days before. they were not sure the kid would live. least earlier he'd taken a sniper round to the floor head. he blinked when his mother spoke to him. but he could plant for only a few hours a day. i remember the family was from a high yield. someone from the naval media team asked me to sign a copy of "jarhead" for the kid. i wrote it out to tommy or tammie or whatever his name was knowing he would never