Sometimes I shake out of bed to the sound of artillery fire, in a green industrial tent position right next to a Howitzer.
All I remember thinking at the time was "I don't care i'm so tired i'll sleep anywhere" and then why on Earth would they put our tent next to a Howitzer? Wouldn't that be a prime place for incoming mortars? Incoming mortars were the last of our problems, we'd be woken up every where by our own outgoing fire. Every time you'd shut your eyes you'd be jolted by another BOOM, and you'd wonder if you'd get hit this time. That's the night I learned to sleep knowing death was a very likely possibility.
I remember my Corporal used to tell me to not think about it and sleep, "we'd have to be up in three hours so to take advantage of any time to rest, and realize if it's your time than nothing including you will stop it".
Awake we'd go to build and play, 14 hour shifts at minimum building in valleys and peaks, We almost lost KAM that one day... That one day...
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