One sentence comes up in more conversations with veterans than almost any other, and it’s usually said with a mix of resignation and shame: “I can’t get VA benefits because of my discharge.”
There is a particular kind of quiet that surrounds men who’ve earned a Trident. They don’t often talk about what it cost them. They talk about their teammates. They talk about the mission. Rarely do they talk about themselves.
They carry no weapon. Under the Geneva Conventions, they aren’t permitted to. And yet, for two hundred and fifty years, they have walked into the same fire as the men and women they serve — not to fight, but to make sure no one faces what’s coming, or what already happened, alone.
