My left foot has been bothering me a little. Nothing serious; nothing to go to the doctor about; it’s just that particular movements make the top of my foot hurt. Why would that be? That’s not an overuse injury from walking. Walking doesn’t hurt it.
Then it dawned on me. All those years ago, that foot suffered a direct hit from a mortar round. Normally a person wouldn’t be recounting how they suffered a direct hit from a mortar round, but in my case I had just placed that mortar round in the bed of my truck and as I looked away, it rolled off the truck and landed square on my foot. That hurt. Mortar rounds are heavy. I spent the next week stomping about the jungle in one jungle boot and a shower shoe, until the swelling had gone down enough that I could put my foot back into a boot.
No special dispensation. No purple heart. No bravery. Just a reminder after all these years.