(Holly's PoV)

    The boys who had been shot were making some progress. It probably would have been helpful for them to be able to get some rest, but staying in one place for too long was dangerous.

    "Where exactly are we headed?" Tristan asked.

    "Currently, we're just trying to stay on the move," I responded. "At some point we might want to try to get back to our old base, since that's theoretically a safe spot. However we don't really know where we are right now, so-"

    I was interrupted by a flash. I gripped my gun even tighter, although I was extremely puzzled.

    "Is it supposed to storm?" Landon asked.

    "I don't know anything about meteorology," I answered, glancing up at the sky, my guard rising at an alarming rate.

    The leaves and bushes rustled and there seemed to be indistinct chatter.

    I began to aim my weapon and I heard someone shout. "There they are!"

    I was about to shoot when a group of what appeared to be rich Americans came running through the bushes.

    They had cameras and large microphones and began cheering upon seeing us.

    A perky blonde woman walked up to Landon to shake his hand. "Amanda Byrd," she introduced herself. "I'm with America's Morning Report. We've been looking for you for days. I'm so glad we found you before any of our competitors."

    "You're with the news?" Landon asked, confused.

    The woman just laughed. "Of course, sweetie." She ruffled his hair. "Nothing stops us from getting the story to the viewers first."

    Growing impatient, I asked. "Why are you here?"

    "Well honey..."

    I rolled my eyes at the nickname, but I think she was too self-absorbed to notice.

    "We wanted the first interview."

     Our entire group shared looks of confusion.

    Amanda Byrd gasped. "Oh my goodness, do you not know?" She motioned for a camera-man to come beside her. "Quick. I wanna get this on video." She paused for a moment while he set up a camera angle.

    "You kids won us the war."

    I nearly dropped my weapon. We had done it. It actually worked.

    "Wait, what all happened?" I stammered.

    "Come on, our plane is parked in a nearby field. We'll explain everything on the way," she said, then went back to beaming at the camera.

    We made our way to the plane, most, if not all, of us still thoroughly confused about what was going on.

    Amanda was more caught up with interviewing the boys than explaining anything though. After just one look at Connor, her eyes went wide. "Don't worry, we've got medical personnel back on the plane."

    "But someone, get a picture first," she called out. "I can see the segment now," she announced. "The physical and mental scars of war. Oh that is so good!"

    I asked one of the interns about the state of the war and she was at least able to give me a straight answer.

    Apparently without Xang-hao Li, the rest of the Chinese government didn't know what to do about the war. He had been too paranoid to prepare any line of succession, so much of his government's continuity died with him. No longer holding the upper-hand, the surviving military officers felt vulnerable and decided it was better to sign a peace treaty before risking any sort of retaliation attack, given the trigger happy history of their enemy.

    The interviews continued once we got on the plane. Ned was taking full advantage of the spotlight and taking credit for the whole operation. I nudged Landon, who was staring blankly out the window.

    "You're just gonna let him do that?" I asked.

    He shrugged. "Let him have his fun, I guess. I'd rather not have the attention right now."

    "I thought you'd be more excited now," I pointed out. "You just won a war."

    "I almost immediately got captured and nearly executed," he replied. "You and your group did all the real work."

    "So, coming out to Hong-Kong was your idea in the first place," I reminded him. "I would have never done anything so outside the rigid lines of structure if no one had...." I searched for the right word, "...inspired me."

    He gave a half-smile, but still appeared to be in a daze.

    "What's up?" I pressed.

    "Something just dawned on me," he explained. "A lot of these guys are gonna be going home to the girls they care about...and I have to leave mine."

    My heart skipped a beat. It took a great deal of effort to keep my voice from cracking. "You'd still like me even if I wasn't your only choice?"

"Of course," he told me. "I mean, maybe I was initially attracted to you because you were the first girl I had seen in like two months, but then I got to know you and..." he paused a moment and sighed. "Holly, I really like you."

    I wrapped my hand in his. "We're all from Eastern Nebraska here. Where are you going back to?" I asked.

    "Millard," he responded.

    "Well, I'm from La Vista," I explained. "That's only like a twenty five minute drive away. We can make this work if you want to."

    Landon kissed me on the cheek. "There's nothing I want more."

(Connor's PoV)

     Most of the plane ride had been a blur. The back section of this news station's private plane had beds and medical equipment that far outshined what we had back at our base. Surely this set up, plus private doctors on board had to have been more expensive than just flying us to a hospital.

     Maybe they wanted real time pictures for their breaking story, I guessed. All I really remembered from being treated were camera flashes and a doctor saying, "fortunately this looks much worse than it really is."

     I didn't really know how I felt about that statement.

     I'm sure part of the damage was mitigated by Holly's actions. She did quite a lot considering she was just a 17-year-old who took a 6 week military nursing course, trying to treat major wounds in the middle of the wilderness. Part of me wished I had been more seriously injured. Part of me wished I had just died upon impact.

     As my body continued to hurt underneath the layers of gauze and bandages, I couldn't help myself from thinking about Aaron. He didn't have time to feel any pain. I wanted that thought to console me, but he was still gone.

      I looked to the side to see Matteo sitting on the bed across the aisle from me. He was eyeing his stitches while fidgeting with his hands. I had foggy memories of him helping me out of the commotion at the emperor's palace. Without really thinking, I called out to him.

     "Why?"

     He looked up, his eyebrows furrowed.

     "You helped drag me out of there," I specified. After a moment of silence, I added in a mumble. "You must be stronger than I thought."

     He tried hiding his small smile. I gestured to his leg as best I could while lying on my back. "But honestly, dude. You were already injured. You did not have to. So seriously, why? I was nothing but shitty to you."

     He looked around the medical cabin, a bit stumped himself too. "I guess I just would've felt bad leaving you behind." He sighed before continuing. "I mean, you killed the emperor. You might be the sole reason that I'm actually getting to go home. That I'm getting to see Emmy and my little brothers again."

     "You got little brothers?" I stopped him. It dawned on me how little I actually knew about Matteo.

     He nodded. "They're a lot younger than me since they were all born after we moved to the U.S., but yeah, I've got three. Do you?"

     "No, but I am one," I corrected.

     He began tapping on the mattress in frustration. "I just hate how much of their lives that I missed."

     "Those little guys are lucky," I told him. "Take it from me, they could've done a whole lot worse as far as older brothers go."

     We stayed in silence for almost a minute until Matteo eventually asked, "Are you gonna be okay?"

     I gave a quick glance at my bandages. "I mean, the doctor doesn't seem as concerned as he was when I first got on the plane."

     He shook his head. "That's not what I meant."

     Going home seemed daunting. I highly doubted anyone was going to be there for me when we landed. I hadn't had any contact with my family since leaving for Basic training. The thought of staying at my old house filled me with dread even though Jordan had moved out a few years ago.

     I wanted Aaron. It didn't matter if I had to finish out high school, or get a GED, or something else entirely if we could have gone through it together.

     I couldn't answer Matteo's question, so instead I just shrugged.

(Logan's PoV)

    The plane ride back home was much more comfortable than the one to Guilin (or the one to Basic Training for that matter.) Not only were there nice peanut giving ladies this time, they also served us a fancy dinner. A fancy dinner which I politely declined, opting for macaroni and cheese with chicken tenders instead.

    Come on, I hadn't had it in like two years.

    The news station decided to drop us off at Eppley Airfield instead of D.C. or any other major city simply because they wanted to prevent other major news stations from interviewing us for as long as possible.

    I didn't really mind if their motive was kind of rude, I was just happy to be close to home.

    When we got off the plane, it was almost as if we were returning from a vacation. (Granted, a really long vacation). But aside from the fact that we were all in uniform, it was hard to tell we were soldiers.

    I remembered learning about World War II in ninth grade history class and how there were big celebrations when the soldiers returned home from the war, and now there was nothing. It might have been because we weren't coming back at the same time as most of the other soldiers, but deep down, I knew that wasn't the case.

    "Well boys," Trevor mused, looking around the airport. "We made it. Back in the 402." 

    Trevor, Daniel, Clayton and I exchanged phone numbers and social media names and began walking through security. As soon as we passed through, I saw Alisha holding a set of balloons and smiling brighter than she ever had before. My parents were standing beside her along with my older sister, Kristy.

    Alisha ran ahead to hug me. "Oh Logan, I missed you so much," she gushed.

    I kept her in a tight embrace. "I missed you too." Happy tears were beginning to form in my eyes. She appeared to be crying too.

    "I was just so worried when I heard your platoon had been captured," she went on. "I was out with friends when I heard the news, and I just broke down and lost it."

    I stroked her blonde hair. "It's okay, it's okay." I held up her face so I could look into her beautiful brown eyes. "I'm back now."

    And that was all the two of us needed to hear.

(Tristan's PoV)

    I parted ways with Gavin once we got past security and found my family waiting for me. Well, most of them at least. It looked like my oldest brother couldn't even get a few days off from his mission to see me come home. That was to be expected though. I hugged all my present family members, and to my surprise, I turned around to see Kierra.

    I stared at her, at a loss for words for a moment.

    "What?" she questioned. "I dye my hair and suddenly you don't recognize me?"

    "No, it's just...uh..." but I had no idea where I was going with that.

    "But so I've arranged everything for you school-wise," she stated. "Our school district is going to allow you and all the other draftees to take placement exams when the rest of us take our finals this semester, and based on those results, they'll put you in classes for the spring semester. You'll maybe have to take another semester or year past your original graduation date, but I'm sure most colleges won't mind," she added.

    "You arranged all that?" I asked, trying to hide my shock and awe.

    "You lost a good portion of your childhood, I didn't want you to lose your future too," she said with more sincerity than I had ever heard from her before.

    Before I could even thank her, she just continued.

    "Besides it wasn't like there were any government programs even attempting to help reintegrate their literal child soldiers back into society." She huffed in frustration. "But anyway, we should definitely start studying for your placement exams immediately–"

    "That's cool," I interrupted. "But first, would you want to see a movie?"

    She cocked an eyebrow. "How would you even know what movies are out?"

    I groaned. "Kierra, you make it so hard to play it cool. I'm trying to ask you out."

    It was her turn to be speechless. She started blushing slightly.

    "What do you say?" I asked.

    She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Sure."

    I pulled her into a hug, but she stopped me half-way.

    "But we're splitting the cost."

(Daniel's PoV)

    Out of nowhere, Joy came up and hugged me from behind. I turned around to give her a proper embrace.

    "Joy, It's been too long." I let go, but she was still holding tight. "What's wrong," I asked, noticing her tears.

    "It's just," she began, wiping her eyes. "I feel so selfish."

    "Don't."

    "But it's true," she went on. "I kept burdening you with all my problems even though you had like a million other things to worry about."

    "Hey," I stopped her. "I didn't mind hearing about your problems one bit. To me, it showed that even though I was far away, you still thought of me as a friend."

    Joy pursed her lips. "I do, but what if I wanted us to be more than friends?"

    My heart seemed to skip a beat and I could almost feel the color rushing to my face.

    "One girl brought it up in the video chat, and I couldn't stop thinking about it since," she explained. "Maybe it's cliché that I'm falling for my childhood best friend, but–"

    "To be honest, I've been falling for you since childhood," I admitted.

    Joy's eyes lit up. "Really?"

    I took her hands. "Joy, you're the sweetest person I know and you deserve so much better than how Bradley treated you. And it would be a pleasure for me to show you the love you deserve whether that be as your best friend or your boyfriend."

    Joy smiled for a second, then pulled me in for a kiss. Once we finished, she answered, "why not both?"

(Gavin's PoV)

    "Gavin!" Trixie called from the doors. Her hair was shorter now–just above her shoulders–but she was still easy to recognize. I ran over to see her.

    She hugged me, and it became difficult to stay upright.

    "Your parents are in the drive-through lane," she explained. "You know how expensive parking can get."

    "I'm so happy you came," I somehow managed to not stutter.

    "Of course," she replied. "Gavin, I care about you." She batted her eyelashes. "But anyway, it's so good to have you back. You look like you got a lot stronger while you were gone."

    It was odd, normally at this point in the conversation, Trixie would have been telling me about her new boyfriend.

    "Thanks," I responded. "It's good to be home. And I'm not sure if I got stronger. Maybe I did, I guess."

"You know, winter formal is coming up in about a month," she pointed out.

"Oh yeah?" I readjusted the zipper on my jacket. "Who do you think you're going with?"

She gave a small sigh. "Oh no one yet. But wow, you look so good in your uniform."

I rolled my eyes. "I literally haven't showered in weeks. Trixie, what are you playing at?"

Trixie huffed. "Gavin Stauffer you wouldn't recognize flirting if it slapped you in the face."

I nearly stumbled backwards. "You're...flirting..." I stammered.

She nodded.

"With me?"

Trixie laughed. "Yes! I mean I kinda liked you years ago, back in middle school, but you were all laid back and smart and into video games and I guess I just figured you would think I was too shallow or girly, so I kinda moved on, but then after almost losing you forever, I was inspired to shoot my shot."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I couldn't help, but cut in. "You mean, all this time you thought that I was out of your league?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Or at least out of your depth. I figured one day, you were gonna end up with one of those 'not like other girls' types."

"Trixie, for eight years, I have felt the same way about you," I confessed. "You're so pretty and social and fun and..."

Trixie looked down in embarrassment. "I can't believe this."

I smiled at her. "So does this mean we should go out?"

She kissed me on the cheek. "Absolutely."

Out of my peripheral vision, I could see Tristan giving me a thumbs up as Trixie led me out to my parents car.

(Justin's PoV)

    It was hard for me to anticipate just how much it would mean to see her, but there she was.

    Audrey Dennison.

    She ran ahead of my parents to come see me.

    "I'm so glad to see you alive," she said breathlessly.

    "I missed you," I told her.

    She gave a dimpled smile. "The school is still trying to figure out what to do about the boys who got drafted. There's only a handful, so it's doubtful they'll put much care into the situation."

    "It's weird," I muttered. "I'm two years behind."

    Something clicked with Audrey. "But you were two years ahead before you left. So you should be able to pick up where you left off and still graduate on time. You'll just be a normal senior."

    It was hard to believe how much time had gone by. This was the year I was supposed to say goodbye to everything, but after having been gone, I hardly wanted to leave again.

    "We can graduate together. Maybe even be Valedictorian and Salutatorian just like we always planned." Happiness and relief gushed from her voice. The light in her eyes was mesmerizing. "Justin, I'm just so happy you don't have to give up your dream of college."

    "All that's nice Audrey," I assured her. "But maybe let's hold off on thinking about the future. Just for now. I want to savor the present–this moment. Just being here with you."

(Clayton's PoV)

    "Audrey!" I exclaimed. I ran over to her and Justin. "I can't believe you came to see me. Nobody else came, well, except for my parents, but that was a given."

    Audrey awkwardly backed away from Justin. "Umm...yeah...surprise," she stammered.

    I wrapped her in a hug. "Wow. I didn't even think we were that close, but I guess I was wrong."

    "Yep, I sure am here to see both of you." She then pursed her lips for a moment. "But...um...Clayton, you should know that I'm not the only non-relative who came to see you."

    "Mr. Host," an all too familiar monotone voice called from behind me.

    My heart sank as I turned around to see Mr. Justfine.

    "Where is that homework packet I had Ms. Dennison send you?" he demanded.

    Did he honestly think I was gonna do that? I was fighting in a war. I didn't even do that shit before I got drafted.

    "I burned it," I declared.

    Mr. Justfine's eyebrows furrowed. "You what?"

    "You heard me," I shot back. "I burned that shit. It made great kindling for a fire and that's the most useful math has ever been in my entire life."

    "I assigned you that packet and I expected it to be done," he said sternly.

    "Too bad," I retorted. I did a sort of show off dance. "And you can't do anything about it because I'm a senior now. You've got no power over me."

"You really think the school board is going to just let you waltz right into senior year," he challenged.

  "Then I'll drop out," I said before I fully had time to register what I wanted to say.

Mr. Justfine simply laughed.

Then it dawned on me. Why couldn't I just drop out? I could get a GED. I knew all the basic high school stuff. It wasn't like I wanted to get into a super fancy college. Just one that had a music program.

"I'm not going back," I stated.

Audrey and Justin were left speechless.

Mr. Justfine huffed. "You'll regret this."

After he walked away, Justin asked, "you're just bluffing, right? You're not actually gonna drop out of high school, are you?"

I shook my head. I had made up my mind and honestly it was probably the best decision I had ever made.

I don't fuck around when it comes to how much I hate math.

(Matteo's PoV)

    Upon seeing my family and my girlfriend, I ran full sprint past security. I wrapped all three of my little brothers in an enormous hug.

    "We missed you!"

    "I'm so glad you're back!"

    "You're the best big brother ever."

    "I'm so proud of you guys," I told them. "For being so big and brave and strong."

    "Some day, I hope to be as strong as you," Pablo piped up.

    I glanced at Emmy and his comment didn't sit well.

    "Um, guys," I began. "Is it okay if I have a few minutes alone to talk to Emmy?"

    "Sure thing, dear," my mom responded, leading my brothers out by the hand.

    "He's probably gonna kiss her," Pedro commented.

    As soon as I got Emmy alone, we both blurted out. "I have something to tell you."

    "I'll start," I offered. I wiped my clammy hands off on my jacket. "I got in a fight at basic training. I got a black eye from it."

    Emmy just sighed. "I know. I found out from one of the girls in the online video chat. Word may not travel fast by mail, but it does travel."

    "Are you mad?" I asked.

    Her expression was solemn. "How can I be?"

    "It's just we promised we'd tell each other everything and you'd been keeping your end of the–"

    "But that's just it," she said. Tears were brimming in her eyes. "I didn't."

    Concern built itself up inside of me. "Emmy what happened? Your parents? What did they do to you? I swear–"

    She shook her head. "They were no worse than usual. But I got beat up too."

    My blood began to boil and I clenched my fists, but I felt like I had to let her finish.

    She bit her lip before continuing. "On National Kick a Ginger Day. I got jumped by these three guys while walking home."

    "You were on crutches at that time," I realized in disgust and horror.

    She nodded and tears fell down her face. "They broke my leg out of place and I had to get it re-broken to set it." She sniffled. "I was so worried you were gonna be so mad that you wouldn't have been able to focus on the war. I just didn't want anything to happen to you."

    I sat down and motioned for her to sit next to me.

After wiping her eyes, she looked up. "What's wrong with us? Do we not trust each other?"

I thought for a moment. It just couldn't be true. I trusted Emmy with my life.

"No," I sighed. "I think we're just scared of hurting each other."

     She sighed. "I think even worse than the pain was feeling like I couldn't talk to you about it."

     I nodded, realizing the same thing.

She hugged onto my arm. "So no more secrets?"

"No more," I responded before kissing her.

I had realized that I couldn't protect Emmy from everything–even if I was strong–but I could always be there to comfort her.

(Will's PoV)

    I watched as the guys around me were reuniting with their family and friends. I smiled upon seeing Matteo with his girlfriend. I would have waved goodbye, but he seemed a little too preoccupied.

    I started to walk outside, but something grabbed my wrist. I turned around to see my sister.

    "Rose, you're here," I stuttered. "I assumed I'd have to take public transport home."

    "Well that's how I got here, so you're still gonna have to," she replied. "But if you want some company..."

"Look Rose, I want to formally apologize-"

    She cut me off. "Save it. I know you didn't mean to hurt me all those years ago."

    "From my letters?" I guessed.

    Rose shook her head. "Long before that, actually. About a couple years after it happened, you were asleep on the couch downstairs, so I asked you how you felt about it." She shrugged. "I figured it was a sure way to get a truthful answer."

    I wrung my hands to ease my anxiety. "Did you ask anything else?"

    "No," she replied. "I should have." She playfully punched my arm. "But don't worry, I didn't."

    There was an awkward silence between us for several moments.

    Rose sighed after taking a drink from her water bottle. "I'm not one for forgiveness and forgetting, but maybe we can move forward from this."

    "That'd be great," I gave a small smile. "Being gone for so long made me realize just how much I didn't want to lose you. Life can really suck sometimes and we've only got each other."

    "Come on, let's head home," she said before opening the door.

    Rose and I walked out to the bus stop side by side, for the first time, facing the world together.

(Landon's PoV)

    Holly and I walked off the plane holding hands. It was a surreal experience, stepping into the airport. A world I hadn't been a part of for almost two years,

    Holly squeezed my hand. "How are you holding up?"

    "Fine," I replied. "It's just strange." And then I saw them.

    Them being my older sisters: Natasha and Sammie.

    I tensed up and Holly could sense my discomfort.

    She looked up at me. "You okay?"

    I cleared my throat. "Y-yeah."

    "I'll go with you," she offered.

    "You don't need to," I began.

    "I'm going with you," she decided.

    My nerves couldn't tell whether to settle down or go into overdrive with that decision.

    We approached my sisters, fingers still interlaced.

    Natasha broke her attention away from her phone upon seeing us. "Well lookie here! Landon thinks he's found himself a girlfriend."

    Sammie pulled me away from Holly and closer to the two of them. "Not for long though," she snickered. I could feel the tips of her fake nails digging into my arm.

    Natasha just smiled. "I've got a lot of pictures that I can't wait to show her."

    My heart rate increased dramatically. War aside, meeting Holly was the best thing that had ever happened to me. I didn't want to lose her. I glanced over at her and began to wonder: would anything my sisters have to say or show even matter to her?

    Every time I had mentioned anything involving my sisters to Holly, she was always more concerned with how they hurt me, rather than the humiliating aspects. And she never once even laughed.

"I don't care." And with those words, I broke the chains connecting me to my older sisters.

Sammie let go of me in shock. Both of them appeared to be taken aback.

Natasha scoffed. "What do you mean?"

I simply smirked at them. "You heard me."

Holly gripped my hand again. "Come on Landon, let's just take the bus home."

We rode together mostly in silence, but it was still nice. When we reached her stop in La Vista, she leaned over to kiss me. "I'll see you soon. I promise. And I'll also buy a phone tomorrow so I can call you too."

It was weird having her gone after spending every single day with her for over a year and a half. But I was comforted by the thought that I would see her again, and that now we had the chance to be a normal couple.

(Sean's PoV)

    "Whoa!" I exclaimed as I stepped into the airport. All the craziness of people trying to get to their flight on time. Everyone around us seemed to be moving so fast.

    "Sean," I heard my mom call. "We're over here!" I ran over to hug her.

    My dad ruffled my hair. "I see the military didn't make you any more observant," he joked.

    I tried to brush the comment off.

    "We're so glad to have you back," my mom told me. "Let's get you home. We've been planning a welcome home party for you and we invited the whole family..." Her voice trailed off in my mind. Normally I would have asked if there would be cake at said party, but I couldn't help noticing Connor alone.

    "One second, mom," I said before running towards Connor. I nearly ran into some guy's suitcase on the way.

    "Watch where you're going, little dude," Connor advised.

    "Connor, where's your family?" I asked. "Or friends?"

    He looked around and then back at me, as if to say, you know where my only friend is.

    He started to walk towards the door alone, but guilt forced me to grab his hand to stop him. "Come on." I led him by the wrist over to my parents. He must have been okay with me doing this because he was super strong and there was no way I could pull him along if he offered any resistance.

    "Mom, dad, this is my friend Connor, can he come home with us for the party?"

    My mom looked slightly hesitant. "Are you sure, Sean? I bet he has a family that he needs to get home to."

    "They're busy," I lied. I put on my best begging face. "Please."

    "Oh, I guess," my mom gave in. "For my little soldier."

    We all took the airport shuttle back out to my dad's parked car. I sat in the back seat with Connor.

    On the way home, I looked out the windows taking in all the city sights of downtown that I hadn't seen in years. Okay, so it was mostly the baseball stadium and the zoo that I was interested in because I love sports and animals. We passed the stadium where the College World Series was played and it dawned on me that in two years, I might have to start applying to colleges.

    I turned to Connor. "It's so weird how being fifteen–almost sixteen means something totally different here than it does in battle. Like soon, I'll be able to drive–wait, I can start to learn now! Dad, can you teach me?"

    "Whoa, slow down there son," he said as he turned a corner. "Your old man just got a promotion at work, which means I'm gonna have to be putting in a lot more hours. I don't know if I'm gonna have the time for a while."

    Connor shrugged. "If you want, I could teach you. I'm eighteen now so it would be legal." He paused for a moment. "I'd probably have to brush up on it a bit first though. Especially since I didn't have that much time to practice before getting drafted."

    I reached over to hug him. "Really? Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

    Connor let me hug him for a quick second. "But don't get all eager to do a bunch of grown up stuff just yet," he said. "Maybe next time we can hang out, we can just play some catch or practice for football. You deserve the chance to be a kid again."

    I tilted my head in confusion. "But Connor, I never stopped."

    That's what always confused me about when the guys would say that we lost our childhood to the war. We were drafted as children, specifically as children, and we didn't magically become adults the second they handed us M-16s.

    We experienced it all as children. Every single horror, we saw through a youthful eye.

    We were just kids the entire time.