The Living and the Dead

On Veterans' Day, buy this Byliner Original by the veteran Brian Mockenhaupt:

The bullet smacked the dirt between Tom and Ian, inches from their feet, as they stepped out of the compound they'd just finished searching. A second later they heard the shot, fired from a string of houses along Route Animal, three hundred yards to the northwest.

"Let's go," Tom said.

As the patrol fanned out and jogged into the field, moving toward the buildings, more gunmen opened fire, from several spots along Route Animal and in Cocheran Village, farther north. Muzzle flashes twinkled from alleyways and darkened windows. The Marines at Dakota were terrified of buried bombs—the utter lack of control—but they…