No massive turkey this year from the Commander in Chief to our boys in the sand. No real acknowledgement at all. I've seen it before.

I sat with the three men watching the television, Indianapolis and Detroit on screen. None of us discussed football.

"...but we had boots on the ground before the airstrikes. It's not like we didn't prepare for an insurgency..."

They'd been on this for a bit. The West Pointer called for a withdrawal of conventional forces back into Afghanistan, a slightly more friendly territory, and keep our Special Ops guys in the villages and cities supporting the insurgencies. They would kill the enemy. No prisoners.

The former Delta man argued the necessity of more conventional forces, in order to send some Spec. Ops. guys into Iran to "fix" the nuclear problem.

The infantryman of the Airborne called for Desdin like bombings. "If they're in there, if civilians are in there, they're no longer civilians. The cities are escapable. The insurgents haven't cordoned shit. Give the cities an ultimatum. Out in 24 hours or die."

It was silent then.

"Remember Bragg?"

"Thanksgiving in Bragg... what a hell hole."

"Nothing compared to Fallujah."

"Nothing."

They scooped more food into their mouths, heads down at the plate, like they were being timed, like they were still in Ranger school at the mess hall. Indianapolis scores again.

"Manning is incredible. 20 bucks he hits a record today."

I alert the Delta guy he already has.

"I'll be damned. You hear that? Manning's got himself an NFL record."

The Pointer broke in.

"Well look at it this way. These guys, these young guys are over there, and you know, you really, what you really need, is more NCO's. We've got more E-5's today than E-7's, and that hurts us. Meanwhile, every Star available is at the goddamned Pentagon playing footsies with JSOTF, trying to get some kind of Presidential appointment."

The Infantryman fires off.

"You don't know that. I work with three stars every day. The problem is, the Pentagon has too many suits these days. Analysts and Rumsfeld types. They have all the answers, but no real path to solutions. When we fix bayonets, that's when we'll pull out. All you need to see is a young Marine jamming a bayonet into an insurgent on cable news, and this whole fucking thing is done. Done. Because Americans can't handle war. They can't handle death. All these people seeing shrinks, because they lost an election? Goddammit, give me a thousand body bags, and you'll see America crumble into itself."

Delta.

"When we were in Laos, we thought the same thing. We didn't want to die, not because we were afraid, but because we knew the more of us that died, the more Americans, the publuc, y'know, they'd lose it. They'd lose spirit. Hope. All that shit we think about over an MRE in the middle of a goddamned monsoon."

Pointer.

"I love this commercial."

Infantry.

"Bush needs to do something. He needs to pull our guys back in January. Call for Iraqi independence..."

Pointer.

"And let it fall into a civil war. Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds... What a mess."

Delta.

"Less casualties. More instability in the Middle East. Could set off a revolution in Saudi Arabia."

Infantry.

"Israel goes."

Pointer.

"Fuck Israel, they deserve it. You can't prod a leopard and not expect to get clawed."

Infantry.

"We lose nuke strat in the Middle East."

Delta.

"We have projectile capability from NORAD. He's right. Israel is more of a liability than an ally."

Infantry.

"So the Sauds fall. The oil gets burned. Iran still has nukes. You don't think they'll flex?"

Delta.

"Not if we have our guys in their by June."

All is silent. They look at me. My mom calls out,

"Dessert is ready!"

Delta, Infantry, Pointer:

"Alright!"

Lock.