....The Va officially identified those "things" I experience as "flashbacks" within the past three months. Hallucinations, sense of smell, nightmarish dislocation of reality.....are those palm trees? No, can't be. Where am I? Oh, God, where am I? Can't be. Can't be? Where am I? Freezing and boiling hot at the same time. Is that cordite I smell? (Cordite is what you smell after lots of small arms fire.) Is that sand, dust, smoke? Shaking, shivering, where am I? How did I get here? How do I get home? No, can't be real. Can't be.

And then they have the nerve to get snippy with me about how wary I am about trusting them. You know what? Just thinkinhmg about these bloody things makes me feel dizzy.