LA Home learning 24-25May 2011

They unloaded the dead and maimed right before our eyes (Maiming is an act of physical injury that degrades the appearance or function of any living body, but in this case, the body being maimed is dead)
They washed out the blood, we loaded our rucks and then took to the skies (They washed out the blood of those who died in the helicopter and asked the author and his mates to go into the helicopter.)
Over the mountains, villages, and valleys we flew (The destination is far away from the starting point.)
Where we would land we had not a clue (The soldiers were not briefed before the mission, not knowing what would happen)
Bullets are flying, the LZ is hot (LZ stands for landing zone, and when it is hot, it means that there are many hostiles around it.)
We're leaving this bird whether we like it or not (the bird is actually a helicopter, and the soldiers have no choice but to leave the helicopter)
30 seconds they yelled, Lock N Load and grab your shit (anxiety because they never use correct terms and Lock N Load would mean reloading the gun and preparing oneself)
Get ready to go and make it quick (They are in a hurry.)
My heart is pumping adrenalin through all of my veins (Anxious because the author might die anything without knowing why.)
I run as fast as I can through the lead rain (The lead rain is being compared to a rain of bullets as bullets are made up of lead.)
The noise is tremendous, terror I can't define (The sound of gunshots are terrifying because there might be a chance of getting hit by the bullet.)
The only reason I survived that day was divine (The author was utterly lucky to survive as the examples mentioned above made surviving look like an impossible task.)
I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more (He only did this action because it is the only thing he had to do as mentioned in line 14.)
You do what you have to do, with that I will say no more (He knew what he had to did and did exactly as told)
We fought from the valleys to the mountain peaks (The time fought was long and the distance was far)
From house to cave, to car to creek (The places they had to fight at were weird, which means that war is unexpected and nothing is impossible in war.)
Dirty and tired and hungry and scared (The moral of most soldiers were dropping due to all these factors, making scared one of the biggest factors in lowering the moral of soldiers.)
We slept with our boots on so we were always prepared (They were needed to be always prepared so that they would not lose out in a battle)
Those majestic mountains so steep, so high they kiss the skies (The mountains were so huge they could literally “kiss” the skies at the top of the mountains.)
The Hindu Kush has changed so many lives (The Hindu Kush mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.)
Up the mountains with heavy loads we trod (As mentioned in line 20, the mountains, being so steep, were still made a route for the soldiers to trek through, despite it being steep and the soldiers being tired.)
Who knew hell was so close to God (The close to death experiences made soldiers feel that hell was so close to God because of the mountains and terrain of the place where they are fighting at.)
Beauty and terror are a strong mixed drink (Experiencing both sides of life in a single life they lead, they feel that both beauty and terror made a strong mixed drink.)
So we drank it like drunkards and tried not to think (They did not want to think about their current stage of life, which is experiencing terror, so they felt that not thinking about terror was better.)
Good men and bad men, Mothers lost sons (At both sides of evil vs. good, mothers still loses their sons)
Everyone loses their innocence when they carry guns (Guns are the force of evil, making anyone lose their innocence because with guns they were given the ability to kill someone instantly.)
Washed in the blood, and baptized by fire (Washed in blood means that there were a lot of blood in the battlefield and baptized by fire meant soldier's first experience under fire in battle.)
I will never forget those who were called higher
They say blood is thicker than water, well lead is thicker than blood (No matter how thick blood is as compared to water, lead will still win blood and that would mean that lead could destroy blood, in other words kill.)
Brothers aren't born they're earned. In the poppy fields, the tears, and the mud (Brothers, friends also soldiers like oneself are not meant to be called brothers upon birth, but instead earned through hardships they have gone through and through help people give.
And when I get to heaven to Saint Peter I will tell (Saint Peter is one of a messenger to God and the author would like to tell him that he would like to spend his time in hell in line 33.)
Another Paratrooper reporting for duty sir, I spent my time in hell (Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force, and because of his guilt, he would like to spend his time in hell as he feel that he do not deserve his after-life in heaven and the use of the word “another” means that there more than one paratrooper who reported, which means that there were a lot of fatalities in war.)