The Death of the MRAP Tactical Commander

by Kristine Iredale

Radio cord coiled around my forearm like a snake
Hissing canons, soon expelled outside the wired gates.
I woke to knowledge of good and evil.
When I died they dragged my body from the Inferno
As the MRAP sent smoke signals to Heaven for days.

In 2008, Kristine Iredale deployed with the Washington State Army National Guard’s 81st Brigade Heavy Combat Team in Operation Iraqi Freedom. She is currently a student at Eastern Washington University.