Remains

• ''On another occasion, we get sent out''

  • starts in media res = reflects chaos of war and how unpredictable it is
  • we = collective verb, it is the day-to-day reality of many soldiers
• ''probably armed, possibly not''

  • probably = what he wants to believe, the looter is a threat
  • possibly = the guilt after considering the chance of innocence
• ''tosses his guts back into his body''

  • tosses = violent verb, lack of care as it is something they're used to
  • body and lorry = rhyme between two words suggests fluidity, it's normal
• ''Then I'm on home on leave. But then I blink''

  • home = his physical safety
  • . = caesura - the finality of a traumatic situation merging in and out of reality
  • blink = connotations of waking up, nightmares
• ''His bloody life in my bloody hands''

  • bloody life = metaphor of guilt (link to Shakespeare)
  • bloody hands = the trauma is physically taking over his life
  • repetition of bloody = shows memory of death