Our small assault team was further divided into two squads—mine and Guzman's.
As always, I was at the head of the snake. My squad would lead, while Guzman's would be the tail. For that reason, Medina was with me—to fulfill his role as our guide and also to provide skilled firepower.
I looked at the determined faces in my squad before we crossed over. They were mostly young men—some had never even bedded a woman. Yet they looked older now, grizzled and hardened by the smoke, dirt, and grime of battle. The chaos in Kasily and the fighting over the past hour had aged them more than any peace-time soldier's career ever could. This was experience—bloody, terrifying, and real.
I had chosen the best men for this task.
Finally, I ordered us to move. We crossed the barricade through its leftmost part, where a pile of broken chairs had been temporarily moved to make a path.
