"Everyone's been very nice. I just didn't fit in at first, but things have gotten better. They're very welcoming now."
"Oh, I see..." Lynn looked toward the Political Commissar in charge and called, "Little Jack, come here!"
"What unit is this man from?"
The Political Commissar at the hospital for the wounded gave a truthful, complete account. "Reporting to the Grand Commander! This man is a soldier in the Third Platoon, Second Company, First Battalion, Second Regiment, Third Brigade, Ninth Infantry Division. Because he refused to pick up a gun, he faced some ostracism at the recruit camp... But in the most recent siege, after a command failure left half his platoon ambushed, he carried twenty men back by himself. He was hit by an enemy machine gun while carrying the last one."
"He wants to fight the vampires, but he's afraid of killing any living thing."
Oh, Lynn understood. A low-budget version of Doss, was he?
Still, Lynn had understood a few other things too: ostracism = bullying = old-fashioned military culture = warlords = bandits = thugs = crime.
Damn it, the Americans had soldiers like this, but they let them serve in noncombat roles!
The man had volunteered to join the army; he just didn't want to kill anyone. Why couldn't they use him as a noncombatant?
How had things gotten so out of hand here?
"This afternoon, gather all the senior Political Commissars at your office and hold a meeting. Do you know what freedom, democracy, and fraternity mean?"
The Political Commissar replied, "Yes."
"Good. We abolished slavery and gave everyone human rights. This soldier is a good one—he saved so many people. You have to look at things from a human perspective. Killing has always been psychologically challenging. Do you understand?"
The Political Commissar replied,