I think I feel the same connection to the killing as a linguist as you do loading a bomb. I know the names of several who are dead because of my intel. These faceless people existed in one-sided friendships as I got to know everything about them in the most intimate manner and eventually built the information pathway that resulted in their deaths.

And as I put the war more and more in my rearview, they no longer interrupt my sleep, talking to me in a one-sided conversation to which I can never respond.

Thank you for your service.