Never been...

... and hope I never will be.

The language is best described as "salty", the emotions are raw, and from my limited experience with the military, the thing with the .50 cal ammo boxes is dead on.  I may never know what it's like to be in combat, but this seems like it may - perhaps - help give an inkling of an idea of what it's like.

What Combat Feels Like, Presented in the Style of a Graphic Novel 

Since the start of the "war on terror" more than 2.5 million U.S. service members have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. While general narratives have emerged around the wars, rarely is the story told exclusively from the soldier’s perspective. 

In this short animation, veteran and writer Colby Buzzell describes a day on the ground in Iraq. “I’ve put the events of that day in a shoebox, put the lid on it, and I haven’t opened it since” says Buzzell. But the soldier's story comes to life now through stunning animation by filmmaker Evan Parsons.