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Show Flying - 102 with resentful eyes at the cars that pass. "It just ain't right, you know that, Lieutenant?" he says. "People just don't give a damn. Only time I've ever seen a civilian care about soldiers is when he had himself a chance to make some money off of them. Look at all of them out there," says Armstrong shaking his head sadly. "And here we are protecting them. " "It's the soldier's misfortune," says Wilberforce, "to be despised by those he gives his life to save." John Henry drives on without looking at them. Christian warriors all. "Go a little faster, Pierson," says Armstrong, staring at the massive bumper of the five-ton truck from Headquarters Company hanging about three feet behind them. John Henry speeds up a little and tries to edge his right leg away from the hot transmission. You don't want to touch anything in this kind of heat-every piece of metal in the jeep is burning hot. Even the wheel is best held with just the fingertips. "I suppose we just have to get used to being forgotten men in times of peace," says Wilberforce, who's been in the army about five months but who's been told that these old sergeants are the backbone of the service and must be kept going at all costs whenever they begin to falter in their dedication. |