A rank one cadet that hasn’t even received a badge,

Recruited and stationed in a Guard Tower,

Watching over the border like a gate keeper,

Fingers lightly feathering the trigger of his .50 cal,

Just waiting for someone to show up,

Wanting to prove himself, by killing someone else,

His commander, a ruthless man built for war,

Outlines of his muscles can be seen on his shirt,

Hesitating for a second when he hears footsteps,

His squadron has infrared eyes with guns equipped with red dot sights,

Quickly shutting the lights on, the squad immediately sees three immigrants jumping the fence,

Bullets are fired, the cadet acts carelessly and gives chase,

He trips though, he fires a bullet as he falls and grazes the elderly woman’s leg

He hears a yelp, but she did not fall,

The youngest one drops a toy,

The cadet runs up and takes it,

When he reaches his squad he lies, says he killed the youngest

And the toy is his prize,

His commander pats him on the back and promotes him,

Not a Cadet anymore, he is now a Rank 2 Novice,

His guilt and undeserved promotion shown in his face,

“The desert will kill them off” the commander says,

The toy and the squad novice share two things in common,

Both don’t deserve where they ended up,

And both don’t know where to go from there.