War
I thought I saw one of the trucks get blown up by an IED in Afghanistan while I was there on my tour. We were just coming back to base from doing our shift while I was manning the gun on top of the convoy. All of a sudden, one of the trucks in front of us exploded. My brother was in that truck. He just had his first son one day before that. He had to see him be born on webcam. He said it was one of the happiest days in his life, getting to see him, and my brother could have been the best dad to his son.
After the truck blew up, we were told to hold our positions and be alert for the insurgents up in the mountains. As  soon as the  truck burst into flames, guys started to shoot at us. Our snipers took them out. When we got out of the truck we went over to the truck that got blown up and looked in it; all I saw was blood and body parts. My brother was missing his legs and his chest was torn apart. I had to walk away for a minute; it was that hard to see my brother in that truck.
The first thing I thought about was his wife and their newborn baby. The crew went to clean up the mess. They pulled out the bodies of the men that were killed in the explosion. When they pulled out my brother I thought, “This can’t be real,” until one of the crew guys got a body bag and they put him in. When we got back to the base I called our mother and father and told them the news. I said, “My brother won't be coming home.” They started to cry, and I started to cry. I told them that it would be better if I called his wife and told her the news. When I called her and told her the news there was nothing to say. It was just crying. Commander said we leave in about three days to go home.
The week rolled by and it was time to go but before we left they held a ceremony for my brother. They put his dog tags, his boots, and his gun on a stand and each of us came by and took a  knee and prayed to him. After that, we put his casket on the plane to go home. I was happy to go home but not really because I was going home alone. When the plane landed the fire trucks were all lined up with their lights on and the water cannons blowing water towards the plane. At the gate there were cop cars all lined up with their lights on and my family was out there. I was the only one able to get off the plane because I was the brother. I went down to see my family. I got down from the plane and there was nothing but hugs and crying going around, the ground crew started to pull out my brother’s casket and the marines that were there in uniform carried him towards the funeral car. He had an American Flag on his casket. It was time to leave him. My family chose to take him to Arlington national cemetery. The streets were filled with people holding the best colors in the world the Red White and Blue. The day rolled by and we went to Arlington and the guys had the horse drawn carriage ready for my brother' casket. He went out with a 21 gun salute.