If these boots could talk

I see him lace them up to go to work everyday. I've seen him lace them up four times to leave for war for a year at a time. They're just a piece of clothing that he wears but looking at them makes you think, if they could talk, what would they say? The answer is they would probably tell me about the horrors he's seen in combat that no person should see. Tell me about seeing bullets and bombs flying at him and narrowly missing. Tell me about the excruciating hours he's spent on his feet, watching his back and those of the men around him. Tell me about watching his fellow comrades being attacked and injured and possibly killed. Tell me about the sand, and blood and sweat, and tears they've been recipients of.

They're just boots. Just things you wear on your feet for protection everyday. But to my husband, they're the boots of a soldier.