I need to share a secret. There’s something I miss on long drives to work and days that never end. It’s that feeling, the mostly unachievable sensation you feel in the heart of combat.

I’m not talking about the adrenaline, or the notion of being all-powerful and vast in the midst of your brotherhood. Those types of feelings are hard-earned, paid for by long nights and hot days. With constant patrols, perpetual close calls, we earned the feeling of being great from the trials of combat. But that’s not what I am referring to either.

I am talking about that once-in-a-while belief that you are invincible. These feelings are usually quickly swept away by fear or guilt, or even by a worse outcome. However, every blue moon there was that mere moment amongst my family of Marines when we all were able to look at each other and burst out laughing with glee. Somehow, we came out unscathed with a few beat-up trucks and close calls, the times that we named “Hell Night” because we knew those moments would live on forever in our minds.