Ambush (short Story by Tim O'Brien)

O’Brien briefly relives the night in My Khe. He had been on watch after midnight. He saw the young man emerging from the mist, carrying a gun. He grabbed a grenade and threw it without really thinking. Right after he threw the grenade, he felt guilty. But it was too late. The grenade dealt a fatal blow. And, twenty years later, O’Brien is still living with the guilt. “Ambush” presents a classic conundrum for soldiers. They have done something that seemed reasonable in a certain context (killing a man during war) but is utterly incomprehensible out of context, for example in its retelling to an innocent child.