1. Sarver, ashen, leans against a wall.
2. As he sits on the military plane that will take him home, the Bronze Star he’s been awarded is stowed away with the rest of his gear.
3. Staff Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver is at home in the nation he has sworn to protect—and a long way from the loneliest spot on earth.
4. Many settled in the barrios of Los Angeles, where they were preyed upon by the city’s turf-conscious Mexican
5. .....says the gang has steadily encroached on the neighborhood
6. Young kids see the gang members as role models
7. In exchange for leniency, Paz gave prosecutors firsthand information about armed robberies, stabbings and shootings stretching from California to Texas to North Carolina.
8. But the strictures and the isolation became too much for Paz.
9. When it was over, she felt like she finally belonged.
10. It turns into a driveway up the block and comes back, prowling slowly, watching her.

1. A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
2. A bad thing never dies.
3. A bad workman always blames his tools.
4. A bird in the hand is worth than two in the bush.
5. A boaster and a liar are cousins-german.
6. A bully is always a coward.
7. A burden of one's choice is not felt.
8. A candle lights others and consumes itself.
9. A cat has 9 lives.
10. A cat may look at a king.

Studying English - from Reader's Digest

1. Now, at the Baghdad intersection, Sarver’s team kneel in the dirt, and, like squires attending a knight, adjust his armor.
2. At 10 feet out, the point of no return, he gets the adrenaline surge he calls The Morbid Thrill.
3. “It’s a numbing, sobering time, it’s the loneliest spot on earth.”
4. As the Humvee rattles down the road, Sarver, lost in thought, stares out the window at the blazing Iraqi sunset. I like what I do, he thinks to himself.
5. Soon it will be dark, curfew time.
6. With a glance he could suss out any bomb’s architecture.
7. making him one of ten Army bomb techs to die in the field as of November 2005.
8. when fatigue, distraction and homesickness can dull a soldier’s instincts.
9. “When you’re 10 feet away from it,” he says, “you get comfortable because you’re at the point of no return.”