[ Carver nods slowly, rubbing his thumb along the rim of his glass. Not really looking at John. ]

He tapped me early, once he knew I wasn't gonna get myself killed.

[ A lot of the others just died in the early days. They weren't fast enough or sharp enough and so one day they went out and didn't come back. Pope honored all their dead, but he couldn't spare time on the ones who weren't strong enough; there wasn't time for that. ]

I wanted to be a sergeant. Studied my ass off for it, too. [ His jaw tightens, some of the old anger boiling up. ] Got shot down so hard my head spun. But he didn't care. Said fuck 'em, you're one of mine. That was true even after we went home.