When Ortega walked into the tent where his teammates were changing, the whole team stopped and turned, almost expecting him to say something.
Among them was also Garner, who came from Saigon on purposely for the debriefing that was about to take place thereafter.
Ortega stopped for a moment to look at them, then looked down, and simply went to put down his equipment like everyone else, without saying anything.
He took the magazine off the weapon, opened and closed the Uzi shutter a second time – just to be on the safe side - then put it down next to the other weapons.
Shortly thereafter, Coletta walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder, and looked him straight in the eye.
Initially, Ortega wasn’t able to look back at him, so he went on taking the Uzi loaders out of his pockets instead.
“Hey,” said Coletta, and with that, Ortega finally stopped.
“You didn’t do anything wrong today.”
Ortega nodded in thanks even though he disagreed.
Sure, he'd to admit, it was good to hear someone say it out loud, and he was grateful to his friend for saying it.
He still disagreed however.
You could always do more.
Always.
Especially when someone dies.