I had a Serbian buddy who was 8 years old during the war. After school they would bury and unbury weapons, move them around so Bosnian forces wouldn’t find them, and create makeshift explosives.

He called these people mercs. Said they came from all over the world just to take pot shots at anything that moved 24x7.

There are people in your life you know are bullshitting you or embellishing, this was not that guy. His stories were insane and his eyes had a certain sadness.