"That makes it sound very official," he says. "I guess I'm lucky we met today or I might still be wandering around, only possibly an adult."

There are days when he feels impossibly old, days when he feels like he's seen so much more than the average person and he knows that can't actually be true, not when so many bad things happen to so many people. And then there are days, too, when he still feels as if he's trying to work everything out. Like he never quite got past that kid who went off to war.

"And I can take care of a physical altercation on your behalf," he says. "Being a soldier and a cop was good for that."