caisson – (ˈkāˌsän) historical, a two-wheeled cart for carrying ammunition; also, used in state and military funerals for conveying a casket in public procession.

The arrival of ammunition caissons to the battlefield can change the course of an engagement. Upon seeing loaded caissons some soldiers experience courage, “they have not been forgotten, the seeds for their mournful efforts are replenished, they may survive this day”. However, a veteran’s glimpse of the same caisson is tempered with the knowledge of an empty caissons dual purpose. At the end of the day, after the battle, the empty caissons will be refilled. The caissons will carry away the wounded, the broken, the vulnerable, and the fallen.

Not all scars show, not all wounds heal.