[ quite the man. and sharpe had fought extra hard for the respect of his men, for they'd once seen him as nothing but a gilded version of themselves. and in some lights, that was true enough. ]

The South Essex carries muskets -- [ he explains. ] I was of the 95th, but the company I was with got cut off during a retreat to Corunna, miss. The rest of the rifles sailed home and we were snuck into the South Essex. [ rather than send them home, the duke had wanted to hoard as many rifles as he could. ]

But we still wear our green jackets, amongst the red. For it is a grand honour to be picked for the rifles -- [ an elite unit, they were. hand chosen from regular regiments. the scantest hope for social elevation a common soldier might normally wish for, aside from cases like sharpe's. ] and we clung to our colour and our motto even as we were shoved about.

First on the field, and the last off of it. That's us.