Kyle falters with the question, fork freezing halfway to his mouth. He lowers the bite back to the plate, pausing to look at her. It's not exactly something he's against talking about, but he's been trying to keep it light for her where possible and talking about his demons - the metaphorical kind, he won't talk about the literal ones - hardly seems like a way to do that.

"South Africa," he replies after the short silence. "Two tours. First was cut short when I got sick, which delayed the second. Total time abroad was a little under three years."

He eats some more food, not one to be put off his appetite by much of anything. He can thank the military for that too.