GR translation: patches will flash up now and then

[Mike Jing]

V640.30-641.2   On the mountainsides, patches will flash up now and then,
bright as dittany in July at the Zippo’s ceremonial touch. Pfc. Eddie
Pensiero, a replacement here in the 89th Division, also an amphetamine
enthusiast, sits huddling nearly on top of the fire, shivering and watching
the divisional patch on his arm, which ordinarily resembles a cluster of
rocketnoses seen out of a dilating asshole, all in black and olive-drab,
but which now looks like something even stranger than that, which Eddie
will think of in a minute.

Are these patches of vegetation, or something else entirely?
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