"Infant" means tiny baby, which can't speak at all, nor sit up

I loved it, but was confused how the infant at the end is tied back to back with her mother.

There's a few sentences from your original post that you should show your therapist. It starts with "I'm glad I kept myself distance from them". You might be self sabotaging.

Talk to the therapist about attachment theory if they're into that. It helps me figure out what my emotions are making me do sometimes when my own responses confuse me.

I was going to get pedantic about "soldier" but I realized I have no idea what Space Force service members are called... Not Airmen, surely. Spacemen? God, I hope it's Spacemen.