Well, that's kind of how it goes down when you're at war. Our speaker came out on top in this horrific face off, and killed the other guy—his potential bar bud—right where he stood.
The speaker talks about the shooting in cold, simple language that's well worth a closer look. He doesn't just say "Then I shot him." The speaker says, "I shot at him as he at me."
This tells us a couple things. One, these two soldiers were on equal footing. It was like a good old-fashioned duel.
Plus, it tells us that winning this duel was a total crapshoot. The fact that our speaker's the one who's still standing was sheer, dumb luck.
And finally, the brevity here tells you just how quick a death can go down on the battlefield. One minute, you're standing there staring at a guy, the next minute, he's dead at your hand.