The Killing Feilds

Dear Journal,
 
The horrors of war are not for the faint of heart. I have seen things that will haunt my nightmares for the years to come. For those who read this after me, should I not survive this coming push into Buxbaum, please make sure Rocco knows how much I loved him. A man could never ask for a better brother. For those who are faint of heart and ARE reading this, I suggest you stop reading now.
 
The things I have seen while storming the beaches of Northander have shaken me to my core. I watched as a friend and subordinate I had known and come to love like a brother try to put his intestine back into his opened stomach. I watched a hundred of males and females we cut down by machine gun, mortar, and fire magic. The smell of charred human flesh and sea salt air will make your stomach turn in a way that you never knew it could. Even now, in these few hours of rest between the taking of the beachhead and the securing of our foothold in Buxbaum... I can not shake the images from my head.
 
I can not show it though. My brothers and sisters of war can not see me weakened. I will be strong when they can not. I owe it to them. Because the day is coming that I am going to have to ask them to not only risk their lives but give them as well to end this damn war. I can barely stand the thought. I hope and even pray, despite my lack of faith, that I can give my own life for any of theirs... I never... never want to write one of those letters again. No mother should ever get news like that.
 
-1st Lieutenant Jon Faulken
Of the UEA Armed Forced
April 23rd, 1917