Diary: Confession of a Soldier (#7)

May 30th, 1995 Weather: Cloudy

A trap is the oldest device for hunting, and is useful because it can capture game with less effort than using other tactics. Traps are efficient and are still used to exterminate rats, cockroaches, and other vermin. On May 23rd, Operation Brandfleck was carried out under the direct command of HQ. The main objective of this operation was to lure an enemy mercenary unit called "Galm Team" into within the range of Excalibur and take them all out at once with its laser beams. That mercenary unit seemed to be very skilled. There was a rumor going around everywhere that a mercenary flight unit of the allied forces was unstoppable, and HQ had started to think seriously about wiping them out. It was after Excalibur fell that I knew that the plane with a red wing I saw at Futuro belonged to the team everybody had been talking about. The Sword of Tauberg was destroyed by the wingman of the single red wing plane and was miserably broken right in half with deafening roars. The scenery of the fall of Excalibur was exactly like a nightmare picture of the medieval times. Having penetrated the laser defense network and entered the airspace right above the base, Galm Team scattered every missile they carried over Tauberg. I was ordered to operate Corporal Berger's self-propelled AA artillery and joined battle with the enemy from inside the forest nearby. A few hours later from the start of the operation, enemy air squadrons showed up. The Corporal opened fire right away. He was so hyped up that he kept cussing while shooting. Several minutes into combat, a small AGM hit the ground 70 feet away from my self-propelled artillery. Didn't look like Corporal Berger noticed it. "VT fuse!" I shouted out, leaped off from the vehicle, and then shielded myself with the caterpillar. He was still firing at the sky while I braced myself. I had never experienced such an awful explosion. Trees shuddered, the AA artillery jumped several inches up into the air, and the gruesome blast from the explosion ripped at my cheeks and ears. That's as far as I can remember.

After I came to, it took me some time to understand whether I was alive or dead. After I guessed that I was still alive, it took me even more time to come to think that I had to do something. In order to take a simple action of getting to my feet, I prepared my whole body, gave my arms an order to "move", gave my legs an order to "bend", closed my eyes, and my body slowly started to make motions. I was in the silence of the forest as I sensed an enormous amount of time passing by.

May 30th, 1995 - Hilly Area in Tauberg

It was almost at dusk in Tauberg when the corpse of Corporal Berger was found. The parts of what used to be "Corporal Berger" several hours ago were scattered around everywhere, and it was impossible for us to find them all. I started to walk to the center of the base, dragging my leg stabbed by a metal piece. When I managed to limp back there, there were nothing but bodies of dead soldiers, heaps of rubble, a few medics, and a smell of gasoline. There was nothing beautiful at all. "Are you alright?", a medic said to me. But I ignored him and walked on. Then I noticed a tattoo of a bold skeleton crushing the peace symbol in his hand on the arm of a soldier on a stretcher. I lifted the cover sheet and saw a severely damaged corpse. It was Rosenberg.

I received a blanket from a medic and sat on a rubble. There came a bald-headed man. An officer? He seemed to have come here from a rear area to confirm the situation. When he passed by me, I saw a slight smile on his ugly face. He was terribly vivid, seeing those soldiers who luckily survived, giving them a slap on the back, and saying words of encouragement which were just as useless as s**t. He must be one of those who risk other's lives so as to avoid coming to the frontline. Or rather, he is one of those clever asses who have the ability and method to keep away from a bad place at a bad time. I recognized him as such right on the spot.

It's obvious that this country wouldn't stop fighting this war. "Learn to accept the situation as such" is to know how to eliminate human's innate emotions and live for lies, deception, and selfishness? I just can't devote my life to honor and pride in a situation where my friends die and my parents are in danger. It's because I have already lost faith in this war.

Michael Kohl

SOURCE:
Project Aces: ACZ Page

ACCREDITATION:
yellow26 for translation
originally posted by: Ribbon-Vermilion