Why Must We Fight?
Theme: Action, Autobiography
Entry:
Why must men fight? Why must we throw ourselves at each other and continue this senseless slaughter? I have been a soldier for 3 years and still cannot figure this out. Even through the change of being a frightened recruit to being a seasoned veteran, I cannot figure it out. I was 19 when I was drafted into the Mars Defense Force. I went through boot camp just like any other soldier, and was sent out to the front. I killed my first man on my 20th birthday. We were dug in fighting, cover to cover. We fought for every inch of ground that day, and I came out of the battle feeling a heavy guilt. As the battles went on and I killed more and more of the enemy, the guilt never went away. In fact, it became a crushing burden. At times, I felt like I was going to break, yet never did. The human spirit is resilient you see. No matter how many times you punch it, or dampen it, it bounces right back up. Thus I fought, carrying this heavy burden with me. A year later, on my 21st birthday I saw most of my unit get wiped out. I cried for days and when I finally pulled myself together, they were already transferring me to a different unit. I thought to myself... why must a man kill his fellow man? As I kept fighting in this war I finally figured out why. It was the most trivial of things. Both sides had slightly conflicting interests, so instead of working it out, they sent their armies to fight. Other soldiers and myself were the victims in this pathetic reason to fight. Of course, when your drafted, there is no way out of it. Even now as I sit in a foxhole watching bullets fly over me, I still fight. The reason is to protect my fellow soldier. Out here on the front, there is no black, white, earth-born, or martian. There is only a band of brothers trying not to get killed. The reason men fight is to protect their own. I will continue to carry the burden of the men I kill. For this reason and this reason alone, I will not break.