Life at the Front

The veteran soldiers rarely talk to the fresh recruits. They are young and will die first. Some forget to take off the safety on their rifles, and others simply do stupid things to get them and others killed. There is a betting pool on who will be the next to die. I don't take part in it though.

When food gets scarce, some men catch rats to eat, while others try to find a horse dead or alive. Some men have cooked up cats to eat. The only animals that escape our hunger are dogs and humans, but at times it seems that it could be the next step. It seemed that we were always hungry.

At night I can hear men crying about the horrors they have witnessed and partaken in. I hear men calling for fallen comrades in their sleep. I spent many nights listening to them, smoking a cigarette, with the occasional gunfire or cannon fire that breaks the eerie silence.