The berm stretched head high plus about two feet. I was ankle deep in water that was running out of the mountains, picked a great season to pull a tour. The mass of land was an eager drinker in a fresh water bar, the foliage was overwhelming. I couldn’t tell a twig from a tree.

The marker was about thirty klicks, and me the crew have been dripping over every rooted stick in this valley. I have no reason to think about anything but another pair of wool socks. They wait in the comfort tent, and I can only hope to see them.

Maud is stationed exactly opposite this runny mountain; the whole godless stretch of this entire region; its an island after all- and with her on it all the sail in the land couldn’t drag me from its muddy banks.

Military affairs, there is nothing more loathsome. One cant even feign ignorance of the insurmountable odds we truly face. We left each other truly, and completely. If a man can ever manage to look love in the face and let circumstance pull him from it, he will know his own end