HOME | DD

Description
These are fragments of a diary found on a battlefield in what was Southern Italy before the Second Nuclear Wars. The soldier that wrote it could not be identified personally, but it seems he was part of the EDF's Fourth Army, as a medic/tech in the Tactical Forward Recon (Team Bravo-Sierra), and this part relates a period of lesser activity in the Roman HQ of the EDF.

28/11/48 - 1123
A bit of quiet during training... Freddy's Extension was at the Admin sector this morning, and so was Vic. Bravo-Sierra was meant to be meeting for debrief on last week's ops at 1100, but due to a somewhat tight schedule, it was pushed forwards to 1030. Mary, Dell and Indira came in a bit after 0900, APU, so I had to wait for Indira before I could get through to the Restricted section and pick up today's access codes. She came down to the special range to pick up a couple of things Papa Two will need for their op' this afternoon and tomorrow... Feels like a new ice age whenever she looks at me, this one. Yuck. Plus when Papa Two did their live practice op' yesterday in the big range, they messed up all the kit. I had to go through every item and perform re-checks. Lucky for 'em everything was good.

"Bad" news in today, a bunch of guys from the 41st "Fulvia" Company is scheduled to start using the special range day after tomorrow, and I'll be the only one able to supervise on-site. I have to be there at 1000 on Sunday morning and they'll leave at about 1930, I can't move before they do. Tits. I guess that's one of the bad bits of being a NCO... But Freddy promised me an extended leave due to that, I'll hold him to his word, AI or no AI. Plus that gets me out of the op' on Salerno, and that I like.

Ann left me a message using her MilCom adress, she'll be able to use the satlink nearly all weekend starting tonight. I've nearly finished the letter... Just hope we get more time than last weekend when the old MILSTAR went down, and that we can get more precise plans for my leave. It's been a nightmare arranging things with my olds already, I'd like it if we could see each other for more than three days. My tour of duty here finishes in February, and it's already fucking too long. But seems I can go to her Vendôme flat for a bit after it's over... She's allowing me to crash for a week minimum-if I bring in the massages and chocolates. I think she'll need it, given her Preparation and her usual bioengineering courses. Good thing I'm not with Papa Two this weekend, it'd be a real shame... We got stuff to talk about.

I've also asked Lowe, whom I had on a short Netlink yesterday evening, to tell Victoria I've been off-contact for three weeks or more, and to make sure BB knew it as well. She needs her space, and the best way to give it to her is to make her believe I'm the asshole who's cut off every link to his former friends. I hate doing this, but it's the only worthwhile course of action ATM, methinks.

Time to work... I have the guys from Mech Support that are meant to drop by with their extra kit any minute now, and my 'pad was hit by a transport yesterday and is now making weird rattling noises...

29/11/48 - 0517
I can't sleep...

I got off the satlink to Ann less than three hours ago... She rang at about 1900 and we've chatted non-stop until the handset's battery was dry. The little borg of the ComTac sergeant I'm sharing the accom' with kept whining afterwards, and it still hasn't stopped. Hating his fucking zombie...

I was on Netlink with PJ until just now, she didn't seem too well. Then again, 0515 (or even 0415 for her) isn't an hour approved by the Slave Union...
She told me about Victoria looking for Army support in her studies... 'means she might be off for Preparation too. Shit. This war is really swallowing everyone and everything I've ever known. She came second in her National Swimming Tournament... I'm plain proud, even though I have nothing to do with it.

I also had Mother today on satlink, before Ann. She's saying that if my job here is going well, why not ask for an extension of service with the Italian TacFoR? I have to think about it, but I can't say for sure. I wish to be geographically closer to Ann for a while and there might be an opportunity of affectation in her town when my tour here is finished... On the other hand, it's not like the pay's good or anything, but... I kind of like it here. If I could get some kind of "rise" from the ordinary... Being a tech NCO here is already kickass, it has its ups and down, but I also need to try out other things.

I'll see.

30/11/48 - 1259
AI or no AI, Freddy got it wrong... The guys from the 41st were scheduled for NEXT week, and not this Sunday as he'd planned... D'oh. I put Papa Two's kit in order for tomorrow, so as not to have been coming for absolutely nothing... They're doing a live-ammo practice in the big range at 1100 (I learnt that today on MilCom with Freddy... Imbecile), and they need some of the special kit, suppressors, etc... So I "gift-wrapped" everything in the special range's loading bay, and I even put in an extra Moralibo pack. If Indira still hates me after this, I don't know what it'll take... I think I'll stop trying. Moralibos ARE expensive here!!!

Ann is calling, will probably resume in another few hours... Love you, miss.

30/11/48 - 1317
Call cut short, she was with her family: Seems she'll be a young aunt too, in June or July! She's Über-excited, as I must have been when the news about Sophie first came in... Mother had simply put my very first pair of baby shoes on my plate, and I had to guess what it was all about...

I'm dead on my feet, this probably being due to not having slept at all... Luckily tomorrow is looking like a relatively quiet day, with a primary recce and target marking in Genova. Transport takes off at 1100 from the main dispatch centre, but I'll be going with Vic, who's taking the Chrysler out, for the pre-flight checks, so I'll be starting at 0900 as normal for HQ. We're meant to go in for the standard two objectives in Genova, Ravenna, Bologna, and a single in Perugia. I've already got some kit stashed at HQ's Restricted section, but I'll need extra stuff... That's only enough for three days, at most, and we'll be out for five.

Back on the phone... She wanted to tell me something else.

30/11/48 - 2202
That must have been a very severe Sans Café I missed on Friday morning... I'm not being blamed, for a reason I can't begin to explain or understand, but the rest of the team (except Victor, favoritism or what...) have been "invited" by Freddy to "come back to the energy, seriousness and strict guidelines that were given" concerning any future ops, given as it's apparently a first for TacFoR Italy to mess up an op' like this, and this particular branch has been operating here for the last ten years.
That came via two MilCom messages, the second warning us about TacFoR's biggest op' so far. Napoli, on Dec 8th. There are four, maybe five separate objectives here alone, that all require extra kit... And no bird. The Chrysler is being used by Papa Two for another op' even further down South... So we'll be going in with a team from the Pathfinders, insertion "feet first". We'll have to regroup to the local Resistance's HQ there by our own means, and wait for instructions there. Tits.

More cheerful things: Ann will be in Orléans with one of her friends to get some admin out of the way... On Dec 23rd, which is the day I'm scheduled to be in town for my checkup and (very necessary) haircut. We've decided on a film... The more I'll see her the better. Her sister is racked by "morning" sickness, but all day... Everyone knows it isn't funny, but apparently they can't help laughing any time she goes white and dashes for the loo. What kind of a family am I landing into...

Anyway. Tomorrow we go again... I just hope I can get some sleep done tonight, seems I've been ranking high on the insomnia scale lately... 'still got this nagging feeling that something is very wrong that sometimes comes back. I'll see.

Description
These are fragments of a diary found on a battlefield in what was Southern Italy before the Second Nuclear Wars. The soldier that wrote it could not be identified personally, but it seems he was part of the EDF's Fourth Army, as a medic/tech in the Tactical Forward Recon (Team Bravo-Sierra), and this part relates a period of lesser activity in the Roman HQ of the EDF.

28/11/48 - 1123
A bit of quiet during training... Freddy's Extension was at the Admin sector this morning, and so was Vic. Bravo-Sierra was meant to be meeting for debrief on last week's ops at 1100, but due to a somewhat tight schedule, it was pushed forwards to 1030. Mary, Dell and Indira came in a bit after 0900, APU, so I had to wait for Indira before I could get through to the Restricted section and pick up today's access codes. She came down to the special range to pick up a couple of things Papa Two will need for their op' this afternoon and tomorrow... Feels like a new ice age whenever she looks at me, this one. Yuck. Plus when Papa Two did their live practice op' yesterday in the big range, they messed up all the kit. I had to go through every item and perform re-checks. Lucky for 'em everything was good.

"Bad" news in today, a bunch of guys from the 41st "Fulvia" Company is scheduled to start using the special range day after tomorrow, and I'll be the only one able to supervise on-site. I have to be there at 1000 on Sunday morning and they'll leave at about 1930, I can't move before they do. Tits. I guess that's one of the bad bits of being a NCO... But Freddy promised me an extended leave due to that, I'll hold him to his word, AI or no AI. Plus that gets me out of the op' on Salerno, and that I like.

Ann left me a message using her MilCom adress, she'll be able to use the satlink nearly all weekend starting tonight. I've nearly finished the letter... Just hope we get more time than last weekend when the old MILSTAR went down, and that we can get more precise plans for my leave. It's been a nightmare arranging things with my olds already, I'd like it if we could see each other for more than three days. My tour of duty here finishes in February, and it's already fucking too long. But seems I can go to her Vendôme flat for a bit after it's over... She's allowing me to crash for a week minimum-if I bring in the massages and chocolates. I think she'll need it, given her Preparation and her usual bioengineering courses. Good thing I'm not with Papa Two this weekend, it'd be a real shame... We got stuff to talk about.

I've also asked Lowe, whom I had on a short Netlink yesterday evening, to tell Victoria I've been off-contact for three weeks or more, and to make sure BB knew it as well. She needs her space, and the best way to give it to her is to make her believe I'm the asshole who's cut off every link to his former friends. I hate doing this, but it's the only worthwhile course of action ATM, methinks.

Time to work... I have the guys from Mech Support that are meant to drop by with their extra kit any minute now, and my 'pad was hit by a transport yesterday and is now making weird rattling noises...

29/11/48 - 0517
I can't sleep...

I got off the satlink to Ann less than three hours ago... She rang at about 1900 and we've chatted non-stop until the handset's battery was dry. The little borg of the ComTac sergeant I'm sharing the accom' with kept whining afterwards, and it still hasn't stopped. Hating his fucking zombie...

I was on Netlink with PJ until just now, she didn't seem too well. Then again, 0515 (or even 0415 for her) isn't an hour approved by the Slave Union...
She told me about Victoria looking for Army support in her studies... 'means she might be off for Preparation too. Shit. This war is really swallowing everyone and everything I've ever known. She came second in her National Swimming Tournament... I'm plain proud, even though I have nothing to do with it.

I also had Mother today on satlink, before Ann. She's saying that if my job here is going well, why not ask for an extension of service with the Italian TacFoR? I have to think about it, but I can't say for sure. I wish to be geographically closer to Ann for a while and there might be an opportunity of affectation in her town when my tour here is finished... On the other hand, it's not like the pay's good or anything, but... I kind of like it here. If I could get some kind of "rise" from the ordinary... Being a tech NCO here is already kickass, it has its ups and down, but I also need to try out other things.

I'll see.

30/11/48 - 1259
AI or no AI, Freddy got it wrong... The guys from the 41st were scheduled for NEXT week, and not this Sunday as he'd planned... D'oh. I put Papa Two's kit in order for tomorrow, so as not to have been coming for absolutely nothing... They're doing a live-ammo practice in the big range at 1100 (I learnt that today on MilCom with Freddy... Imbecile), and they need some of the special kit, suppressors, etc... So I "gift-wrapped" everything in the special range's loading bay, and I even put in an extra Moralibo pack. If Indira still hates me after this, I don't know what it'll take... I think I'll stop trying. Moralibos ARE expensive here!!!

Ann is calling, will probably resume in another few hours... Love you, miss.

30/11/48 - 1317
Call cut short, she was with her family: Seems she'll be a young aunt too, in June or July! She's Über-excited, as I must have been when the news about Sophie first came in... Mother had simply put my very first pair of baby shoes on my plate, and I had to guess what it was all about...

I'm dead on my feet, this probably being due to not having slept at all... Luckily tomorrow is looking like a relatively quiet day, with a primary recce and target marking in Genova. Transport takes off at 1100 from the main dispatch centre, but I'll be going with Vic, who's taking the Chrysler out, for the pre-flight checks, so I'll be starting at 0900 as normal for HQ. We're meant to go in for the standard two objectives in Genova, Ravenna, Bologna, and a single in Perugia. I've already got some kit stashed at HQ's Restricted section, but I'll need extra stuff... That's only enough for three days, at most, and we'll be out for five.

Back on the phone... She wanted to tell me something else.

30/11/48 - 2202
That must have been a very severe Sans Café I missed on Friday morning... I'm not being blamed, for a reason I can't begin to explain or understand, but the rest of the team (except Victor, favoritism or what...) have been "invited" by Freddy to "come back to the energy, seriousness and strict guidelines that were given" concerning any future ops, given as it's apparently a first for TacFoR Italy to mess up an op' like this, and this particular branch has been operating here for the last ten years.
That came via two MilCom messages, the second warning us about TacFoR's biggest op' so far. Napoli, on Dec 8th. There are four, maybe five separate objectives here alone, that all require extra kit... And no bird. The Chrysler is being used by Papa Two for another op' even further down South... So we'll be going in with a team from the Pathfinders, insertion "feet first". We'll have to regroup to the local Resistance's HQ there by our own means, and wait for instructions there. Tits.

More cheerful things: Ann will be in Orléans with one of her friends to get some admin out of the way... On Dec 23rd, which is the day I'm scheduled to be in town for my checkup and (very necessary) haircut. We've decided on a film... The more I'll see her the better. Her sister is racked by "morning" sickness, but all day... Everyone knows it isn't funny, but apparently they can't help laughing any time she goes white and dashes for the loo. What kind of a family am I landing into...

Anyway. Tomorrow we go again... I just hope I can get some sleep done tonight, seems I've been ranking high on the insomnia scale lately... 'still got this nagging feeling that something is very wrong that sometimes comes back. I'll see.