We have to go up to the front lines for wiring duty.  Wiring duty is when we take barbed wire up to the front and roll it out and fix fences where it’s been damaged by the enemy. We all ride together in a truck. The engine drones and it’s a bumpy ride. But we aren’t worried.  A bumpy ride is better than getting shot. 

Beside our truck, other soldiers walk and march along the road. As we ride, I hear geese cackling. 

“Kat, I hear some bird who should go in a frying pan,” I say. 

“We’ll have to take care of that when we get back,” Kat says. 

The air smells bad and is full of smoke and fog.  I can smell and taste the fumes from the trucks and weapons. The guns and sound roar, and the earth itself also shakes. Our faces change.  Once we get to the front, it’s serious. 

Kat helps explain to the new soldiers what the different bombs and shells sound like. We all listen.  We can hear shells and bombs.

“There will be a bombardment.  I can feel it in my bones,” Kat says. 

Some gun shots fire near us. We are ok.  But when we get to the front, our senses get sharper. We are on alert. We are ready. It’s always the same.  We are normal men when we are back at the camp, but when we get to the front, we get serious and focused. 

“There will be a bombardment,” Kat says again.

Pages 55-56 O Earth!

The front is like a whirlpool.  I am far away from the center, but I can feel it pulling me in.

The earth is so important to soldiers. When he presses himself into the earth, when he holds on to her when bombs are whizzing by…She (the earth) is his mother, his brother, his only friend.  She protects him.  She shelters him.  

Earth! Earth! Earth!

Earth, with your folds and hollow, you help us live.  

When the shells explode, we become animals.  We have animal instincts and we are quick thinkers. I cannot explain what happens, but soldiers just “know” and have a sense of what is happening on the battlefield. 

Pages 56-59 Dropped off at the Front

We arrive near a forest. We get out of the trucks, and they drive away.  The trucks will pick us up in the morning. 

It is misty and the moon shines. Soldiers and wagons move along the road. 

We go to a building and load up with supplies.  Some of us get iron stakes.  The rest of us put iron rods through rolls of barbed wire and carry them.  The supplies are heavy. 

The ground is broken and rough. We march along carefully.  Suddenly, the line stops. I bump my face into the barbed wire in front of me and curse. 

“Cigarettes and pipes out,” says an officer.  

It is now pitch black.  The front glows. In the sky I can see balls of light that explode and rain down sparks. Everything gets bright for a moment, and then goes dark again. 

“Bombardment,” says Kat.

Pages 59-62 New Young Recruit

We ram the iron stakes into the ground and spool the barbed wire off the rolls.  This is not a fun job because it can easily cut you. I cut my hand. We work to repair the lines and fences.  We finish our job in a few hours.  But we still have some time left before the trucks pick us back up. 

We sit down.  I fall asleep for a little bit.  But then I wake up and can’t remember where I am.  Are there tears on my face? Am I crying? Then I look around and see Kat smoking his pipe.  

“Just a bomb,” Kat says.  “Nothing to worry about.” 

But then the bombing gets worse.  It is a real attack now.  Shells fall and I hear men cry out injured.