Dear Journal,

 

                I have decided to enlist in the army as a doctor, yes I know it seems to be a bad choice and everyone else around me is socked to see this man out in the army when I have a family to take care of.  I don’t now why but I feel like I need to be out there helping out soldiers, I need to be doing something other than standing here watching, I think I should go and help. I wish I could do something more to help my country and better yet the men who must fight in this horrible war but I am a doctor by trade so I think that this is the best way to help the men out. I still have not a made a decision though and I am weighing in several different factors before I make my choice.  I don’t want to leave my family but at the same time all this commotion has made me feel some sort of feeling that I’m not familiar with and I think it is the feeling of patriotism. I want to do so much more than I can at home just hearing about the war on the news. I’m looking for an adventure, something outside what I see everyday, I will never be given this chance to travel ever again. I know I can not fight very well and that is way I am going in as a doctor because I think I can best help the men by doing this. I want to be useful to someone and save someone’s life. Be able to know that I just saved that man’s life and without me he would be dead. Well,  I know what I have to do, and the next entry I will be a new man speaking for a different point of view.

 From,

Erik

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Journal,

 

            Well I have been reported to Paris to help with the soldiers up there. There was a Brigade on the western front in France, so there has been a set up of doctors to help with any causalities and injuries that we may have. I was asked to report to the train at 2 a.m and I was extremely tired from the excitement I had before I left, my family held a good going away party, it was sad to say good bye while thinking I may never see these people again. I pray to god that I did the right thing. I had an extremely long train ride and the seats were extremely uncomfortable. When I arrived to the camp I was surprised, everything was so different and so crowded, everyone was jammed up in whatever space that there was possible to have. Everything around me seems to be so fast pace; I have to attend a training camp to be able to work on my skills.  I am guessing though that the training won’t last long though, because I know everything about injuries, since I have been in the business a long time.  We’ll see these upcoming weeks, ill be tested shortly after my training to decide if I’m ready or not and than I’m out into the world of war.  I am leaving everything I miss, I won’t see my family for such a long time that I may not even be the same man that they once knew. I will miss my brother growing up and my cousin getting married, life will never be the same.

From,

Erik

 

 

Dear Journal,

 

                  Today was my first day out in the field of medicine and I have never seen so much blood in my life. I wish I didn’t have to see these poor men die in my arms. Some of the men come in with the worst injuries, some are so bad that I never knew you could even be hurt so bad and yet still be living. These soldiers don’t even know what their fighting for and yet there still fighting. It’s horrible, and their living conditions are just as bad. There are rats everywhere and its bad enough they have to worry about getting shot but now they have to worry about the diseases they can get by just there sleeping areas. These men have been up all night and all day some don’t get more than 3 hours of sleep if their lucky they don’t even know what day it is until they get of the front for a couple of days. I have also seen two men so far that have gone absolutely nuts by the war. Some of these boys are 17 right out of high school and come to fight for something they don’t even understand. Today I saw a 17 year old with a broken leg and stomach shot. He’s 17 and he’s in the hospital suffering a fatal injury. This is my first day and I already know that I wont go home the same person or have the same look on anything that I did before, its amazing how one experience can do that to you.

From,

Erik

 

Dear Journal

            I have been here for about a year, I have seen so many soldiers in and out that its impossible to show emotion anymore. I have been numbed with all the pain of war, so sad to say that watching a man die is nothing new. Today a new group of soldiers arrived and they all look like there getting younger.  I have forgotten all that I remember at home; I forget what it feels like to really have a clean bed and a clean face. These things I once took for granted are now things I wish I knew what felt like again. I have been switching in and out of shifts which I have been balancing out my spare time to write letters or to write in this journal. I have been finding myself day dreaming more and more. I have noticed a lot of soldiers are so homesick and so tired from the pains of war. Some men are so happy to be wounded just so they can go home and see there families once again. To return to the lie they use to live before this horrible war came into are countries life. I most often miss my life back at home.  I miss my family and my siblings. My little brother, Matt has just turned 10. I read the letter he sent to me on his birthday, it was very depressing to read what I am missing back at home. I am so sick of war and so tired of what had become of all this.

From,

Erik

 

 

Dear Journal,

 

                I have heard news that the war is ending and the last couple of days of have been so excited but I don’t want to get my hopes to high. Some times these things are just talk and than we all end up just noticing how much we hate it and how much we just want to be done with all this. I have seen over 3 hundred men die in this horrible war, and I have lost my soul from this war. I have lost everything that I once loved just from the scenes of death and war. I was told by many that this war is ending by late this week and I try hard to have faith in these dates and I try so hard to be excited. I have heard from my family that Matt is doing great and wants to be just like her big brother when he’s older, that just makes me extremely happy.. My family is considering moving due to the horrible death of my grandfather. I have missed so much that I don’t know if I could ever forgive myself for missing so much back home. My grandfathers last dying days were with out me when I was so close with him. The lights are out in the room, I need to rest tomorrow because tomorrow is a big day.

From,

Erik

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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