Thank you for taking the time to read my first entry. I am by any measure a poor writer but I enjoy doing it so here it is. I spent some time in the military and this write up attempts to add Gundam to it as an offset of the real difficulties faces with warfare. Those difficulties range from bureaucratic frustrations, separation of loved ones, loss and of course violence that comes along with it. Again thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy it.

Fort Irwin National Cemetery, 15:14 May 18th, 0083

James stood looking across the desert. After the battle the dead couldn't be sent home. There grave stones were cut out of the mountains on either side of the valley in huge square blocks and cut down into identical markers. Most had names, many had date of birth and none of them had the death of death. It was the same for all of them March 20th, 0079. James started to walk down from the peak where it had started.

Everything in the valley was pleasant shade of brown this time of year. The quarry work made it look like ancient Navajo city had been up in the mountains. The lines of tombstones could have been a strange natural rock formation caused by the wind. James walked past them as he headed back to his hover truck. He had bought it from the surplus after he was discharged. It still had the shark teeth painted on the front end and was running to keep the AC going.

It had been a nearly five years since James' first battle and now he was standing here holding on Titan uniform, wondering if the Zeon would ever give up and what he should do. He climbed up the side and popped open the top hatch called down.

"Want to grab some chow?"

Soldier's Peak, Smokey Range, 03:26L January 3rd, 0079

Crab was sitting on top of the Type 78 truck with his headset on, with his small book and targeting equipment. The bomb field was blackened from run after run of bombs. They must have dropped 10 tons of ordnance in the last two days. There was hardly anything left of the targets they had set up the week before. He was the Tactical Air Controller for this team, and while they had a guy in training he did most of the driving still.

"Bigfish-zero-nine this is Badman- One-Three; type 2 control;Heading three-three-zero; distance 3000 meters; elevation 500 meters, same target ,15 vehicles, spacing 50 meters, heavy armor, movement halted, Grid YS32186154. No Mark. Friendly's 5000 meters South, Egress East"

"Badman-One-Three; Bigfish-Zero-Nine, Good Copy, Effects in 60"

He switched channels on his headset.

"Effects 60 seconds, You catch that L.T?"

1st Lieutenant James nodded, the huge coat was blowing behind him and his fur covered hat was pulled down as tight as he could get it. Only his eyes were uncovered so he could watch the test firing.

"Hope it works this time"

The lab was a few thousand feet below, the wine of the generators were audible even at this distance. The bombing campaign was just a cover to test the Federation's beam weapon development program. The Space Forces had a ship directly above us to cover the line of sight, the bombs were used to cover the shot from the sides and mask the heat signature of the weapon. There's no doubt the Spacenoids knew we we're working on something, but with all the effort James doubted they knew exactly what.

The Army had built an entire power plant just to power up the beam rifle. The steam that poured over it when it was fully engaged was something to behold. If you were caught in it, the temperature went from below freezing to a summer day in an instant. It was lucky it was the winter or we couldn't set up such an elaborate mess. James pulled the binoculars up and looked down at the plant.

The soldiers were moving around quickly making sure the lines were connected and everything was working. The Major was near the front, directing men. He was easy to pick out, a broad shouldered man, he was bald and had an air of authority around him. The Mobile Suit RX-79GS-1 was still getting itself lined up. The missing armor on the upper body made for a strange looking sight. It had a spindly frame for an upper body stuck on the armored legs and a normal head on it. The metal plates on the legs still showed the massive burns from the last live fire test. This time they had armored the cockpit open. If the gun blew it would take the pilot out with the rest of the men in the hanger.

James brought his radio up.

"Everyone get your goggles on, looks like it's going to fire this time"

James pulled the round goggles over his eyes. He asked God to let it work this time. The bomber pilot came over the radio that ordinance was away, effects in 30. The generator was spinning up now, steam was billowing out of the plant, he couldn't see the outline of the building anymore, it was just an expanding mass of steam in the middle of the night. It glowed white from the exterior lights on the building being engulfed.

"Effects in 5,4,3,2,1"

The High Altitude bomber was somewhere 70,000 feet up, no one could hear it, but the bombs hit, a massive explosion of red and brown came into the air. The shock wave traveled through the ground and into James feet. It was nothing compared to the bright red-pink laser that blew between them a half second later. It vaporized the dirt, the flames, the air itself was burned away. He swore he could feel heat of the beam.

The beam dragged dragged across the hill some six clicks out, rocks where exploding the pink beam made contact. It was cutting several feet into dirt. It was only a few seconds and it was over. It felt like it was in slow motion. The power was unfathomable, James had seen 3 gun tanks firing for effect and it was nothing compared to that blast. The hill had a cut four foot wide and at least 25 feet long. The generators were dead silent now. James wondered if everyone in the testing bay made it.

Once the smoked cleared the L.T. dropped his goggles and looked out at the shot then back at the plant. It was still there so it must have went alright.

"Looks like they finally got it tuned in"

Crab was looking down with his goggles around his neck. He switched the channel on his hand set back to BigFish.

"Good Effects, Zeeks won't know what hit them, Badman-One-Three out"

Airmen Moore, the training and radio operator popped open a hatch.

"Lieutenant, Major Young says there done for today"

Bunch was yelling at him to close the damn hatch before he let all the heat out, and he could be heard telling him they had this thing called a radio so they didn't have to open the hatch. Bunch was Senior Non-commission Officer in the truck. He kept all the computer and comm system working. James was relieved, the Major himself had called up, it meant he wasn't dead.

"Let's head down"

Getting the truck off the hill was a bit of a challenge. There truck had an two extra set of hover engines to deal with the weight of the equipment and allow it to "jump" down from hills. In practice they had managed to bust up three trucks attempting the "jump". One of the younger guys had dropped the truck right on top of a tank two months ago, there was a picture of it in one of the flight rooms labeled, "Air Force: Always On Top".

As they truck closed in they could see the Army was milling about, but no one looked concerned. The firing door was still opening and there was a deep burn in the soil for the first 1000 meters out the door. A handful of bulldozers were already making their way around the opening building new berms to keep the appearance of a work site. Now that it worked James wondered how much longer they would cover it up. He figured in the Fed tradition they would march it out in some parade with Generals looking down from a grandstand.

The hover truck whizzed past the tent city that had been out here for almost six months now. In the interest of security the troops working out here hadn't been able to leave since they arrived last summer. Two whole battalions had been sitting out here unable to make contact with family, friends or anyone in the outside world for that matter. All things considered they were taking it all pretty well. One of the benefits of being in the Air Force and assigned to supporting the Army was those rules didn't cover them. The Air Force troops just signed another paper saying if they told anyone they would face execution. At this point James had signed some many of them he figure they reserved the right to execute him at anytime.

The truck came into the front of the hanger and halted by other support vehicles. The ramp came down and James headed out to find the Major. He let his coat open up. It was sweltering inside from the beam rifles shot and the sub-zero air was still blowing in hadn't cooled it down yet.

As he walked he noticed the marks on the inside of the hanger were still all over the walls. It had been quickly painted over but it was still easy to see the shadow burns. Some places still showed molten metal fused to the wall. The rifle before this one exploded when it was test fired and killed everyone inside. That was three months ago and a month before James was assigned to the Division. True to Army humor someone had put a sign reading 'no workplace injuries in 89 days'. The Army's mobile suit program was coming along but it was at a tremendous cost in lives and treasure.

A few year's earlier the Zeon had started fielding their own mobile suits. The designers were fare more fanciful than the Federation units. When Side 6 Declared its independence the Federation was impotent to stop them. One of the things about the spacenoid suits was the uses of 'terror' in their designs. They added massive spikes on them, carried axes, they held a 'demonic' looks at them. Mobile suits had changed the face of war and it was uglier than before. The federation suits more liked knights from a style kids book with sharper angles. Still the Federation was putting minimal money into the project. This one was being limped along on the Army's budget, rather than the Federation development budget. It was part of the reason half the tanks on bases where broken. No money for parts.

James spotted "Wild Bill" Young. He was the brigade commander. He needed his permission before they left.

"Looks like it went well Sir"

The Major yelled at one of the privates, point his powerful hands at the wall behind James. "Take that sign down." He didn't even look back at James.

"That coat looks ridiculous. You can head back, we don't need anymore runs today." Wild Bill was distracted.

James had the utmost respect for the Major. He had fought in a handful of Brush Wars and was one of the few people he had meet in the Federation that started out enlisted and gained a commission later in the life. Some of the troops said he hand an uncanny ability to know when something bad was going to happen and had the political chops to avoid it without being put out to pasture and the tactical skills to overcome when it came down to fighting. He was well liked and extremely capable.

While the test had gone well it was only three months sooner he had lost almost sixty guys when the last test rifle went unstable and blew up in the bay. The mobile suit pilot, Geo Capozzi had survived the blast but everyone else in the bay had been burned up. That pilot had a mental break down, and they said before that he was the most promising one they had. He had been re-assigned to the the maintenance company for the mobile suits. The only good part was everyone had been killed instantaneously. The only one who saw any of it was the pilot. He swore he saw them burn up, but they people there it was impossible. His sensors would have been overwhelmed in the blast just as fast as it happened. He wouldn't be piloting anything but he was a huge help for the maintainers, even if he didn't want to be there. A real ladies man to boot. He was infamous in the surrounding towns for his good looks and popularity with women.

Wild Bill had the unfortunate duty of writing all the families, he had spent most of the last month attending funerals all across North America. He had lost a few men fighting up to this point but never more than one or two at a time and he never had to attend the funerals before. All of it was made the worse since this was classified work. Officially they had all died in a gas leak that blew up there barrack and the bodies were unrecoverable. The Federation went so far as to explode the garrison building back on base to cover it it. The explosion was fairly widely covered in the news and a conspiracy theory that it was as actually a Spacenoid terrorist attack was allowed to spreader. James parents had called several time concerned he might be in the building that was targeted by the Zeeks. James figured it was a deliberate job by Federation Psycho-Ops but given the climate it may have been organic. Either way the Federation wasn't going to tell anyone it wasn't the Zeon now. Jenny was also cleared so he was glad there was someone he could talk to about it. If it happened to James, at least Jenny would know the truth.

It was a lie the Major had to keep up as he presented flags to grieving parents. He himself had only survived in an odd fluke where the General Mayweather had requested a meeting on promotion packages. No one held it against the Major, but it seemed like he had held it against himself. For this test he stood front and center with his troops. James hoped he have the balls to do the same in his place.

The loss was a 'calculated risk' as the scientists and brass in the protected bunker said. They were lead by a Dr. Jabbour. The guy was some sort of Nazi who believe in the 'newtypes' and people who had physical builds like himself; tall and lanky, were a superior race or something. He had ranted that when everyone was living in caves the stronger stocky cave people used brute strength rather than intelligence to survive, while the weak lanky ones developed superior brains to survive. James being rather broad himself proposed that the stock cavemen would have been unable to outrun their problems and it would have been equally likely to be the 'smart ones'. Both idea's where equally stupid. Either way Jabbour's personal thoughts didn't really matter since he was the foremost expert in beam weapons in the Universes. He didn't seem to care about the Federation or the Zeon, he just wanted to make his weapons, which left everyone somewhat concerned.

But the Beam weapons were suppose to turn things around. Put the Federation back on top, halt a war from evening happening. Given the power of that shot maybe they were right. Perhaps 60 men now to save thousands later was the responsible thing to do if it could stop a human race scale civil war.

The burned mobile suit was shifting in place and backing up onto the 'suit mover' to head back to base. James watched as it gingerly moved itself into place. It was a huge truck taking up both lanes of the highway all the way from Salina back to Ft. Riley. The rifle would be powered up, and now the question was could it hold a charge and fire again tonight at another range. James and his crew would be there in about 18 hours to put the cover fire down.

They had an old Big Tray that was suppose to be outfitted to move the suits but it had been on depo for almost two months now. It turned out to be a much bigger job than originally planned. It didn't look like the thing would be running for months yet. Just about everything at the Brigade was taken apart and being modified as quickly as possible.

The giant rifle was still wired to the building and a crew was working on getting the cables friend from the rifle as the suit laid down on the truck. While they have been able to focus the beam for incredible power it could only hold the power for a single 10 second blast. There wasn't a material on earth that could last under that shot, several inches of steel were burned away in the first second, but they had been unable to figure out a way to get quick shots off. Since each program was compartmentalized there was no telling how many programs at how many bases were running similar programs, there could well be a dozen of them for all James knew.

The scientist and engineers were coming out of their armored bunker to congratulate themselves on the successful test. Looking back James could see the Major was less then excited then them. A couple of Colonels were glad handing and it looked like on of the Scientist had a bottle of champagne. It must be a very different experience to be sitting behind the blast doors when it fired. No risk to them at all. There was a bit of hostility between the Major and the development team. By staying outside when it fired it was an indictment of that officers who hid in the safety of the bunker. He called them cowards without saying anything.

James was making his way back to the truck. Crab and Bunch bullshitting with a couple of there Army buddies, they had both been on bases for nearly two years now.

"let's get some breakfast"

Chef's Dinner, Manhattan Kansas, 05:49L January 3rd, 0079

The hover truck was parked outside the door while the three of them ate a hearty breakfast; eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits a normal affair. Since Moore was the junior guy he had to stay in the truck. The dinner probably had looked the same for the last hundred years. The service and food was good, the coffee was horrible but cheap and still came in a mug that weighed half a pound before it was filled. The young Airman First Class Moore came into the door looking flustered.

"L.T., Command just called us back to base, your to report to the Command Building Briefing room straight away"

James looked up from paper, it front covered was a picture of the Zabi family and it was calling for the Earth Federation to re-arm and take the fight to Side 3. The wounds of the insurrection still dug deep into people down here.

"Just me?"

"Everyone. Major has the entire Battalion Mobilized, said all the suits need to be ready for deployment in 12 hours"

James was relieved, if it was just him it meet his ass was in some sort of bad trouble, if it was everyone it just meant another snap exercises. That was when he noticed the muted Television had "WAR: MILLIONS DEAD IN ZEON ATTACK". An old man who was in the Military some thirty years earlier grabbed James's arm and looked him right in the eyes. He was a well known local who had lost half his crew in some fighting in Africa when the Federation was still trying to stomp out the nations who clung on to the old borders.

"Son, things are about to get pretty ugly. We fought some nasty fight's but this one is going to be big, real big. You remember you gotta kill them before they kill you"

"Yes, Sir" was all James got out as he went out to the truck.

It was cold as ever outside, they had left the trucks running so they didn't freeze to the ground. The LTs coat was left opened and billowed behind him as he hurried up into the truck. He hit the hatch button and the ramp slowly closed up. Bunch was already at his work station. He was about a foot too tall for the truck, the Moore was at his station and Crab was at the wheel. James dropped down to his chair in the back and gave the whirlly bird to Crab and the truck was off. It would still be at least 90 minutes to get back to the base. Radio was reporting into our Squadron our current location and ETA.

"We're going straight to Command"

Moore nodded and the trucks engines were roaring now. The local radio just announced the highways were closed to civilian traffic. A full mobilization order was in effect. Bunch was already up on FedNet trying to figure out what is going on. James had up the command chat and it was going crazy, every Intel person in the Air Force was asking what was going on.

The Zeon had launched their attack. Fighting was happening across nearly all of the colonies now, but no reports of any fighting on the surface. James quickly checked Italy and the European section, nothing was being reported. Moore looked like he was going to throw-up. Bunch had switched the speaker over to the civilian radio. They were all silent and just listening the radio.

"A surprise attack by The Principality of Zeon has begun at, Sides One, Two and Four; there are reports that several nuclear weapons have been detonated destroying most of the Federation Military personnel station at those clusters. Additional reports of poison gas is being used to kill civilians indiscriminately at some of the islands. Mobile suits have taken several of the colonies. The Reah Republic has called for Peace and a halt of all military auctions without announcing their own allegiance to either side. At least 250 million are presumed dead. A state of emergency has been issued, all non-essential travel is banned until further notice. Anyone found in violation of this will be arrested and fined. A full military mobilization is now in effect, all military personnel and essential federation employees are to report immediately. All regularly scheduled programs are suspended, and we are switching to Guard Broadcast. God Help us All".

Bunch cut the radio as he leaned back in his chair. A private chat was blinking from Eyeball-Zero-Eight on James screen. It was Jenny, all it read was "We knew it was coming".

His heart sunk. It was the middle of the day already for Jenny. James and Jenny had meet at Intel School, and had dated, fallen and love and engaged in about eight weeks. The last two years they had been living with a long distance relationship. She was stationed in Aviano in Italy while James had been sent to Riley. They were hoping for a joint assignment in just six months time. That wouldn't be happening now. All moves and promotions would be halted until fighting was done. It was amazing how the Federation had managed to get that policy together but was still struggling to get their mobile suits running.

Jenny was a beautiful girl, with dark curly hair, but it was her voluptuous build that caught most men's attention right away. She was a good Intelligence officer had moved up ranks quicker then James and was due to put on Captain a year early. James would officially have to salute her at that point. She already ran an entire squadron in everything but title out in Italy. Her squadron was mostly concerned with small uprising that happened fairly regularly in Africa and the Balkans, even though the Federation had declared 'peace' decades earlier small wars were going all the time. It wasn't unusual for an entire brigade to declare 'independence' only to have an entire Division came in to destroy them.

James paused at the screen. He wasn't sure what to say. She sent another text.

"It sounds pretty bad"

"It is, I have to go to command now, how are things going on your end?"

"I was already hear, they're getting the General's together to talk about what's next, everyone is mobilizing, it's a mad house already"

"my guess is I will go out to the field, I'll get a hold of you when I know more"

"Ok"

"Are you going to be in for awhile?"

"Yes"

"I'll tell you when I know more. I love you"

"Love you too"

James exhaled deeply. He knew 'ok' and 'yes' was a bad thing in this case. He wasn't doing a good job of showing he was worried about her. Things were easy when they were together and hard when they were apart, even harder when it was only text messages. There is only so much you can convey in Times New Roman. James couldn't get too hung up on it, the truck was already trying to get out of town but people we're driving everywhere. Bunch had his head leaned way back.

"Nukes, Gas, Mobile Suits, not to mention they have the high ground, they can drop a rock on us anytime they want; this should be no problem, no problem at all"

Bunch was a bright guy, and James held the highest regard for his opinions, he was also cynical. He stood about 6'-6". He had a love of beer, and if you asked there would be some hidden bottles around the truck. James didn't drink well he was on duty but had picked up cigars since joining. Given the job the four of them spent allot of time sitting on hills doing nothing so the occasional beverage was part of the package. Bunch had four boys between 2 and 16 all living on Ft. Riley with him. He was a remarkable comms and connections guy, but his flare for the sarcastic had slowed his progression down and he found himself stuck in a truck. James was extremely happy to have him on board. If a war was starting they will halt all transfers so this would the team for awhile.

Best cases now was the Space Force wins the battle before we can even get mobilized. If they are just destroying the colonies it was conceivable they might just kill everyone and start over. Being in the middle of Kansas met we are plenty far away from any fighting, but the Army's mobile suit program was fairly large at Riley. While we we're only one of at least a half dozen program's it was possible they would target our base. The program here was only for ground based suits so hopefully we would be ignored. If they did try to send us up to space it will take at least two months to get everything packed up and ready and we are just one of 6 Divisions that would need to make our way to California for lift. Cav would go first, then us. Armored and Mountain Divisions would be last. Tanks don't work real well in space.

All James could say was "It will be fine". He doubted it.