My college has begun for me, my people.
That means that it will be highly difficult now for me to update as I get sucked into my studies and my ROTC training. Things will be difficult but I hope to succeed. I'll try to get more material out once I've found more time. Thanks for sticking through with me this long.
Now, for this chapter – special thanks goes out to Karaya 2 for allowing me to use his material to write this short chapter. Sergeant Johannes Koch is his character from the Gate Roleplay and was one of the major German OCs during the duration of Faust's Roleplay Project.
Now to answer a few reviews, one for Major Simi and the other for hopelessromantic34.
Simi, the aircraft carrier was used as a plot setting during our storytelling – it wasn't as realistic as it probably should have been but we would never have been able to get such a chapter out without it, so, hit or miss. That is how it will be. Thanks for stopping by now.
hopelessomantic34, I understand what you mean, the main Roleplay is no longer taking place and for the most part, has ended. If you want to join the continuation effort, converse with our buddy Stuka on his own forum. He is currently working on a continuation of the Roleplay.
Thank you all for sticking with me this long and thanks for the continued support. Please Read and Review, and take care, my friends. Stay fine, gents.
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["Paper Mail"]
[Autumn 2016]
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"I've always found something sacred in a piece of paper that travels the earth from hand to hand, head to head, heart to heart." – Robert Michael Pyle, American Author of "Sky Time in Gray's River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place," Published Book: 2007
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When serving on the frontlines, the tendency to actually communicate with friends or family was highly limited. With the advent of satellites and global communications, the world became smaller in scope. People could connect oceans away with data dumps on the Internet becoming near instantaneous as we know it.
Many people take this technology and advancement for granted, but, when you've been on the frontlines for months on end in the middle of a third-world country without access to the Internet or a lack of land-based communication lines – communication gets limited and connections to the World Wide Web becomes completely limited as if someone was forced back into a pre-radio era.
The Middle East following Nine-Eleven and the Invasion of Afghanistan, well, most days were spent being bored for the guys on the frontlines – usually, they waited for the monthly care packages or that one call they get a week. Signal sucked but they made due. When you're in a totally different world, that communications is forced from the digital realm and into the literal hands of paper and pencil or pen.
Even in the twenty-first century, it helped to have good penmanship in the military it seemed – that was the case for one Sergeant Johannes Koch, German Army.
Originally, he didn't believe in the mission – correction, he was still unsure and even unimpressed with his deployment. One day, he was in a German beer garden in Berlin enjoying his lunch break from the office and the television is playing footage of a battle taking place in Tokyo. Real terrible, past century-type massacres.
He had thought it wasn't his fight, heck, he had been part of the Reserves – well, that could be considered a lie or just a simplification. His unit hadn't been activated and he was still at home enjoying time with his family. Training occurred often enough since he was Mountain Infantry, a popular unit given their constant deployment to Afghanistan and North Iraq during the last decade. Mountains were their specialization, hunting Taliban – their associated mission.
Now, he was in Japanese territory with pen and paper over his cellphone to speak to his family. He wasn't in Japan, but it was definitely Japanese-controlled territory.
Well, the situation right now in Tokyo was thick was confusion and fear. That was at least reflective in the civilian population, the military folk seemed more excited or antsy in comparison – they might even enjoy the chance to try something new like fighting a war in another country or another world altogether. The Japanese Self-Defense Force was highly green when it came to offensive warfare, they hadn't fought in an actual conflict since World War Two, mostly due to that interestingly smart but pesky Article Nine that was in the Japanese Constitution.
A bit of a history lesson, the Japanese government, post-Empire, was forced to accept an American-written Constitution rather than one of their own creations. A hefty price, but, when you were on the wrong side of the war – that was what happened. Germany went through a similar transformation from the Hitler-led atrocity of Nazi Germany to today with the powerful but peaceful, German Republic. One Johannes was happy to call home.
The month following the battle that became known as the Ginza Incident had cost much in terms of human life and societal apparatus as many began to question Humanity's place in the Universe.
Johannes had found himself rather unwilling to engage in such moral and existentialist debacles as it would have diluted his focus on the mission at hand, from being deployed as part of an international coalition to respond to a threat beyond Human comprehension. He focused on similarities to the Global War on Terror.
The German soldier focused on things like the desert, archaic and unchanged society and culture. He focused on the vision of a humanitarian and self-defense mission similar to Iraq and Afghanistan – a mission sanctioned by NATO and the UN, at least one of them; and compared to the two – this new mission into the Unknown was not much different.
In Johannes's hands, still crisp with fresh ink, a letter addressed to his family oceans away in Europe.
[Written Letter: Johannes Koch]
My dearest Helga,
It's been a week since I left home and already our force has grown. Troops are pouring in from across the world. Peacekeepers from India and Spain, Combat troops from China and Russia.
An odd force indeed, most international troops are staying at Tokyo International Airport. Old rivalries and bad blood had many on edge.
Already, I've seen scraps between Chinese and Japanese soldiers over what happened in the Second World War. I can't help but wonder if that old saying, "that Humanity will band together when faced with a common foe;" if it's true or if the man who wrote it put too much stock on us. In the line of philosophy, it's hard to tell what empty words I guess is.
But that is beside the point, we of Gebirgsjäger are ready for anything and you'll have nothing to fear. If you see Father tell him I'll be fine. Take care of Erica.
I'm off to serve for the good of our people once again, wish me luck and pray that our mission succeeds; we will be back together soon, my love.
Forever yours ,
Johannes.
[Written Letter" Johannes Koch]
Johannes took a moment to look over the paper in order to confirm that he wrote what needed to be said and he wrote what he wanted to say. Done and done.
In all honesty, though, the letter brought back memories as well – a week ago. To think he had been in Germany only a week ago enjoying life to its most content, yet, here he was now walking back into a war and a mess he didn't want anything to do with.
Munich. A time for family back then, a time for war – now. My, how has the world changed in a matter of days?
There had been storm clouds looming overhead of the Bavarian city of Munich. Johannes stood in the living room of his family apartment wearing his Army Battle Dress Uniforms. Before him, stood his daughter Erica, a young girl of seven years old with glossy-straight brown hair and a face maintained a little baby fat; Erica had tears in her eyes when she heard that her father was heading off to war. This was the first time she was old enough to comprehend the change but it meant little as Johannes's little girl balled her eyes out.
"But why you dad? Why do you have to go?" The young girl cried out. Johannes knelt down and put his hand on Erica's shoulder.
"It's not my choice kiddo, but I gotta do it," Johannes said – he made a mental thought of never getting to pick his own assignments. "Now don't worry Erica, I'll be home before you know it. Now behave for your mother."
"Okay, daddy," Erica replied wiping tears from her eyes. The mountain soldier stood up to face his wife who had been watching from the hall adjacent from the living room. She had a frown on her face and her chocolate eyes only gave away her dislike for the current situation – it was never a good day when her life partner had to leave and put his life on the line for his country. Family, for her, was more important than any tragedy or any nation.
"Don't look at me like that Helga."
"Like what?" The woman replied in a sarcastic but oblivious nature. Her faked attempt at being uninformed or uncaring was terrible – she wore her heart on her sleeve. This degree of emotion and unity between the two life partners was partially why Johannes had married her. Helga, his dear wife.
"Like I'm not coming back. Don't worry, I'm coming home alive. Besides, all I'm fighting are want-to-be Romans." Johannes said.
"I know you'll come back without a scratch but Hannes." Helga paused for a moment and looked up at Johannes. "I've known you for eleven years, I can tell when you don't believe in the mission." Johannes sighed as she saw right through him once again; what a perceiving woman like her.
"But it's my job, someone's got to do it. Might as well be me." With one last hug from each his wife and daughter, Johannes swung his ruck-bag over his shoulder and walked out the door of the apartment and into the complex atrium. He looked out the windows and up at the clouds wondering when the next time he would see the skies of Southern Germany again. He didn't care for this gray muck that dominated today; he wanted to see that sun and blue sky once again. He put on his mountaineer cap and walked down the street towards the closest bus stop.
The mission had to be done. Someone had to do it – that someone was Johannes Koch, Sergeant in the Germany Army.
The Sergeant remembered those moments quite vividly but he had more pressing matters now, no more time for waiting around for something to happen. Johannes put the letter away and slid it into an envelope – it would arrive in Munich in about two weeks, by then, the German soldier would be deep behind enemy lines and he needed his family to know how he was doing before communication became near impossible to maintain.
The Sergeant slid the letter into his shirt pocket and walked off toward the Japanese post office down the street. No time like the present it seems.
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[Participants]
"Karaya 2, RiptideZ"
