Desolation on the Eastern Front

[President Television]

How do they all do it? How can they stand this isolation? Man, the air in this place is so thick and wet you can drink it off your upper lip. The noise, it's maddening factory machinery to grind you up.  Clattering, rattling gatling gun feet on tile. But both of those things only happen in brief bursts. Only a few minutes at a time. The rest of the time is waiting. You sit and you wait. You sit and you wait. You watch the big round thing in the sky and you wait. You rest your head on your arms and you wait. You wait for a break. You wait for a job. All this time spent waiting, you could be spending on something real.

And it isn't like your allies are all too friendly either. They don't want to say anything, they just want to be heard. They don't want to listen to you, they just want to take a breath. Too much small talk, not enough communication. Too much conversation, not enough action. One thing the King got right. And you know you're just gonna lose them in the long run, so maybe you don't bother getting attached. Maybe you don't actually want anything to do with them, but they're the ones you'll settle for because the rest of them are so goddamn annoying and anything, anything is better than being alone.

But it's not all bad. Sometimes, you find someone you really like. A real brother-in-arms, as it were. Or maybe a sister. That isn't important. Anyway, you finally find someone you can stand to be around. Someone you can even get to love. But you're nothing to them. Because all this time you were pushing everyone else aside, you weren't talking to anyone at all. You haven't learned anything at all about people except that you hate them. You haven't learned anything at all about war except that you hate it. You've shot yourself in the foot, soldier. And maybe you're no better at all than the rest of them. Maybe you're nothing but a creep.