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Personal Essay: All Quiet On The Western Front

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I have been living in this man made hole that I participated building and I have no words for how I am feeling. This is not what I expected at all. Everything is not what it seems and the idea of war has been masked and sugar coated. I barely get any sleep and when I do, it is during the day when it is bright. If and when I do sleep at night it is only for one hour. Everyone wakes up at different times and when I am awake I have to either do chores or fight. The rest of my time goes to writting letters to my loved ones or sometimes play card games. There is not much interaction living in the trenches because nothing is really on anyones mind other than violence and death. Everyone is too scared to speak including me. The trenches are very dirty and unsanatary. They smell like sweaty men with unpleasant body odor. The trenches are wet and muddy with no comfortness other than what is on your back. There is many dead bodies buried near our toliets which leaves a very unpleasant scent. Sometimes our waste overflows into the trenches and we have to live with it. This can lead to various conflcitions such as diseases and other …show more content…

At five am, it is our 'Stand-to' routine(short for 'Stand-to-Arms', meaning to be on high-alert for enemy attack) half an hour before daylight. Then at five-thirty am we have our rum ration. At six am we do our ‘Stand-to’ routine half an hour after daylight. At seven am we haave breakfast which is usually bacon and tea. After eight am we clean themselves, clean weapons, tidy trench. Noon is dinner time. After dinner we sleep and downtime (one man per ten on duty). Five pm is tea time. Six pm is another ‘stand to’ half an hour before dusk. Finally six thirty its Stand-down half an hour after dusk. Six thirty onwards - Work all night with some time for rest (patrols, digging trenches, putting up barbed wire, getting stores, replacement of unit of soldiers every five

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