Post by flippmoke on Feb 22, 2010 17:24:37 GMT -5
Dear Family and Friends of ____________________,
I mourn with you on this day of the loss of _______________ who served under my command in the 42 Brigade. Though my time with ______ was limited during, I was always astonished by ___ work ethic and demeanor that was a shinning example to the rest of the unit. However, the things we will miss about _________ the most were the great moments we shared together outside of combat.
I am certain that no amount of comforting will make up for the loss of such a prized person to each of you, but we are very proud of _____________ and are deeply in debt to ____ for his service.
____________ was killed ______ an engagement against enemy forces in _____________ on ____. During this engagement ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
With our Deepest Regrets,
Nigel Ferdinand
1st Lieutenant Earth Federation Ground Forces.
I mourn with you on this day of the loss of _______________ who served under my command in the 42 Brigade. Though my time with ______ was limited during, I was always astonished by ___ work ethic and demeanor that was a shinning example to the rest of the unit. However, the things we will miss about _________ the most were the great moments we shared together outside of combat.
I am certain that no amount of comforting will make up for the loss of such a prized person to each of you, but we are very proud of _____________ and are deeply in debt to ____ for his service.
____________ was killed ______ an engagement against enemy forces in _____________ on ____. During this engagement ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
With our Deepest Regrets,
Nigel Ferdinand
1st Lieutenant Earth Federation Ground Forces.
"That is it," questioned Kyle Webb as he looked at the form letter in front of him.
"Well, I was trying to make it short and to the point, but still have sympathy for their loss," said Nigel in defense of his letter as he twirled a pencil in his hand.
"It is dry and doesn't help them at all in my opinion, plus what if you didn't really know them well?" stated Kyle with a huff as he tossed the letter back onto the the desk where Nigel was sitting.
"Its hard to do with this many, I don't have time for this all," objected Nigel as he frowned looking at his letter again.
"Well how many do you have to do?" questioned Kyle still in some disgust at the letter, "You better not send this kind of letter to my family."
Nigel sighed slightly as he looked down at the sheet in front of him, then said, "Two thousand, six hundred ninety-five of them."
Kyle's jaw dropped at the figure as he suddenly noticed the massive box filled with papers next to Nigel on the floor.
"That many people died under your command?" said Kyle with a befuddled look on his face.
"No, eighty-seven more then that, I already did a few of the people I knew fairly well, didn't follow the form letter on them." said Nigel as he looked at the small stack of letters in a box next to him.
"How can they expect you to do that many?" demanded Kyle as he continued to try to grasp the massive number of deaths.
"No one ever asked me to do it," muttered Nigel as he began to type another letter on the typewriter in front of him, an archaic machine rarely seen anywhere else in the world besides the EFGF which kept them around in a few places in event of an EMP attack.
"You aren't even doing it on a computer. You could copy and paste and.." said Kyle in frustration as he looked at Nigel's darkened eyes an obvious sign he had been up all the night before.
"Don't question my methods Kyle, I just feel this is the right way to do it," said Nigel as he pounded away on the heavy keys of the typewriter. The keys pounding against the paper sent chills down the spine of Kyle Webb as they reminded Kyle of the massive number of men that had died around them. Each thump being the death of another soldier that was mounting around him.
"Well I will help you finish this then," said Kyle as he grabbed a chair beginning to pull it up to the table next to Nigel.
"No Kyle, this is my job, my orders killed these men and it will be my order to complete this," said Nigel with a deathly serious face as he stared at Kyle.
"Fine, I will just leave you alone then," said Kyle in some disgust as pushed the chair back away from the desk. Annoyed Kyle made his way to the door of the office where Nigel was placed for this time being, turning before leaving the room he said, "You know this isn't healthy, this is going to wear on you."
"It already does," muttered Nigel under his breath as Kyle shook his head and left the room.
Several hours past, with each a tiny fraction of the pile of names was removed, but the mountain of the dead still remained. Around supper time a soldier brought Nigel a sandwich and shortly after a pile of clean white paper, but no one else visited the office the rest of the day. The windows of the office darkened as night fell over the small airfield in the Atlantic where the 42nd Brigade was temporarily positioned, but Nigel kept working into the night.
Shortly after midnight a slight rap was heard on the door, and with out permission it was inched open by a small hand the shutters rattling as it opened. The lone lamp in the room made out the figure of a petite woman as she walked closer to the desk where Nigel worked, not even raising his head to acknowledge her.
"You work too hard," said Melissa Ferdinand with a smile as she rested her hand on Nigel's shoulder.
"If I would have worked harder earlier then I wouldn't have to work this hard now," said Nigel with a little anger in his voice as he pounded the last keystroke of a letter before turning toward his wife.
"You do work hard for them hun, and if you weren't here who knows how many more would have been killed," said Melissa as she hugged her husband tightly.
"You say that like you would know, but you don't," said Nigel in frustration as he grabbed another name from the stack.
"And you can't help the men now if you are destroying yourself," stated Melissa in a comforting voice as pulled on Nigel lightly and in defeat Nigel rose out of his chair.
"I suppose you are right," said Nigel as he hugged his wife as a small tear ran down his face. Melissa turned with a smile and made her way toward the door.
"Sorry for snapping at you," said Nigel as he pulled the chain on the lamp turning it off as he left the office.