Day 6

After going on the patrol I feel I understand about being a soldier much better. Before, I would never have given a second thought to who was fighting or how the people were fighting. Although I know we are fighting for a good cause, I hate to think of how we finance our cause. The only way we are able to fight is through stealing. We steal food from villagers who are starving, we steal weaponry from banks which we will never pay back, and we steal clothes from the bodies of the dead soldiers around us. We are hardly soldiers, but thieves. And what pains me most is knowing that Captain Mendoza in one of them. It is strange that I feel such a strong connection toward him when he is the man who brought me into this war, but there is something about him which I really respect. When I look back at the past week, I feel almost thankful that I was brought here. I would rather be fighting for a cause like this, than be back at the village cutting bananas. Now that I have actually had this experience, I know that it is important to fight this war. Mendoza is right; our country is in great need of this revolution. Many of our people are illiterate, poor, and live in terrible conditions, while others are rich, and selfish, and don’t bother to help the poor. My mind flashes back to the dead villagers we saw while on patrol. They were helpless against the soldiers and couldn’t do anything. Each and every one of them was thin, and they looked as if they hadn’t eaten in ages. We are fighting for people like them, we are fighting so our fellow citizens can live a better life, and we are fighting because our country is in need of change.
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