Trench warfare

To my beloved wife and children,

There is a lot of things that happen in the trenches. Things you wouldn't even imagine or even think of. It rains a lot here, thats for sure so the ground we sleep in is always so damp and muddy. Yeah, not the best sleeping conditions either. I've gotten a cold on and off at times, but that won't slow me down. Me and my troops always have to be on our feet in case enemies are trying to trespass, so instead of usually sleeping on the ground we're usually sleeping crouched behind our refiles in our soaking wet uniforms. If i could take off my uniform and leave it out to dry, i would. But thats impossible. If the rain is too much, which it usually is the mud usually comes above our knees. There is SO much debris around us, its literally impossible to find a clean place to stop and rest. There are dead bodies being carried around and buried in mud, bits of trees, guns from dead soldiers and the gun's shells. It's never ever warm here, neither is it clean. It's really hard to watch my troop's dead bodies just laying there and hear the cries of dying men. I wish i could give my men proper burials or just push them to the side, but theres nothing i can do about it because its not safe enough to do that. The smell of blood and decaying corpses is agonizing, the smell never goes away! You couldn't even imagine what it is like in these trenches. I thought i wouldn't even last one day in here, but you really get used to it when you spend so many hours here while you sleep, eat and fight here. Something that i've really gotten used to is learning the sounds of each gunfires and explosives that come our way, studying these sounds have saved my life. Something that has also saved my life numerous of times is my hard helmet that i wear twenty four seven! You never know when that thing is handy until you've had dropping explosives come down at you. Being at the trenches is nothing compared to anything i have experienced. It is the longest forty eight hours of my life!

The first picture shows how REALLY mud the ground is and how its impossible to sleep on the ground at times. The second one is usually how i'm positioned at times when i want to have a rested positioned. I'm usually positioned behind my rifles. The third picture is how me and my men slept most of the time, crowded and always near each other.