Hey there, journal. Just checking up on you is all. It's been a long couple of days since I had some time to sit down and write in you to ease my mind. My squad leader has been all over the place in terms of telling us what to do and whatnot, and I'm waiting until I can officially begin my permanent job in the Equestrian Army, or rate as it is referred to in the military.

But also, word has been spreading around base that Princess Celestia has lately been discussing the possibility of a major troop surge overseas. Evidently there was a shootout between Marines and a unit of Saddle Arabian rebels during a rescue mission in Ridya. I haven't had the opportunity to learn anything more, but Spectrum and his buddies have been keeping quiet about it. Maybe they don't know what's going on either.

I didn't even know we had troops over in Saddle Arabia to begin with. They have been our allies for years, and Equestria has no military installations beyond its borders, so that adds more questions to put on the board. None of it makes any sense, and nobody is telling me anything. My brother isn't returning my letters either since I don't have a phone just yet, though I suppose I could try and seek out one of those payphones in the commons hall.

I hope I don't have to go anywhere so soon. I only just graduated a little under three weeks ago and I'm not ready to deploy. My friends would disagree, and virtually everypony else here. They want to be deployed. They want to fight. But who the hell are we fighting? Are we even fighting anyone?

More importantly, do I want to know the answer to those questions?

Author's Note

It's been a while, but I'm not done with this story yet!