Working in a group of five, you will take on one of the following roles:
1) An American soldier
2) An American general
3) A local farmer
4) The 5 year old daughter of a farmer
5) A British journalist
Please post your writing as a comment below and don't forget to include your name and to indicate which role you are writing in.
An American Soldier - Lauren Kelloway
ReplyDeleteDear Diary.
Success. I have achieved my goal perfectly. Today I became a proud man. I used to think id be appalled with my actions, but the feeling I get knowing I have helped MY country is unbeatable. The work was tough, the most challenging thing I have ever faced. Now I know if you put your mind to it anything is possible. I’m so thankful to still be here.
It’s funny in this job how you can go somewhere just searching for a story, but come back with a lot more. The previous evening I had jumped on a plane to the middle east after watching the news. A bomb had been dropped on a village by accident, resulting in disaster. The first thing I noticed was unnatural silence. Looking round you could easily see the chief of this village were in denial. He wasn’t talking, no one was. He was just watching, occasionally shaking his head and closing his eyes as if when he opened them again all that had gone wrong would just disappear. Anyone could tell the scene was one of collateral disaster. I looked over to the left where a single little girl was sitting in front of the rubble of what used to be a house. I stared curiously for a minute before following her tear filled gaze to a particular part of the rubble. I stumbled back. I knew people had died, but seeing it first hand… it was too much. A woman was lying, half buried by the ruins. Her gaze was lifeless and her face bloodied. I could only guess the little girl was her daughter. I tore my gaze away when a soldier approached the young girl. He was the only one who looked sympathetic. The girl seemed to trust him; either that or she just didn’t care anymore. I shook my head, tears beginning to fall and pulled up my camera. No time for sympathy. I had to get the story.
ReplyDeleteWell, i chased one of the enemy in to a little shanty town. I lead my squadron there and made them split up so i was on my own. I was pacing around the place with my USP.45 Pistol out, ready to shoot, i saw the enemy taliban run into a small mud hut, so i had to continue with my Duty and so i pulled out a fragmental grenade and blew the place down whole. As because i am a general, i needn't care about the villagers and so i proceeded on with my men back to join the main forces. Later on private soap informed me that the taliban had the village under hostage and so i had to later re-group and obliterate the town. This pleasured me very much as i like to get down and dirty with my job. As i was going past i noticed this scraggy little girl just blank on the spot, so i punched her in the face and made sure she was out for the count, i doubt my men could handle the screaming so that was a job well done, there was also another little girl but she was inside her dirty hut, private soap dealt with the problem by blowing her knee caps off, deliberatley missing any vital body parts as he wanted to let her live, but put her through excruciating pain in the proccess. As i was walking away smoking a fat cigar, one of the bigger hut's roof flew off, without a doubt i assumed it was Soap just clearing up some more of the 'neusances'. As i was walking towards my checkpoint, i saw the girl lying in a pool of blood, screaming and cluthing her knees that she didnt have. And so i popped 5 clips into her, her dad, and her mother. Nobody needed to know this bit though which is why my diary is so secretive. This is General of the first battalion rifles, secret forces, and taliban co-operative, Out.
ReplyDeleteMax B (American General)
I had arrived at my farm today and discovered the worst possible thing that could have happened to me. My farm was destroyed, all my crops gone and I had a rodent infestation in the rubble that I have left as a home. I came back to American soldiers everywhere, I hid for 7 hours under the rubble in my home. There was about 6 stone of rocks on top of me. Of what I could only describe as a general, came over and lifted me up by the collar, and smashed me in the forehead. I was in excruciating pain and I couldn’t help my terrified daughter. Who is 5 years old! I feel terrible and I feel as if I have ruined her life. This would have scarred her for an incredibly long time and I don’t know if I can live with the guilt. I have nowhere to go as all of my family has passed away. We have an old family. And in my country people do not live long. I am so angry and I swear one day I will get revenge. I will join politics, government, anything to get sworn revenge and help my daughter from being scarred for the rest of her life. This was an inexplicable term of events that the Americans should take as a definite act of crime and cruelty. I hope the Americans burn in hell. I could die along with the rest with what they did. No crops, no drink, no food of any persuasion. How will I feed my daughter? She is five years old! She needs it more than me but there is no way possible of me obtaining any food or drink for her. I’ve failed as a parent and my daughter will die without even finding love, getting married or even have a chance to raise a family of her own. My families generations to come have temporarily been prevented unless I can find food and drink some how.
ReplyDeleteJaruh Steepal.
Farmer, Afghanistan.
(Conor)
Today I was herding ma sheep, ma cows and ma daughter was helping me as well, it was a very nice, scorching, sunny day when we were farming ma sheep and cows, it just in a good grass season where the sheep’s wool was growing very big and the cows were producing very good milk. Ma wife was herding with me as well until these American people came in and blew her up. I’m so annoyed with the Americans now, she was such a good wife and now she’s dead. Now I’m going off to have a look at the rest of the town’s damage. And ma daughters dead now as well :(, I guess it’s the life of a Farmer.
ReplyDeleteIt all started on one summer night. We heard a boom and then flashing bursts of light. This is how it all started. We all got involved killing, harming and moving across land. I killed many people on our way, screams when they got shot and people lying in agony on the floor. But I carried on, it may be me one day but I live my life as it comes. Within the last couple of days we moved and fought and we got to a little village just outside of the town. We have been fighting here for at least 3 days now and the damage shows it. Many houses have been blow up and all that remains of many houses is the debris scattered about and the foundation of the houses. Trees don’t stand high anymore they are a wreck on the dusty and dirty ground. The amount of villager’s with nowhere to live. You sometimes feel sorry for the people but then again it my job.
ReplyDeleteWe stormed the town and murdered everyone that walked. It was so beautiful. The bullets were flailing around and hitting the defenceless civilians; proving to those terrorists that we are serious to complete our objective and villagers will NOT stand in our way. I saw an animal farmer and sent my team up to him, they blew up his house executed him. I thought it was a beautiful sight but my young soldiers seamed disgusted about what we are doing. They will learn in time what is needed to do for the Queen and country.
ReplyDeleteAmerican General
David Hillman
I didn’t know what to think this morning as a bunch of people destroyed a house nearby. As soon as I saw this image I rushed over to my daughter bed and immediately took her to my mum’s house so she would be safe. On the way back as I was pulling up outside my farm I had seen a terrible thing, the bunch of people that I had seen before knocking the house down had now knocked down my whole farm even destroying all my crops, straight away my face had dropped I was in complete despair. I couldn’t watch anymore I was crying so badly there was a puddle that I almost drowned in and I just didn’t no what to think.
ReplyDeleteOne morning i woke up to the piercing sound of the alarm bell, i immediately ran into my parents room where my mother was packing all of our stuff away and my father was getting ready to fight off any soldiers who may steal our cows and live stock. I could hear loud explosions in the backgroud and i was becoming worried about my family and my village, whilst i was pacing around wondering what i should do, a bomb hit our village. The houses, huts, cows, everything was blown away, my parents were both badly injured and their chances of surviving was extremely low. I was hid under a table and it collapsed on me when the bomb fell, i scrambled out and i stood there, shocked, at the devastation and destruction one bomb did to my village. In the distance i could see a soldier walking toward me, i was so scared i couldn't move and then he came up to me smiled and hit me in the head with his gun.
ReplyDeleteA British Journalist:
ReplyDeleteI saw this tragic event first hand, and being able to grant no help whatsoever makes me feel all the more responsible for it. I was travelling to a minute village in the Middle East, providing ‘up-to-beat’ news for a magazine which, frankly, no one buys; even at the time I saw no point in travelling such a distance. Now I painfully regret it.
My first thought of this decaying village was sadness and pity. Bleak, beige walls greeted me when I stepped off of the helicopter into this humid climate. Bricks lay in heaps upon the sandy, littered ground. This location automatically made me shy away from my safe and idyllic views on the world – I didn’t know something so hellish could exist.
What I saw next will forever haunt me though. Less than a minute ago the helicopter had flown away, bidding me farewell and promising they’ll come back in an hour to take me back to the luxurious hotel. Suddenly loud bangs scalded my ears as I saw the house in front of me burn and crumble. Camouflaged soldiers shot at, what I assumed was, innocent people. Reflexes urged me to run for my life as I dived behind a heaped clump of rubble. I will never fully understand why things like this even exist. But one thing I am certain of is that I will never submit something so painful like this to a crummy magazine.
Amber Brooks 9y1
American soldier
ReplyDeleteWe spotted a village ahead and suspected it as a Taliban village. I was sure it was the wrong thing to do, there were so many innocent villagers and farmers, but I couldn’t disobey the general. He ordered a mortar strike against the village. With sincere regret we obeyed his orders. I suppose the forces will describe this as another case of ‘collateral damage’ which is far from the truth, it is just another case of us blowing up the locals. A local farmer has had all of his livestock blown up and his house. Half the village is gone and all for no reason.
Dear Diary
ReplyDeleteLast night it was fun we played sport but today I feel as if everyone has died I thought that when I was little I would have a family but if I die here I wouldn’t make it that far. 18 seems such a young age but this was all my choice and I am fighting for my country. I hope some day that I will be a general. War is ok I sleep better knowing that everyone is safe at home. I am thinking about my family at home and I have heard that there is my new brother there. I would love to see him fighting in the war with me. I am so honoured to be in the war and I have been trying to get a medal. I’m fighting because I believe that it is right. I killed someone for the very first time yesterday, its hard for the first time but when you know it’s the right thing to do it feels so much better. I love the exhilaration when your there but the only thing that’s bad is that I feel that I am destroying other peoples family. I don’t know what would happen if something happen to you. I have no permanent damage to but I do have a bit of internal bleeding and bruises. I will see how tomorrow goes and will write back.
The army men came running into the village. They started shooting and blew up some buildings. Everyone was screaming and shouting at each other. Most people were trying to run away. Some of the other people in my village got shot and were asking for help but nobody would help them. When the army men had all gone, my Daddy was very angry because they ruined his crops so he can’t sell them for money anymore. He was also really sad because his best friend got shot accidentally and now he’s dead. I was crying for ages as well because they shot my pet doggy in the leg and he was wining for a really long time and then he just stopped and Daddy said that he was dead. I don’t know my Mummy because she ran away when I was really little but I don’t mind because my Daddy is normally really good but when I asked him if we could get a new dogs soon he hit me and said that I should stop being stupid. I don’t know why he is being so angry.
ReplyDeleteI arrived an hour after the attack, still hearing gun-shots and explosions. Walking around, I watched people walking around homeless, crying for help, hurt inside. It was horrific. Farmers, innocent people, clearing up destroyed crops. So Far, I haven’t noticed one house fully standing, its either half a house or none at all, not that its much of a house, but it was better than having our soldiers blowing up all they had. Bodies were lying in corners, some dead, others barley alive. The floors were covered with rats, infested with vermin. Just to think our soldiers, who we are supporting, are killing, or murdering if you like, people who are stuck in the middle and just want to give up. Young boys and girls who would never have a chance to look after themselves, because of our people, it is disgusting. Locals having to clear up bodies because suddenly the Americans are too important to bother. There are risks of coming into the war, and clearly this was one of them, innocent people dying and suffering. Its vile, unjust. But what can we do to stop the government. Meaning to kill isn’t right, being forced to is terrible.
ReplyDeleteWe Just started the long hike back to base camp, usually we would walk along pass the river so we could all fill up our water bottles but this time General Max decided that instead we would take the short cut through a little village where he had a tip off that the Taliban’s have taken the village hostel and are torturing and raping poor innocent farmers and children, we got to the edge of the town general max whispered into my ear “were going to blow this place to hell forget the innocent farmers we would be better off without them all start thinking about what were going to say to the president FIREEEEEEEE !” We blew the village up with frag grenades and c4 then we moved in closer I kicked a door down there standing in front of me was a young girl I shot her in the leg missing her main archery’s on purpose I couldn’t possibly kill her even is she had bombs strapped to he stomach. We moved into the next room where we found a bomb factory with five Taliban’s bending over baths making there bombs ready to be put on ups air travel I shot a rifle bullet into one of the bombs and blew them all up in there faces there was some innocent farmers in the room as well but the ratio was two Taliban’s to one farmer there odds were more important.
ReplyDeleteEnglish Journalist: Published article
ReplyDeleteThe events that have been witnessed here have been unbelievable. The end result is a fatality. This area that was once peaceful and calm has been destroyed by the overwhelming force that is the insurgence. As us, the British, fight for peace in their country they throw it back at us. Attacking and harming their own country. On arrival I was given strict safety instructions to help prevent harm to myself and the others around me then I was taken to somewhere which has to remain confidential. The conditions I was forced to live in were disgusting and the noise was dreadful. Bombs going off all hours and cries of agony then filled the silence. The service in Britain would be of a much higher standard for definite.
On the second day we ventured out into the harsh outdoors where you were surrounded with the realities of war.
Amelia Collette - unfinished
It was just awful. It happened so fast and I could hardly keep up. And it’s all gone now. I’m scared. I didn’t mean to wander off, I just did. Only down the road, not far. But the bomb still found me. Dad used to say that they aren’t coming for me, but I think they are. They’re going to take me away and make me eat bugs and rotting meat in chains until I die after what I’ve seen today. The bomb fell so fast, I didn’t even see it in the sky. It blasted me so far, like I was flying. It hurt though, more than anything had hurt before. It wasn’t the pain that was so bad though. It was the screams and the crying and the shouts. I was buried, no light, couldn’t see. Then a man came, and dug me out from the stone. My arm is still bleeding, even though the man said it would stop after a while. And dad has gone. I saw his body, and squashed and broken. He came looking for me, to make sure I was ok. But now he’s not ok, and it’s my fault. Why was there a bomb? Why is there a war? I don’t understand. I’m so scared.
ReplyDeleteAn American General
ReplyDeleteDear Diary,
The work has been done. I am proud of my troops; they all put their best efforts in to defeat the enemy and there been accomplished. There homes are destroyed their crops are wrecked; that’d get the message out! Americans will conquer! We have proudly left the enemy in their rubble.. they wouldn’t dare fight back with my army! I have done my country well, im swollen in my pride! Without me, our civilisation would be down in the gutters! Lost, till end of our time. I cant wait to get home, show my wife and my young lad the images of what I have done! They’d be most proud! I must go, long travels to make..
My name is Celia, I’m 5 years old. When I woke up this morning I couldn’t move, I was very scared. I cried for my Mummy and Daddy but, they didn’t come, it was terrifying, I didn’t know what to do. A little bit later a man with a hard hat on his head and a dog with him came. The man found me and pulled lots of rubble off me, I was so happy. The man got me out of my broken house and took me into a tent. My parents were in the tent, but they were hurt and in pain. The doctors in the tent wrapped up my arm that really hurt, they said it was broken. I am now being taken care of by the doctors and all the adults keep saying “who ever did this should be taken care of”!
ReplyDeleteI can’t believe how close the war is to my daddy’s house and farm land. It’s so scary, I can’t sleep at night because I’m scared of the bad dreams I have. Yesterday the evil men got so close that a bullet went in our window! I was so scared, daddy protected me though. He said I will never get hurt as long as he’s here. Mummy wants to move away NOW but daddy said the farm is too special to let go. I’m worried that daddy will get badly hurt. He already has a very, very bad arm. A couple of days ago daddy was out in the fields feeding the sheep when a nasty man came and shot my daddy in the arm and then ran away. I ran outside shouting to see if my daddy was still awake. He was. Mummy hates all this war and how close we are to it all. Mummy wouldn’t let me go outside today so I asked daddy and even he said I can’t go outside! It’s not fair. I’m not scared of any big men. If they try and hurt me I will scare them away. That’s what I told daddy but he didn’t believe me. It’s so mean not letting me play out. I hate living here, I never get to play and daddy and mummy are always keeping a close eye on me. I wish there was no war. Then daddy and mummy would let me play outside on my own. I hate war!
ReplyDeleteBritish Journalist:
ReplyDeleteMay 2005 – The American army have been tipped off that an enemy group were hiding out in a small village. They invaded late last night and took out well over half of the village using both bombs and slaughtering people themselves. The people killed included innocent farmers and young children. It was revealed that the so called “enemies” were in fact ex soldiers and veterans of the afghan army, who retired to village to live the rest of their life in peace. The American Soldier in charge of this operation said “my platoon of honourable men were told that these were enemy forces, they were just doing their job”. This statement has led to much controversy here in the UK. Gordon Brown has stated “they should of infiltrated the village without just going in and blowing people up without any true reason, surely claiming the lives of many innocent people isn’t a real job”. An American General was asked for his response but left no comment.
Perceptions of war
ReplyDeleteDear Diary,
Today was the biggest battle that I have organised for a while. The opposition have been relatively quite for the last week, so I knew that something was going to happen.
Because of this we were able to get wind of there scheme and attack before they did, they put up a fight but we were able to drive them away from the village they were going to raid. One or two buildings where destroyed during the fight but there was only one death; a local farmer was shot by the enemy along with four of his cows and seven of his sheep. He was relatively old though and has no living relatives. Next time we should attack from behind or at least force the opposition up hill or somewhere where there are hardly any houses and collateral damage is less likely to happen. Our next battle should be less strenuous next time as it s rumoured that half of the enemy are heading down hill to the other village so we will have less people to fight against.
American General ---- Chloe Lewitt
I’m Hannah a local farmer. I've just woken up and I was devastated to see what has happened. There was a big bang and I went out to see what had happened. All my crops had gone; there was a massive hole where my cows had been kept, all my sheep had gone. All I could see was rubble every thing had gone.
ReplyDeleteI can’t stop thinking about how I am going to feed my five year old daughter. With every thing gone I won’t have any money. My daughter will starve.
I can’t think who would do such a thing.
hannah
Farmer in the war – Jenni Sowerby
ReplyDeleteToday was a dark day for us all. The bombers came again to the city, but this time they bombed our village too. The farm has been completely destroyed and many people are found as either dead or presumed missing. The most damage has been done to the village crop fields, I hate to think what we will eat, the cattle house collapsed from the tremors and gulped up most of the cows with it. We managed to save a few, but not enough to keep the town fed and watered. The bomb has severed the water pipeline so we have no water, and our village is not top of the list to receive aid from the aid suppliers. The nearby towns were visited by American soldiers, they do the most damage, and they burn down crops and leave our villages in distress. They do not care whether we live or die, to them this is a sport and we are the game. A woman died from infection today, we could not get the right medicines to save her.
Some really great work here folks- I really like the variety of voices and perceptions which you've developed. Two things do stand out to think about for a few of you though:
ReplyDelete1) Paragraphs- every time, come what may. You know you love them!
2) Homophones- check your spellings as spell check won't pick it up. There/their/they're seems to be a particular issue...