Kalistan

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Martinez' Journals released in Kaliburg
Heavily redacted daily log of Kalistani Commander shows determination, Desperation in Kundrati
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
December 20, 5639


Security and Historical Scholars gather to discuss release of Martinez War Journal

The war journal and personal log of Institutional Militia commander Brigadier General Jesus Martinez-Abernathy was publicly released this week in Kalistan. The Brigadier General, who was killed in southern Kundrati in mid 5637 during a village clearing operation assigned to his unit by Southern Command, details a series of frustrations and mass casualty events that bring into question Kalistan's entire involvement in the conflict. Early summaries from the war journal show a Commander who is constantly being asked to do things that lead to excessive battle deaths and wounded casualties, as well as operational confusion, desperate heroism and tragic mismanagement. Martinez' journals are the first first-hand account of the war published in Kalistan.

The journals were returned to Kalistan by members of Martinez' headquarters unit, who fought and bled with the general during the conflict. The journal was thought to be lost, but following the cessation of combat, Kalistani militia happened to locate the spot that the General had fallen and retrieved the journal. Upon their return to the Empire last month, they presented the Journal to Her Imperial Majesty as a memento from the war. The Empress reportedly turned the journal over to IBSI and asked the intelligence agency to redact all classified material on sources, methods, personnel and operational details from the journal and then release it to be published in the Empire. A not for Profit citizens' publishing collective, Liberty Press, in Sulari agreed to publish the book and sell it at cost. To date, more than 50,000 copies have been pre-ordered, selling out the first run of 1,000 in a little over 20 minutes after its announcement.

Much of the journal contains mundane details of life in camp: It was evident that the General composed his prose in the early morning when the unit was not active. Many of the accounts of more than 70 separate engagements that the General's light infantry unit took part in are covered retrospectively, but there is also many details about the quality of the food, the landscape of wartorn and desolated Kundrati, and the hostility of the people of the nation toward Kalistanis. Toward the end, the frustration of the General is evident, as it is clear that morale within the Kalistani ranks was dropping precipitously as the Southern Front bogged down into incessant fighting in an often exhausting close combat setting, due to Etxean strategic and tactical goals not adequately employing the highly mobile light infantry tactical methods of the Kalistanis.

"These pinche towns, one right after another, one right after another. Pacification is all we hear. We are behind the lines, we are told to clear this village, that farmhouse, and when we get there, there may be nobody there. But there may be a family of psychotic cannibals in there with a machine gun. Just waiting for us. To us, the order to clear a farm house is nothing-- it does nothing to end this endless war. To them, its life and death. We never know when we open a door, if its gonna be ratta tatta tatta tatta and we lose two men here, four men there, or zero men anywhere... All I can say is: Que dios maldiga a Kundrati."

Many passages describe an endless struggle to pacify the southern Kundrati Mainland. There are also a few positive accounts, where the General writes the name of partisans he wants to put in for commondation due to heroic acts on the battlefield. One such incident involves a flamethrower and sacrifice.

"The machine gun nest had us pinned down. Just outside of the range of our Grenade launcher, they had the field of fire set up so there was no way we could approach the place without getting shot at. We couldn't go back, and we couldn't go forward. We were there most of the night, and as we were trying to work out a plan, Lawrence, who carries the flamethrower, said he had a plan. And he jumps up and starts running toward the machine gun next. But they didn't fire. The sun was coming up behind us to our east, and the tired gunners must not have seen him coming in. By the time he was within 10 yards of the nest, and lit the flamethrower, we could hear the machine guns rattling. But with perseverance, he kept moving forward, blasting the bunker with flame, until they shot him through, but in doing so they pierced his pressurized tank of fuel and it caught from the flame thrower, and the whole thing went up like a bomb, engulfing the machine gun nest in flames and thick black smoke. We could see men running from the back of the bunker on fire. Unfortunately for them, we couldn't shoot at them to put them out of their misery... our guns were jammed."

The published report is noticeably missing several important pieces of information that IBSI has redacted before publication, including a three day long stretch, in which it just says "Mar 31-April 2- Redacted." Some veterans who commented on the publication say that was a time in the war that nobody who came back will talk about.

Kalistani Expeditionary Force Vets who served under General Martinez' command have independently verified much of the account. "However, there is a lot missing here, which would kind of give us some context about what the General was writing about, when and where, so we can't say for sure on all of this," said Sergeant Nadine Retton, of 2/4 Kalistani Rangers. "I was operating in the same zone as the General most of the first part of the war, and whether some of the details are accurate or not, he definitely captured the way we were all feeling during the first part of the war. We were bogged down, we were unable to move or maneuver most of the time. We were assigned to sh-t duty most of the time. Sometimes we got to do what we do best, but most of the time we just did what they Kundratis and the Luthorians didn't want to do themselves, the pacification work..."

Retton said morale picked up later in the conflict as the momentum shifted in the coalition's favor, and Kalistani Militia were used more for commando, reconnaissance and demolitions work. "Unfortunately, when the final push came, the Jefe was already dead. After the war, a few of us went through the zones we had pacified a half a year earlier. The people in the area hated us. Most spit at us as we went through. But we found the General's gear, and his journal was still there. He was long gone: We couldn't tell what had become of him. Wolves, or maybe worse... But his gear was still where he fell, and we brought it back and gave most of it to his kids. But the journal went to the Empress. There were some items in there we thought she in particular would want to see." When asked to talk about those items, Retton said she wasn't about to do that to El Jefe now that he's dead.

The Empress will retain the original copy of the Journal now that the redacted version has been published, and all operational intelligence has been retrieved by the IBSI. Historians and security analysts are already pouring over the published version as they work to write the history of Kalistani involvement in the Second Kundrati War, including a conference on the Journal which was hastily organized at Kaliburg Polytechnic this week.

@TheRepublic