The date is January 8, 1915. My name is Johann Hoffman, a 17 year old German living in the more South Western part of Bavaria where mountains and hills were pretty much abundant. Living in a farm house and doing hard labor was pretty relaxing and a modest way of living, I was doing kind of alright at school, a few failed tests then and there shouldn't hinder my future I guess. I am an only child, living with my parents. My mom is pretty sweet, she works at a factory and makes delicious pork, finding meat was hard due to the war but I got lucky I guess. My dad is a bit of an asshole, he scolds me over the smallest thing, misplacing his hammer, and me for taking a small amount of rest from a hard days work, nonetheless, he gets the job done and gets us our money. But one night, he took it too far....
It was the middle of the night, Saturday, I was finishing up some work, making sure that wolves, foxes or any other kind wouldn't hurt our livestock, but I realized that some of our cattle are missing, I didn't mind it much because my father probably sold it to some guy. I went back to my house, hoping to get a good night's sleep as it was the day of the Lord tomorrow. But as I entered the door, I saw my dad yelling at my mom and putting out all his anger on her in the living room, I clenched my fist and yelled at him. "Leave mom ALONE!" Father angrily replied immediately. "This is none of your business and screw off or you'll get a beating!!" I didn't listen and didn't even hesitate to talk back again. "Leave her be goddammit!!!" My father quickly turned around and slapped me in the face hard. The skin on my face started to turn red from the pain, I touched it and quickly sucked it up as it were nothing. I quickly readied a fist and used all my strength to punch him with all my strength despite having a somewhat bulky build. My fist struck his face so hard that he lost his balance and hit the ground while my mother kept screaming. I angrily told him "Never show your cursed face in this househild again!!!". He wiped the blood from his face and told me while stuttering. "D-Don't say that shit to me, kid. Because yo-you're gon-nna need my ass here for a while. The military took our crops, and some of our livestock for their dumb war." Shock came to my face after realizing our situation. "Not only t-that. We got a whole lot of shit to pay off at the bank, we are truly fucked, augh... God... you didn't have to strike mw that hard you dumb kid, I'm gonna get this nose fixed somehow." My dad went to the kitchen, but I stood still, trying to find out how I can help this family. I can't get a well paying job anytime soon, I don't have any qualifications, all I knew of some sort of experience was just helping crops grow and taking care of livestock. I kept on thinking on how do I help my family out of a financial crisis, it snapped to me. With a heavy heart, I said to my mom. "I will... Enlist in the Army...." A loud smack could he heard in the kitchen and my father immediately sped walked to the living room with an angry expression while my mother immediately tried to stop him. My father screamed out to me "Have you gone MAD?!!? You're just gonna join the same people that took our stuff?! Think about it!" I replied back to him, defending my decision. "We don't have a choice.... Wherever mom goes, she always gets struck cause she's a woman. But when she finally got a job at an arms factory, the pay isn't even equal to the men there. The best job out here right now is to fight in the war or just straight up be homeless because the damn bank would just take it." My father hastily replied. "I'd rather be goddamn homeless rather than bury my son." Despite his words, I hesitated for a bit, but ultimately, I stayed firm. "I'll keep this damn house on your hands even if it gets me trapped in a coffin."