Man at War – Excerpt No. 196

25 March 2026

“Because they do,” Marc said.

The man of war leaned in closer to Murphy. This part needed to be highlighted.

“As of tonight,” Marc said. “I want the three Sergeants to lead and expand into detachments they will form. My aim is to have men we can deploy as a combined force or deploy as detachments when needed.”

His second instinctively knew where this was coming from. It would make his men more resilient in cases of heavy losses, but most importantly they could take on larger threats.

a surreal and vibrant cinematic photo of 90 soldiers armed to the teeth standing in formation with intricately detailed early 20th century rifles and helmets, wearing earth-toned uniforms with gold buttons and badges, set against a dark and ominous nocturnal backdrop of No Mans Land, with faint hints of barbed wire and trenches in the distance, captured in a photorealistic style with a gritty film grain texture, under the faint moonlight that casts long shadows across the desolate landscape, with the soldiers' determined facial expressions and weary eyes visible beneath their helmets, their skin tones ranging from pale to tanned, with some sporting bushy mustaches and stubble, as the night air is filled with an eerie silence, and the overall atmosphere is tense and foreboding.

Disclaimer: This novel is an work in progress and readers may encounter grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Please view this a draft and not a published work.