Ah, Marquess Montague, I make no misreading of your words. In many circles, to do one's duty under a Free Company's banners is shameful, but not to me. Perhaps the best part of the Karrakin armies were slain in the Interest War - certainly, the best part of their pomp and splendor was. I recall well the blacked boots of the horse cavalry parading by, the heavy tanks rolling by. I believe my older brother, Lord Hyderad, had taken command of a mechanized infantry platoon in my father's division. It was a great conflict, though a dreadful loss. We lacked the biped cavalry arm, at that time, and our tanks were not so well-equipped as Harrison Armory's.
As you say, I did not see the glory of that war - I was too young, and by the time I was able to enter the armed service the war was already concluded. My service, too, was unexceptional - I fought from the beaches to the cities to the tunnels, but let no-one convince you that my service was especially heroic. No great deed of arms accompanies my name in the register of the men that served on Sanjak, and when I returned home I returned with just a campaign medal on my chest and a wound badge on my arm.
But glory is not honor, and the littleness of the struggle need not diminish the greatness of the man. There is, I think, something edifying about sharing that fatal danger with comrades, in pursuit of a worthy cause, to trust your life to another. It produces a willingness to bear hardship, a readiness for struggle, and an absolute resolution that does not come otherwise. I am proud of my little part in our little war, yes, and my rather larger parts in our other little wars since. In the end, the insurrection was contained; the Free Sanjak Army was unable to occupy any of our other worlds or to threaten Khayradin or Karrakis, and their inability persists to this day. I do not think more could have been achieved - it is ever folly to prosecute war against the people. I am proud of my platoon, and our little part in this little victory. I hope you can say the same of the troops that you have lead, and the victories you have won.
