could "organize" oneself some fine task. Maybe he could even have got "protection" for himself, if he were an expert or had some partic-ular talent. Instead of all that he just went to the front. And in his naivety he thought that everyone else was doing the same.
When he was on leave at home he first noticed that not everyone had signed up after all. Some were waiting for the right moment, had applied for a temporary exemption. And as the military bureaucracy came into being, they were among the first who jumped in. They had time to go from office to office and make the necessary contacts, to get the right words whispered in the right ear at the right time. And nobody thought about those who were lying under cannon and mor-tar fire and didn’t even have the time to think about the distant rear.
But now that they had the time to catch their breath, to ponder, and to discuss, a bitterness crept into their hearts that would affect their activity at the front. They saw how less talented colleagues quickly climbed the career ladder while they remained in the lowest ranks. They discovered how low their chances of promotion were. This particularly affected those who distinguished themselves in combat, who volunteered for particularly dangerous tasks, and who naturally knew that they were good soldiers. For their career advancement this was of no significance.
* * *
In the early days, when we came home on leave, we would see friends in civilian clothes. At that time they had a strange look, as though they were embarrassed. And without being asked, they rushed to excuse themselves and to explain that they were going to sign up soon.
Now it is different. These friends all wear uniform and are soldiers - better turned out and more "martial" in appearance than the front-line soldiers. A rear aristocracy has formed. And now when you come to the city on leave, you have to explain why you are out there on the front, instead of having organized a good and important job in the city. And you feel what they are silently thinking: "Ah well, a talented lad. But he just can’t get himself organized ..."
In his book All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque describes how a veteran from the front comes home on leave. He comes across an elegant young major who has never been at the front but attaches great importance to the correct execution of a smart