Card Apprentice Daily Log

Date- 28 Mar 2321

Time- 12:34

Location- Sky Blossom City, Guild Association mall, Warehouse no.234

"Cousin, I think you should give the Bright couple a leave. That girl is pitiful." Luna advised Anna, see Corey have an emotional breakdown in front of them. 

"I always believed soldiers don't rest till the enemy is dead but never considered the impact of their absence on their loved ones. It seems I should reconsider some of the rules I sanctioned for the soldiers stationed at Way beyond." Way beyond is an active war zone, and nobody knows what will transpire next. The soldiers stationed there do not get extended leave to visit their loved ones. Nor are they allowed to contact their immediate family. The situation at the Way beyond is highly privileged information. And who is stationed where at the Way Beyond is highly confidential information. To avoid any leaks about the outpost location, the soldiers are refrained from contacting their families. 

Recently due to the frequent war with the supreme beings, the rules on the soldiers stationed at the way beyond has gotten stricter. And some of the recent regulations were sanctioned by Anna herself. So she felt terrible seeing the emotional breakdown of Corey. To call someone else her mother, clearly, this girl has gone through a lot. 

"Princess, people will face much worse if the supreme beings cross the way beyond. So, please do not think emotionally." Unlike his granddaughter, who just had experience in labs, Lorenzo had walked the front lines and knew what was in store for humanity if they lost the war at the Way beyond. Therefore he reminded Anna of the authority she holds by addressing her as 'princess' and reminding her to think practically and not let a movement of weakness destroy centuries of sacrifice. 

"..." Hearing Lorenzo, Anna remembered why she sanctioned such harsh regulation over her soldiers. Because her grandmother and family said that was an excellent discussion. 

"You could use the rotation visitation method. You will have to make many adjustments, but it will boost morale. If the soldiers are happy, I think it's worth a try." Having ordered Burgers and fries for everybody and piazza for Anna. I weighed in with my opinion on the topic. 

I did not get much information on Way Beyond. Still, I learned that due to security issues, the soldiers stationed at way beyond are not allowed to contact their families or get enough leaves to visit their families in person. There are only three ways the soldiers at Way beyond can come home, in a body bag, handicapped, or after completing their term. The second and last option rarely happens as the casualty at Way beyond is very high. And the soldiers chose to stay till the end of their tour by continuing to fight using prosthetic limbs and organ cards. It is not that the soldiers at way beyond are more patriotic than other soldiers. Instead, after what they have witnessed at Way beyond, the soldiers understand that their sacrifice is necessary. 

"Boy, you don't even know what we are talking about. So don't talk out of your butthole." Lorenzo shot down my idea without even listening to it. 

"Rotation Visitation method, what is it?" What Lorenzo thought did not matter. Anna was the shot caller here. 

"Princess…" Lorenzo wanted Anna to not fall for that charlatan's words once again, but having tasted the nectar once, it was hard for Anna to recluse the second time. 

"Quiet, Old Man. Wyatt, you proceed. But remember, your privilege level is not high enough, so I cannot talk about personal stuff about Way beyond with you." Anna was willing to hear what I had to say but was not ready to disclose any confidential information without following the proper protocol. 

"No, need of that. Just think of this as a debate on Military Welfare." What I was going to talk about did not require any extra information on Way Beyond from Anna, so I asked her to rest assured as I would not be asking her to break any protocol. 

"Good, they go ahead. The floor is all yours." Anna replied that she was all ears. 

"Let's say you have ten confidential temporary outposts that change their location every month. And each outpost has a hundred soldiers. 

Every month ten soldiers out of 100 soldiers get a week off in each of the ten outposts. Adding the ten soldiers on leave in the ten outposts, we get 100 soldiers at rest. 

Now using these 100 soldiers in rest, you created an 11th temporary outpost in the safe zone where the families can visit the soldiers. If visitation is too much to ask, they can do monitored video and phone calls to their family from the 11th outpost. 

I don't think the soldiers will mind doing extra duty during one of their leaves once a year if they get to talk to their families. As I said, the plan would require a lot of adjustments and resources. " This wasn't my Idea. Back on earth, the federal government used this system to let the VVIP states' witnesses speak to their loved ones. This example I used makes the rotation visitation process sound more manageable, but in an actual army with millions of soldiers, this was very difficult to arrange. 

"Great, that could work. But, why only once a year? can't we do this rotation visitation once a month?" Luna, who had the slightest knowledge about the Military and its protocols, was quickly hooked on my idea. 

"No, during this visitation, all the outposts will be a few soldiers short." Seeing the question mark on Luna's face, I knew she did understand what I was trying to say. So, I celebrated, "According to military protocol under enemy attack, all personnel present in the outpost on duty or leave should respond to the commanding officer's call. So every month, those that are on rest leave for visitation. Then the outpost will be ten soldiers short the whole year. Therefore the visitation can only be allowed once a year for every soldier." 

"Can't they allot extra soldiers to each outpost to fill in the soldiers that left for visitation?" Luna came up with an obvious way to solve the problem, more soldiers. 

If they had enough soldiers in the first place, the military would have given their soldiers extended leaves to visit their families in person. This simple thought did not cross the mind of the great researcher, Dr. Luna. I guess her expertise is only limited to the field of research. Anyway, what she thought did not matter. Once again, Anna was the shot caller here and what she thinks goes.