it’s really too bad that this will probably be disqualified due to not following the proper formatting.

It really was quite a good story.

Hearkened back to stories of WWI.

A touching story. I liked how the sober tone of the narrator contrasted with the tragedies that were described. Only toward the end did we get an insight into the emotions and motivations behind the decisions. Very nice.

This was a beautiful, dare I say haunting examination of the realities of war and command. You've created a very compelling character in Marshal Leonhardt and her Very Significant Name. 

However, as evocative as the story was, it didn't seem to do much with the actual theme of the jam. I appreciated playing with the double meaning of 'intelligence', but I wasn't seeing a clear contrast to 'strength' - stupidity, possibly, or ignorance, or even self-delusion, but not really strength per se. I would also have liked a little more meat on the Marshal's "dear friend" and what exactly she, and her friend, hope to accomplish with the letter that is the story's central framing device. Overall those details don't much detract from what is still an interesting and effective work of writing.

Not fitting the formatting will likely get this disqualified. Which is a shame, because I really enjoyed it. Sure the characterization could have used some more fleshing out, and I'm not sure how more infantry survived than were originally under their command, but the structure and the subject matter were fantastic. Very grim, very dark.

Yay, more anti-Founder stories. Sad though that the HDF gets its ass kicked in this story, is it really that bad on the tabletop? I thought they just rolled out their tanks and crushed everyone? No?

I liked the letter as a framing device, and I feel like this story has good bones. I was waiting for a little more of the narrator's personality to show through, though - she touches on it in the sixth paragraph but I feel like that section needed a little more juice instead of the same dry tones as the rest of the letter.

Nice work, I like the frame and the alliterative work - it reinforces the compounding failures.  I perhaps would have like to have seen the letter either sent to a lover, close family member or the sort?  Or perhaps more jingosim?  Just a little that would either invite the reader for a moment self reflection or to try and read more into the narrator.

This was well written and addresses some of the dark truisms of the necessities of warfare for survival with the cost not just paid by the current generation.

I loved the idea of framing it as a letter. Very metafictive. It did make the story a bit less immersive but gave a way to increase scope within the wordcount. Shane its not on the nice template.

Well crafted. I liked the idea that surrounds this piece. I don't know if it'll be disqualified for not fitting the format, but here's to hoping.