Siege of Orgrimmar [Durotar, Patch 5.4]

Corporal,

Due to the high risk nature of the mission, tensions were still high at the time of our "de-brief" from Sergeant Vanimelde. There appeared to be contempt and frustration displayed at our progress, despite the fact that it paid off, and this left us feeling quite disgruntled. In an attempt to defuse the situation, I approached Sergeant Vanimelde who stated immediately that all of us would be receiving administrative paperwork against us for dis-obeying her order to not venture further than Tirigarde. Further attempts to reason that we saw "better" and took an opportunity presented to us to not only achieve the mission objectives, but obtain further beneficial gains for the Durotar forces only served to cause her to repeat louder, and slower, that we were getting penalised regardless. Anger boiling over, I was pushed so far as to tell her we knew better for being out in the field than "some pompous, snooty Human sat by a fire in the safety of camp". For this, she decided to raise further administrative actions against me, to which I informed her I would be speaking with the Captain about her behaviour. Tensions still high from the mission, and further conflict from the Sergeant drove me to the desire to strike at her. It's at this point, the 'buzzing' we spoke about grew louder, and louder. I realised that if I stayed around, I would either break down in front of her or I would go into a rage, so I attempted to vacate the area to try and calm down, but the buzzing grew too strong, and I broke.

As we began discussing this, I would have elaborated if not for the Horde attack. Needless to say, my mind has "reset" after the Horde skirmish, and I should be fine for some time, provided tensions don't rise again and we get into another fight soon.

If you would like to share what you know so far of this 'buzzing' that afflicts my mind with others, then please do share it as it can only help me back onto the path of normalcy.

Regards,

P. Windfury.

Sergeant,

I apologise for breaking down last night and letting my illness get the better of me. What you saw, was only the beginning of a long arduous disease that affects my mind, and was the reason I was highlighted as a potential Sha threat very early on in the Pandaria campaign. That being said however, most of what I reasoned, I stand by.

Had you have listened to our de-brief, you would have learned that during our venture North, we saw conflicts further up North that disguised our presence quite well. Conflicts, which were then witnessed, watched, and noted to possibly have a high importance to someone in this conflict who can make use of the information we brought back. The Night was fast approaching, the sun was setting on the mesa and being Kaldorei, it is rumoured that you cannot see in the dark as well as we can. Myself and Hawksong had perfect clarity of the night, we saw for miles, we saw opportunities, we saw very little risk, or threat, and even bringing along Lance-Corporal Cuddlefork proved to be a useful asset due to her state of the art technological eye frames.

We knew full well what we were getting into, Sergeant. We knew the risks, we knew what awaited us if we were spotted, but good training, good procedures and good unit cohesion brought us through our mission, without a single soul knowing we were ever there. Your doubt in the capabilities in your (wo)men, is a detriment to us all if you believe that if given the opportunity to further the Alliances goals, we should not think for ourselves, and instead listen to out-dated orders on a rapidly shifting battlefield. We are not paid from the neck down, Sergeant. We are thinkers, we are scholars, we are warriors and we are tacticians. The more you impose strict, and ruthless orders upon us and punish those who defy them for the greater good, the more your men will grow to resent you.

Your men, represent some of the finest and some of the worst the Alliance has to offer. As I said last night, some of the races you work with may even double or triple your lifetime experience and that's not just the Kaldorei or Draenei. The same Dr. Cuddlefork who you praised to the Moon about how her ingenuity brought you back from the brink used that same ingenuity to see our mission to fruition and yet despite her vast years of experience, and her proven worth, you have chosen to give her an admonition for her work that went above and beyond the call of duty to provide you with valuable intel and the resources you were willing to risk our lives for.

As a final note, I would ask that you would remember that most of us in the 157th signed up voluntarily. This is a volunteer service, not a conscription for most of us, and at any point we are free to put in our paperwork to request dismissal from the service. We're here to bring our talents to the Alliance where they will best be used, not to act as mindless drones and the more you treat us like the last chancer conscripts, the more likely it is you'll be handing out these admonitions, and the more likely it is you'll find people dismissing themselves from the service. I will hope you start respecting your soldiers a little more in the future.

Regards,

P. Windfury

Cdr,

I would like to address a grievance against Sgt. Vanimelde and would prefer not having to go to the next in line superior, Lt. E. Ashdown due to their relationship prior to the recent admin order.

Previously before the events transpiring up to last nights Horde mission, Sergeant Vanimelde ordered myself, Recruit Hawksong and L-C Cuddlefork to move out towards the Durotar mesa to hunt for 'medicinal herbs'. The reasons for this mission is unclear, as we had plenty of medical supplies stockpiled, numerous divine magic healers on stand-by, as well as reinforcements and supplies arriving throughout this Operation. L-C Cuddlefork first addressed a complaint about the mission, by stating the she was not a botanist, and would have no use of them, stating also that she knew of no other that could make use of them in comparison to state of the art medicinal supplies we have stockpiled and the aforementioned Divine healers. Sergeant Vanimelde deflected this criticism with humour, and moved past this. I then made her aware of the fact that we were in a dry, arid desert, and that any usable medicinal herbs would not only be hard to find, but would have been stripped from the ground long before our arrival by the Rebellion and Kor'kron forces alike, due to it being their native landscape and knowing its produce quite well. This was also deflected with Humour, and we were sent on our mission regardless.

It's at this point, that the group consensus was that no matter what logistical or otherwise difficult problems we produced, she would order us out on the mission regardless. We took it upon ourselves, using our vast years of service and experience to best devise a way to accomplish the mission, and in doing so, managed to secure further intel than was required of our mission.

Going above, and beyond the call of duty despite being given a bad mission, is not grounds in any military I have served in, to punish your Soldiers. We put ourselves in potential tremendous peril, to ensure that the mission had some fruition, and yet this was met with nothing but scorn, and anger. Officially, I understand the need to ensure some order upon your troops to keep things fluid, and to keep the war machine turning, but the proportion of what we have done, in comparison to what we have received is shocking to say the least.

I could possibly understand her reaction, if not for the fact that we ventured no further than areas you previously had given me clearance to lead a mission to two days prior, something she would have learned if she had read my mission report. She states that her intelligence of the goings on in and around Durotar was superior to my own, yet failed to spot me and my six man squad two nights previously when we were operating in the area attacking the Convoy as detailed in my last mission report, and failed to take into consideration that my own eyeball was receiving better information on the field at the than her out-dated reports of the Durotar battlefield from two days previous.

Sergeant Vanimelde also previously spoke with me in private, many moons ago, about how I am free to speak to her about my complaints in a private manner, so long as I do not start to spread dissent amongst the troops. This was more than acceptable, it is the same way I am familiar with across the many branches of Military I have served amongst, but to then use that same 'permission' to highlight my concerns as a weapon when I get frustrated and call her "snooty" and "pompous" in light of her behaviour, has left me feeling as if I was led into a trap. The very fact that in a private conversation, I expressed my feelings towards her in words no more wounding than a flea bite, was enough for her to reprimand me and declare that I will be "punished" is just laughable.

I would like to challenge the administrative action she intends to take upon Dr. Cuddlefork and Keya Hawksong, as it was my judgement call that forced the mission to proceed as it did, and not theirs, as well as challenge her intentions to 'reprimand' and 'punish' me on an official account due to a private disagreement. If you would like to speak with me in private, I shall be about camp, and I await your decision on the matter Cdr.

Regards,

P. Windfury.