"What fools we were to allow ourselves to be lulled into a warm sense of security by the events of the late ´80s and early ´90s. How childlike we were in our trumpeting of the new age of peace, prosperity, and good will. Democracy had come to Europe, and that meant that peace had come to Europe, for democracies never made war on other democracies.
    "What utter rot!
    "How could we have believed such naive rubbish with the lesson of history so plainly before us? Democracies have always made war on other democracies; it has been a fact of life since the earliest democracies flourished in Greece, and warred continuously upon each other.
    "How could we have forgotten that in the war of 1812 the two great western democracies made enthusiastic, aggressive war on each other?
    "How could we have forgotten that democracies represent the will of the people, and that the will of the people is often for war?
    "How could we have forgotten that Hitler was elected?"

                —Janosz Skrivkin, Chancellor of Croatia, 1999.

The war has raged for years. The high-tech ammo is almost gone. High-tech equipment is falling, piece by piece, with no spares to fix it. The front lines are held by a few grim, desperate soldiers.

The US 5th Division holds the line in Poland. Now, a Soviet encirclement has cut it off in a province ruled by ambitious warlords, local militias, and bands of marauding deserters. HQ is 200 klicks to the rear and powerless. Your last order sets you free:

“Good luck. You’re on your own.”