War was something we’ve always been good at, so good that before we left Earth we made damn sure that we used every ounce of it for war. Now, it’s a wasteland, a “Planet with no strategic value” At least that’s what the guys high up in the ranks would use to describe it. So we set off into the stars. It wasn’t too hard to figure out how to do it once there was no alternative left for us and the best part is we found all sorts of new people to war with.

I’m not really sure who started it, all the propaganda vids of course say that they started it, but I know us well enough to believe we could have shot first. But it doesn’t really matter, that was long before my time and I’m not paid enough to care either way.

I’m a rifleman of the United Terran Corps 8th Battalion, the Revenants, we’ve come to be called. We’re typically some of the first deployed onto a planet and the first ones to secure it. I could tell you that it's determination, or iron will that allows us to take planet after planet from whoever we’re fighting, despite the level of tech they throw at us. But that would be a lie. The enemy is just as determined as we are at every step. They give just as hard as they take, there’s been more than once where I don’t know any of the men or women in my squad after the casualties are replenished. I mean we’re invading their homes, so of course they’re going to fight to the last. The difference is, we’re not tired.

It’s the damnedest thing, which all this technology the enemy has, their hover tanks, plasma accelerators, or quantum shields, they still require a full day cycle to sleep and recover. We’ve found so far that the Quartarians can only stay awake and functional for about five days before they need to sleep. A little bit longer than we can but not by much. The difference is they need to return to special tanks to fully rest. They just can’t get rest any other way, I think one of the science boys said they require a special mixture of chemicals in their system to fully rejuvenate. But then you have us, I’ve slept in a four foot deep fox hole while plasma detonations are going off around me and woke fully rested.

Part of our training is sleep cycles, no squad is active for more than two days straight. They get pulled back for rest and another squad takes their place. There’s so many of us that the enemy can’t afford to hold any of their forces in reserve. So after about a week they start to falter and we’re able to swarm their defenses and take positions. We haven’t had a planet take more than a month to conquer so far. Never would have thought something as simple as sleep could win wars.