The Bruder Report: Why we fight

Greetings reader, this is Kelly Bruder

I see there is a lot of hate coming my way for simply reporting what I see and hear.

Let me set the record straight. I do admit my writing style might leave some questions to my sources. That the questions I ask might be hard to answer. That it seems I am only writing to make headlines and not report the news. This is not true. I report what I see and what I hear. I add my own thoughts and I try to make the news interesting, to draw your attention to the goings-on in the fleet.

The question I ask you is ‘Why do we fight?’ Is it to simply survive? People need hope people need things to cling to and people need to know that they are safe. This war has changed us and it has changed the way we view the world. But to what ends to we change. what do we give up in order to be safe. I am just a reporter my pen is not that mighty. We owe our lives to the men and the woman who defend this fleet. As I stated in my first piece they are the stewards and guardians of this fleet. Our heroes who day-in and day-out put their lives on the line to protect this rag tag fleet from death’s cold embrace. Sure, I may write about their flaws. But it does not make what they do any less noble. I am not a pilot. Nor am I a warrior – I could not command my way out of a paper bag. My only weapon is my pen. I am not here to make the government or the Military look bad. I am here to record and inform the fleet of their actions be them noble or criminal. Had the CAG [Major Stiglitz] simply said something, anything, I would not have thought she was drunk. Had the commander given me more than she had I would not have had to fill in the blanks. The crew of the Pacifica and the government officers are good people. They fight so we don’t have to. I as a member of the press my only job is to tell their story and inform you, the reader, of their actions.

So I ask you again ‘Why do we fight?’ And I say to you we fight so we can live. Living is not simply eating sleeping and waiting for the next attack living is enjoying the time we have, engaging each other in conversation, seeking the truth for one’s self, not just what I write. my reports are meant to make the reader think and to seek that information themselves. My reports are meant to stir the imagination and give the reader the answers to the questions they want to know or even better give them the courage to ask themselves. Sure, I might piss some people off but that’s my job, to inspire or to anger. Truth is in the eye of the beholder and my readers you will come to find that truth is all ways from your point of view. So I challenge you, the reader, to ask yourself ‘Why do we fight’? If you found something I reported to be lacking, join the press, and report your point of view or come and find me to ask why I said what I said. Or ever better ask the person I was reporting on. This is our time. This fleet is what we make it.

I end this piece with this question: ‘Why do we fight?’ And I ask you, the reader, to look within yourself and find the answers for yourself. I will keep finding the stories you want to read about. Until they fire me or worse, kill me…, either way it goes… my pen will not stop until it is forced to. Some wish that I would never write again. So to you my reader I say this… If you pick up the News-Review and find my report cancelled…ask yourself ‘Why?’. If this is my last report, I thank you for reading and I say to you: ‘Never stop seeking the truth’.

This is Kelly Bruder, thank you.