Entry: August 10, 1941

August 10th, 1941

Palermo, Sicily

The sight of Salinda was most welcome. After a few months, one tends to forget how another looks. The entire squadron is in Palermo for a month taking in recruits and letting them train. Me and Hans have our hands full at the moment, training at least 3 full flights of new recruits straight out from the Luftwaffe schools. The new recruits not only includes pilots, but also many more mechanics. The chef is doing quite well currently, but his wife has fallen ill and has since been sent back to Germany. Whats worse, we now have another flight leader; Wolfgang Schneider. He and I are perhaps the most competitive, if not the most aggressive, pair there is in the world. We both practically hate each other.

Wolfgang and I met in high school when we were both freshmen. He was the ladies man, a kiss up, and when conditions are met, an unstoppable force always getting his way. He was always getting all the frauleins and the better things of life by one way or another. However, he had his heart set up and out over my dearest Salinda. However, Salinda was quick to notice his arrogance and his pushy ways and I already had a 2 month advantage on her. No wonder she chose me over him. We both went our separate ways in 1936 when all of us graduated. He went to Berlin to join the Luftwaffe whilst I remained in Emden to study flight. I decided to join in the Luftwaffe in late 1939, after some officers from the Luftwaffe offered me a job as a fighter pilot. The rest is history pretty much.

Now, me and Wolfgang have completely different doctrines in training the pilots. I was more ordered and taught the young recruits some more advanced maneuvers in dogfighting. Wolfgang, however, was something reminiscent of a drill instructor. He was more than ready to push down a green pilot if he did even the slightest thing wrong. The man simply demanded utmost discipline. There have been rumors of him selecting a certain recruit, taking him behind the field, and simply beating the living daylights out of him. The guy was almost half dead when he was thrown back into the line. The Colonel didn't mind this at all. However, there have been times of him pulling Wolfgang out for being too rough with the fresh batch of pilots. We both taught our students how to be as aggressive as possible and not to let personal feelings in getting in the way during a dogfight; to stay focused, flexibly, and you'll keep flying was the basic motto of the two of us. However, Wolfgang was more inclined of imposing his teachings on the students than I was. He was also lazy, often abusing his authority and failing to teach the students even basic combat maneuvers.

After the days lessons were done, I would rush to Salinda who was staying in Palermo to oversee her families' assets in Sicily. She has become quite wealthy from her contacts through Mussolini and others in the Fascist Party. However, Salinda was a kind and gentle hearted creature, often hiring people who got laid off or simply aiding those in need. She gave generously and tried her best to help the less fortunate whenever possible. What really made men mad for her was her beauty however. To Wolfgang, she would be just another pretty fraulein in his collection. I honestly and outright cherished her and loved her to the core, and she reciporcated the feelings. To this day, Wolfgang is still trying to think of a way get to Salinda. However, this girl is smart enough to either stay away from him or outright smack him when he gets too touchy.