Alas I am celebrating my eighth birthday on the war front. Top Brass arranged for a celebration at the set of picnic tables I conquered a few weeks ago. She spared no expense on a vanilla sheet cake adorned with a plastic tank. I was confused by the robot decorations, but Top Brass said that's all she could find at the store. Dylan and his little brother Devin attended as well. It was nice to see them again, even if they were now civilians. I invited them to reenlist sometime. Dylan said he would consider it, but needed more time to think. Devin wanted to right away, but I insisted he complete his recovery first. He had been picking at the scab on his elbow so it was healing slower than expected.

Top Brass outdid herself this year with the requisition order. She got me the Desert War playset; the one that includes an SMG that rattles and makes shooting sounds, two plastic grenades, a scoped helmet that almost fits me, a sidearm, and a camo tactical vest with at least one real pocket. She also got me a bluetooth speaker I could tie to my belt loop so I could play all of my favorite war songs on the battlefield.

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There was one caveat to the whole thing. Top Brass invited the weird neighbor kid she makes me play with sometimes. His name is Travis, but he insists we call him Shadow. Anyway, Travis is really big on Japanese cartoons and adding the word "san" at the end of everyone's names. Dylan and I enjoy some of these cartoons as well, but we didn't want him knowing that. At the very least, he enjoys them much differently than we do. I just don't think he has what it takes to be a soldier, but Top Brass made me promise to play nice. I asked him if he wanted to join my platoon and he said would ask his senpai. I don't know what that means, but hopefully the senpai says no.