A LETTER TO A YOUNGER BROTHER

Executions by shooting

Dear Garth,
    I hope this finds you well. Things sounded good in your last letter and I pray they continue to go well for you. I am fine except for my new posting. As I told you in my last letter I am assigned to one of the security units in the new territories as a researcher and the work goes well. I expect that in a few years we shall have these people under control and I can then return to my former work. Unfortunately I have been assigned as an official witness for executions, a duty I find most troubling. Now I have no problems with executions nor do I find watching a killing disturbing in and of itself. What does bother me is the lack of professionalism I see at each one. It pains me to say that most of the men involved lack any standards or desire to perform well. Although I am still a civilian I am ashamed of most of the enlisted men and no few of the officers.  We should sent something other than the dregs to perform this vital work. Let me tell you of some of the things I have seen. I would suggest that you keep this letter private for reasons that will become clear as you read on. Also perhaps it is not something you wish to read just after a meal. I know all too well of your queasy stomach. 
    We have been given very clear and complete instructions on how to execute prisoners. Instructions that an idiot should be able to follow without trouble. Not the bunch I’m stuck with. Oh no. It started with the very first one and in spite of the experience gained it has gotten no better, no learning curve at all with these jerks. I suspect that I am with a band of sadists. A few examples follow.
     There are directions that forbid mistreatment of condemned prisoners but almost every one I see has been raped several times and several have had to be carried to their deaths due to their injuries. Bloody thighs are common as are bite marks, wounds, and bruises. A couple have had to be executed early because they were in danger of dying from the brutal treatment they had received. The prisoners range in age from very young teens to grandmothers and almost all of them have been raped at least once. Even worse here seems to be a sodomite or two in the bunch. They favor the young ones. It tears my heart to watch as a cute girl is dragged in to be killed  moaning in pain with blood, shit ,and other fluids still dripping from her crotch. It happens all too often. 
    Besides the rapes there are other things I find difficult to watch. The rules are simple and easy to follow but even the simplest are beyond the killers. Executions are supposed to be carried out by shooting a bound and blindfolded prisoner in the heart and then if necessary in the head. Not too difficult do you think? A large bore pistol loaded with expanding bullets is to be used and if one is not available then a rifle is the next choice. I’ve seen women shot with .22s for God’s sake. Shot and left to suffer for as long as several hours instead of being given a mercy shot to the head. Gut shot even. It’s disgusting and so unnecessary and in he long run it will hurt us. We do have one team that does try to do it right. Let me tell you about one case where things were done according to the instructions and then one case where it was bad. 
    Lt. G. is a good officer and has assembled a good team and while they cannot always control what happens to the prisoners before they receive them for some reason the ones they execute seem to be better treated that most. This is how its supposed to be done. She is led in in handcuffs with her ankles tied with a short rope. Blindfolded she stands while her clothes are cut from her body with no liberties being taken. She is sat in a wooden ay her armchair and tied to it by her wrists, ankles, elbows and waist. Her crime and her sentence are read to her. Present are myself, one other witness, the Lt., the executioner, a priest, a medic, and the two guards that brought her in and who will carry her body away. The priest spends a few minutes with her while last minute preparations are made. He leaves. The medic uses a magic marker to mark a spot on her chest between her small breasts. He backs away to allow the killer to aim. At the command given by a nod he fires once. The slender body jumps and shakes with the impact of the heavy slug. For just a second she sits quietly then she tries to inhale. There is a soft gurgling for a few seconds before her head drops forward and a trickle of blood runs from the hole in her chest. The body shivers and shakes a little. Time passes, liquid wets the chair seat and the smell of shit fills the room. Five minutes after the shot the medic checks for life. He finds none except for a reflex action when he touches her eyeball. It flinches and he steps back once more and reports to the Lt. who orders one more shot. At close range the executioner aims at the top of her head and fires a slug down through her head and into the top of her spine. The once pretty face is distorted by the force of the exploding brain as her head bounces around before falling forward again. The body twitches for another minute or two. The medic checks again and pronounces her to be dead. The body is untied and laid on a stretcher and covered before being taken away to be buried. An execution performed by the book by men willing to do their job.
    Contrast the last with this case. Once more the female is brought in only this one is already partly naked. One guard is trying to hold her upright while zipping his pants at the same time. Her clothes are ripped and her legs are bloody. She is also young and has already been seriously injured. I can smell the stink left after an anal rape. There is no blindfold. It takes both guards to hold her while the officer [ I use the title very loosely] cuts, rips, and pulls the few remaining rags from her body. His hands explore her body while he makes obscene comments to both her and those watching. There are perhaps twenty men there besides those of us required. He tells her she fucked up and now she will die. No formal reading of charges or sentence nor any priest. He tells the killer to get on with it. She watches and screams as the gun comes up and he carelessly fires in her direction as she is held up still by the guards. The slug hits low, just above her belly button. The scream is cut off by the impact as her slender body tires to fold around her wound. The guards hold her long enough for anyone interested to admire the gut shot body before they just let her fall to the ground. She lays there moaning in pain while some men discuss the idea of fucking her until she dies. But there is only talk, perhaps it is because they know I take the post of witness seriously or maybe because she is too much of a mess. Finally after almost an hour she stops moving or making any sounds. Her body is laying in a pool of blood face down. The killer stands over her and fires the rest of the clip into the center of her back. The slugs blow a fist sized hole between her shoulder blades. Someone rolls her over. Her face is frozen in a mask of agony. Her chest and breasts are nothing more that a ragged hole with fragments of heart and lungs and bone visible. She is thrown into a wheelbarrow and hauled away like so much trash. Almost all of the men have erections and more that one has masturbated. Disgusting.
    I am helpless to change anything. All I can do is report what I see and hope somebody will do something. What scares me is some of the feelings I have as I watch. Will I become like them?
                                                                                          Pray for me, your big brother;
                                                                                          SAM