In the winter of 1987, deep in the Thuringer Wald of (then) West Germany, I stood on a hill at sunset, looking out over the valley. The low cloud cover allowed only a sliver of sunlight through, casting the dark green trees below into stark relief against the red-orange tinged snow covered valley.



In spite of the low rumble of the M-113 APC a few dozen yards behind me, in that moment, I felt that I was the only person on the face of the Earth. It was both starkly lonely, and also somehow comforting, in a beautifully chill manner.