Hunger

The text describes the experience of hunger in a combat position as a prolonged, quiet state that gradually alters the body, thinking, and perception of the world, rather than as a familiar sensation of an empty stomach. Food and water cease to be rituals or desires and become scarce resources that are strictly rationed, affecting concentration, emotions, and relationships between people. Hunger sharpens memory, hearing, and a sense of shame, strips a person bare, and removes their usual protective mechanisms. Over time, it turns into a constant background of existence, alongside cold, darkness, and silence. At the same time, under these conditions hunger reveals people’s ability to remain humane, to share, and to support one another.