Martian Civil War

To get down to brass tacks, this is about the Martian Civil War. As with all civil wars it is a violent conflict that could have been resolved peacefully. However, the politicians and militia men of Mars decided to Kill their fellow countrymen. This is a war over one thing the independence of the planet Mars.
===The issue at hand.===
The Martian civil war began on July 4th, 2213, although fighting did not begin until December 17th, 2214. The Martian civil war (as of July 4th 2216) has claimed over 44,900 Martian lives. It is estimated over one third of that is civilian casualties. Those civilian casualties come from insurgents from the Sons of Ares killing loyalist civilians and assassinating prominent politicians in Tharsis and Hellas. Other civilian casualties result from the incompetence of the Martian Defense Force getting civilians fleeing for their lives killed.
=== Beginning Shots ===
While the war may have started with the assassination of Andrew Tanaka the first shots were not fired until the Dryhorn Massacre. The Dryhorn Massacre occurred on December 16th, 2214. The events of the massacre occurred as followed; On the Morning of December 16th, 2214, 10 soldiers of the Martian Defense Force and one ION security contactor entering the town of Dryhorn, Madison, at 10:17 AM, local time. While conducting a search for a weapons cache the soldiers were ambushed leaving the . In the immediate hail of gunfire two soldiers of the Defense Force were killed with another one being injured. The remaining soldiers retreaded back into the saloon to tack cover. It shall be noted that the Ion security contractor risked his life by leaving the saloon to retrieve the surviving soldier. During the two hour long shootout the soldiers attempted to contact reinforcements but could not, as all communications in and out of the town had been halted by separatist forces. However, the Ion contractor was able to contact a armored truck to retrieve them, unfortunately it could not get close to the town, due to suspicions of anti-tank weapons being present in the town. The soldiers were going to have to conduct a fighting retreat. The events of the retreat are not clear, with the survivors having conflicting accounts of the chaos that ensued. All that is known is when the soldiers made it to the rendezvous point only two of them were left and both were heavily injured. Their injuries were so severe that neither were expected to survive but they both managed to come out alive.
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