Journal #1 The Life in the trenches for the soldiers was as horrible as the author of All Quiet portrayed it to be. They were constantly being bombarded and not knowing what would happen next. They would lives days on meager pieces of bread and horrible water. Not only was the food bad but the living conditions were just as bad.  There were rats and mice, there were too many soldiers in a trench and hardly any room for anything else. The conditions were bad and the author did a good job explaining it. Mustard gas was a gas used in the war that smelled and looked similar to the yellow color and smell of mustard. This would and could kill people by inhaling it. It stung the eyes and was very dangerous. The author of AQOWF was not as dramatic with the gas problem as he was with the guns but he still portrayed the problem well by including some scenes where there were problems with gas.