Am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer
the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile.
Tell them to join up quick before maybe all of the places
are filled. I was restless at first because you got to stay
in bed till nearly 6 a.m., but am getting so I like to
sleep late.
Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth
your cot and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to
pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically
nothing. Men gots to shave but it is not so bad, as they
get warm water.
Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal,
eggs, bacon, etc…, but kind of weak on chops, potatoes,
black eyed peas, grits, fried eggplant, pie and other
regular food. But tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit
between two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus
yours holds you till noon, when you get fed again. It’s no
wonder these city boys can’t walk much.
We go on “route” marches, which the Platoon Sergeant says
are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it is not my
place to tell him different.
A “route march” is about as far as to our mailbox at home.
Then the city guys gets sore feet and we all ride back in
trucks. The country is nice, but awful flat. The Sergeant
is like a schoolteacher. He nags something awful.
The Capt. is like the school board. Majors and Colonels
just ride around and frown. They don’t bother you none.
This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep
getting medals for shooting.
I don’t know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a
chipmunk and don’t move. And it ain’t shooting at you, like
the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there
all comfortable and hit it. You don’t even load your own
cartridges. They come in boxes.
Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before
other fellers get into this setup and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter,
Gail
