Letter from a new Marine
Mar 8, 2006 at 6:16 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 5

Nicola O

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LETTER FROM A FARM KID (now at Camp Pendleton, San Diego, Marine Corps Recruit Training)

Dear Ma and Pa:

I am well. Hope you are too. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer that the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile.
Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.

I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m., but I 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 got to shave but it's not so bad... there's warm water.
Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on
chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie, and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by
the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you 'til 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's not my place to tell him different.
A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox at home.
Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.

The country is nice but awful flat. The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot.
The captain 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 head 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.

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys.
I have to be real careful though, they break real easy.
It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake.
I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6" and 130 pounds and he's 6'8" and near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join up before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding on in.








Your loving daughter,
Alice

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Mar 8, 2006 at 6:33 PM Post #4 of 5
Ha! That's too funny!

Billy Currington lyrics come to mind.

City folks got worries,
A country boy's got none
All I wanna be is the daddy of a farmer's son
You can have the big city, I wanna be a hillbilly.
 
Mar 8, 2006 at 7:00 PM Post #5 of 5
there is a fellow in my Wednesday Morning Breakfast group who just about lived that! He worked on a farm in Nebraska. He found it easy in basic, and ended up flying nearly any airplane the military had during the Vietnam War, working in Special Ops, doing all sorts of black ops behind the lines...he still is a gung ho, citizen, serving as chairman of an entire region of the Special Olympics for a couple years, then going to Afghanistan/Iraq/Somalia/Djibouti for KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton for two years, now helping in reconstruction of New Orleans. The stories he tells!! Curls your hair!!
 

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