Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Letters To Home - Life as a Marine

This is not a real letter, although it is a good commentary on the perception of what is a hardship! Give yourself a backwoods drawl while you'r reading it...to add to the ambience! LOL!


Dear Ma and Pa:

I 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 got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water.

Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, and stuff, 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 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 get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice, but awful flat.

The Sergeant is like a schoolteacher. He nags some. 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 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 little metal 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 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. He joined up the same time as me. But I'm only 5'6" and 130 pounds and he's 6'8" and weighs near 300 pounds dry.

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

Your loving daughter,
Gail


7 Comments:

  1. Bernita said...
    Loved this, Bonnie.
    Mine's 105 lbs, soaking wet, and she's a marksman too.
    jel said...
    LOL I thought it was Ella May Camplett talking when I read it!

    thanks for the laugh Bonnie! :)

    have a great day!
    Denise McDonald said...
    LOL - good one!
    Gordon said...
    That is great!
    WannabeMe said...
    Yeah, it reminded me of Ella May, too! Funny!
    Bonnie S. Calhoun said...
    Oh, jel...I thought the same thing!
    Ballpoint Wren said...
    Dear Gail:

    I joined up with the Seals like my recruiter told me was best to do. The other guys are all complainin about all the yellin and screamin and orderin around the sergeants do at us, and the crazy stuff they make us do, like the time they made us stand up all night in the rain, holdin a boat.

    Every now and then one of them city boys can't stand it anymore and runs off and rings the bell, but really, them guys in charge ain't got nothin on Ma when she's been into the corn likker.

    Love,

    Elmer.

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