NORTH DAKOTA FARM KID in the Marines (PARRIS ISLAND MARINE CORPS RECRUIT TRAINING)
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 all of the places are filled.
I was restless at
first because you get 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 is 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
until 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 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. And the
targets don't shoot back.
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 before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter,
Alice