Dear Mom and Dad,
Just wanted to let you know I’m doing fine here in the Marines. Tell Jimmy and Tommy they’re missing out big time – this beats milking cows before sunrise any day! At first I thought sleeping in until 5am was lazy, but now I can’t imagine waking up earlier. The morning chores here are nothing compared to home – just making my bed and polishing some gear. No animals to feed, no fences to mend, no eggs to collect.
The food’s different than what we’re used to. Plenty of fancy things like orange juice and cereal, but where’s the proper breakfast? Those city recruits barely eat though, so I just take their bacon when they’re not looking. Helps tide me over until lunch. No wonder those soft-handed boys can’t keep up on our training marches!
Speaking of marches – the sergeants call them “conditioning exercises,” but it’s just walking to me. About as far as from our porch to the north pasture. Half the platoon is limping by the end while us farm kids could go twice as far. They load us all in trucks to come back anyway.
The officers aren’t so bad. Sergeants do all the yelling, captains just watch, and the higher-ups mostly drive around looking important. Wait till you hear this – I keep winning shooting competitions! The targets here just sit still, not like those pesky groundhogs back home that always duck at the last second. They even give us the bullets ready to go – no reloading needed!
The hand-to-hand combat training is almost funny. These city boys crumble if you look at them wrong. There’s only one guy who gives me trouble – some giant from upstate who’s built like our prize bull. I did pin him once though, and you should’ve seen everyone’s faces!
Tell the boys to sign up quick before everyone figures out how good we’ve got it here.
Love,
