Dear Ma and Pa,
I'm good. Hope you are.
Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for Old Man Minch at the Vualde creosote plant by a dang mile. Tell them to join up real quick before maybe all of the places are filled. I was restless at first 'cause you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m., but I'm 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 or rattlesnakes to kill. Practically nothing in the way of real work. Men got to shave but its not so bad, they gits warm water.
Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kinda weak on chops, potatoes, ham, chicken fried steak 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's not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox back home. Then the city guys gets sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.
The country here is nice, but awfully crowded - nothing like West Texas. 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 laughin. I keep getting medals for shooting! I don't know why, cuz the bull's-eye is near as big as a squirrel and it don't move. And it ain't shooting back at you, like the Higget boys back home. All you got to do is to lay there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even have to load your own cartridges. They come in boxes - imagine that!
Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join up before other fellers get onto this set-up and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter, Gail.