Just some interesting little tidbits of life in the Army, circa 1963:

1. His work group spent an hour and a half "steel-wooling garbage cans."

2. This is Virginia, and the nearest town, Petersburg, tends to regard Army personnel as "carpetbaggers." Because of military integration? Is the town segregated in the "Old South" manner? He doesn't say.

3. "The First Sergeant told us today that those married men who wanted to bring their wives near post to live must be sure they can pay for their care. 'The Army will not be responsible for paying bills for any person's family needs.'" Although, he adds, they do encourage enlisted men to marry. (Cuts down on the dreaded VD?)

I suppose we have been talking about getting married, and he is posting (I mean, writing) reasons why we shouldn't. Not that he was against the idea. He was just very practical. I was very romantic. Maybe I knew I wouldn't last. My romantic self wanted to wait for my man. My real self just wanted to have fun.

An explanation of G.I. (government-issued) and a list of the Army-style alphabet, apparently designed for security purposes, a "new list of nomenclature which would be used, each one, to identify in code for security reasons, each and every duty in which a soldier might participate."

So we get: A=Alfa (sic); B=Bravo; C=Charlie etc.

"To say the resulting winning names were humorous is to be kind of disrespectful of the pains to which serious-minded men labored in inventing just the right name which would onomatapoetically symbolize the very function being done."

I wish he had sent more than the alphabet.