January 6, 1971

Dear Mom & Dad,
I was very happy today when I got your letters.  It was the first mail that I've received here so far.  I've got a lot of things to tell you and I hope I can get them all in this letter.  I will start out with what I consider my biggest news!  I've ordered a car!  Yes I didn't wast much time in ordering it, and guess what kind it is!   A LOTUS EUROPA!

I can hardly believe it my self, even though I've already paid 10% down on it and I should get it in a week or two.  The total price, including transportation and everything came to $3577.00.  That's about $800 less than the one I priced in Portland if I remember right!

I'm in the process of getting a $2599 loan from the American Express which gives fairly good deals to military personnel, and the balance of it I will pay with my own funds, (about $727.00).  So when I get it I will have $1077 paid on it, and I will have the loan paid in 24 months.  The only thing that will really kill me is the insurance which will be very high, although I don't know yet exactly how much.  But this car is so great, and I want it badly enough, that I am willing to pay the extra for the insurance!  The color will be what they call burnt sand.

Someone is going to drive it direct from Britain to a place called Kaiserslaten Germany, and the agent who sold it to me will drive me there so I can pick it up.  It's a brand new 1971 and the only miles on it will be what it takes to get it here from England.  Needless to say I am very excited about getting it!!  I went out a few days ago and bought a coat that was made in England, and it's a Harris Tweed which you probably have heard of...It really looks sharp and I thought it would be appropriate with the Lotus!    I will write later and tell you all about it when I get it.

Now I will go back in time a few weeks and tell you about my trip over here because I guess I neglected to do that in my last letter.

I was very nervous about making my flight to Germany from Ft. Dix, but as it turned out I didn't have anything to worry about.  I got to Ft. Dix at about 9:00 PM and if you remember, I had to be there no later than 1:00 AM.  Well it turned out that the flight wasn't supposed to leave until 3:00 AM.  That's a night I won't soon forget because the plane didn't really leave until 6:45 AM, so I spent the night  (about 9 1/2 hours) waiting in that terminal with about 300 other people.  But finally we did leave!  The plane wasn't the best I've flown but it was a regular commercial DC 8.  It was a charter outfit called universal Air Lines which I have never heard of and probably will never hear of again.  The pilot was a fat old man who looked like he just got off an all night drunk and the stewardesses were nothing to write home about...so I won't.  But I won't gripe too much, because they did get me here one way or the other.  The flight over was the shortest day I've ever seen.  the sun was just rising when we left, and since we were flying against it, 3 hours or so later it was already getting dark out the window.    I didn't see much on the way, except what the pilot said was Nova Scotia as we left, a patch of ocean here and there between clouds, the coast of England in the dark and the lights of Paris just before we landed.  It was about 7PM in Frankfurt when we landed.

I just found out a few days ago that I'm not where I thought I was!  That might sound funny, but it's true.  When I first got here the only clue I had as to where I was was to look for the city Neustadt on the map since that was the place I went to on the train.  Well it turns out that there are about a half dozen Neustadt's in Germany and I was looking at the wrong one.  So I'm not right on the East German border like I told you before, in fact I am only about 35 miles from Erlangen, where I was going to go in the first place, about the same distance west of Nurenburg.  It's not really a bad position to be in, except that there isn't any big city real close.

Now I'm going to try and tell you something about my job, or at least what I know about it so far.  The first two weeks I spent in Headquarters mostly waiting, which I am used to by now, but on the pretext of "processing in" to the unit.  During the holiday it was very hard because most everything was closed down, and when they were open they only worked half days.  But I finally finished going through all the red tape and got to see the Colonel.  Right now I am in a rather strange position in that I am not actually in charge of the club and won't be for another month or so.  They want me to just hang around the club and the manager and try to learn as much about it as possible before I am put officially in charge.  This is really good for me and I didn't really expect to get such a good deal.  The only thing is I feel kind of in the way and useless and I will be glad when I actually have some authority.  Although I am not officially in charge, I've been hanging around enough and bugging everybody that I was finally given a little responsibility today.  In fact tonight at 12:00 PM I am going to take in the money and lock up.  Right now its 9:30 PM and I'm writing this letter in the office of the club (trying to look busy)  The bar stays open till 12:00.  We serve 3 meals a day, but just about the only people who eat here , unless there is a banquet or something are the single officers and teachers (who teach at the school on post and also live in the BOQ)  One thing I would really like to start is getting more married people coming to dinner etc.  The food isn't too bad now that they got this new German cook, but everybody is still scared off from the last cooks who were enlisted men, and from what I understand smoked dope in the kitchen and I guess their food showed it.  Also along with the club I will be in charge of the BOQ's which are right next to the club.  I have already been given the job of finding furniture for quite a few of the rooms that are completely bare and also I have to find and hire some German cleaning lady to do the upkeep over there which they are also lacking.  I've got to get this done by the 15th.

Right now the Custodian of the club and the NCO club and the enlisted men's club is a SSG who was put in as an emergency measure after the 2nd LT. who had been custodian of the O cub was kicked out.  I will be taking the O club off his hands in a month or so.  He will be leaving about March and at that time if everything is OK at the O' club I will be given the NCO club and the enlisted men's club.   I don't know if I should look forward to that or not.

There are 135 members of the officers club, and it is fairly small as O'clubs go, but the building is only about 4 years old and is fairly nice inside although the plaster on the outside is falling off which gives one a bad impression at first.  It has a good size bar and a separate little room which has nothing but slot machines in it!  Also it has a fairly large room which is used for banquets, dances, etc. and of course an office which I don't really feel I can call mine yet!

My biggest worry doesn't have anything to do with my job at the club.  On Jan 16th the Brigade is going to have a real big formal dinner at somplace near Nurenburg.  They call it a "Dining In" for some reason.  There will be two generals invited to it and it is really a big deal.  Well anyway I am now the junior officer of Headquarters and Headquarters company of the 1st Bde, so this give me the dubious honor of being made what they call "Vice President of the Mess"  This doesn't have anything to do with the club.  What it means is that I have to make two toasts at this big dinner with the Generals.  One to the dead soldiers of the Brigade and one to the President of the mess, who is the Colonel.  Also along with a few other junior officers I have to recite the history of the 4th Armored Division.  My biggest worry about this whole thing besides the fact that I hate to speak in front of groups and the fact that I have never seen a formal toast and don't really know what to say, is the fact that I don't have and Dress Blues!  Mainly because the things I shipped from the states haven't got here yet, and it doesn't look like they will by then!  Well it's a problem, but I will get a pair one way or the other.  Probably will end up borrowing a set from soneone.  I will be glad when it's over with.

Well I've written enough for now......

December. 22, 1970

Dear Mom and Dad,
I hope you got the post cards I sent you along the way.  If you did, you will know that I made it to Germany OK.  It was a very long and involved trip, but I finally made it to my duty station, in fact I just arrived about an hour and a half ago.  I am now sitting in my BOQ room writing this letter. Guess what!  I'm not in Erlangen, but in a place called Illesheim.  Not only is the name unpronounceable, the town is so small you won't find it on most maps.  The Post is also very small, but about 10 times the size of the town, which consists of about a half dozen buildings and a Guest House.  Not only is it small, it is also a long way out in the country.  to get here I took a train from Frankfurt to a town called Neustadt which is big enough to be on the map, but probably won't be on the one I left home.  Neustadt is right on the East German border and as close as I can make out, about 65 miles due North from Nurnberg.

Anyway after I got off the train in Neustadt a Lieutenant from Illesheim picked me up and after about a 30 minute drive on winding country roads we got here.  So all I can tell you about where I am is that I am about a 30 minute drive from Neustadt in some direction which I don't know, and about 65 miles from Nurnberg.  Why my orders were changed like that at the last minute, I really don't know...that's just the Army's way of making you more confused I guess.

But I do have a club here, which I had my doubts about getting.  After hearing what little I did hear so far about it from this lieutenant who brought me here and after a brief inspection, myself over a beer, I'm not so sure that I should be too happy about it.  It appears as thought the club is in real bad shape financially.  The last club custodian was a 2nd Lt., like me and also "school trained" at Ft. Lee, like me, but I guess he had quite a hard time with it, and was put in some other job after a few months.  So I'm the one who is going to replace him.

Well tomorrow morning I have to report to the Colonel who is in charge of the post, so I think I will go to bed now and get some rest.  I will try to continue this letter tomorrow

Sat. Dec. 26

Well it's been about 3 days now since I started writing this letter.   I was very tired the night I started writing.  As I am writing now, I figure that it must be about 6:00 AM your time, the morning after Christmas.  I've had kind of a hard time adjusting to the drastic time change.    I really hope you had a good Christmas.

Really, at this time I can't say much about my impressions of Germany, because I haven't seen any of it yet, to speak of.  Right now my biggest job is to get into my job as Club Custodian and start doing as well as I can in it.  I don't really plan to start doing any real sight-seeing for a month or so, or until I get settled.  The only contact I've had with Germany so far was the train trip from Frankfurt to Neustadt which was really quite an experience in it's self, even though it was dark, which made it difficult to see outside.  The passenger cars are divided into little separate rooms with 6 seats in each.  The rooms are closed off with a glass door and windows that look onto a very narrow hallway that goes from one end of the car to the other.  I had one heck of a time trying to go through that narrow hall, with my 3 heavy pieces of luggage, looking in each glass enclosed room for an empty seat.  To make matters worse there were hundreds of people also in the hall walking around and I was clogging up the whole works with my suitcases!  I finally did find a seat and had an interesting conversation with a German girl who was anxious to try out her English - which wasn't too hot.

Well anyway, to get back to life here in Illesheim, things are really dragging along at a slow pace.  I haven't started working yet and have spent most of my time in my BOQ reading and writing.  This is a very bad time of the year to check into a military post.  On Wed. and Thurs., everybody was only working half days which made processing in difficult.  Friday was Christmas and everything was closed tight.  Today and tomorrow are also semi- holidays, so I won't be able to finish processing in until next week.

There is about a half inch of snow on the ground, and it is very cold here which makes going outside difficult in my yellow windbreaker.  Very soon I think I will buy a heavy coat.

I want to get this letter off as soon as possible.  Please drop me a note so I know that you got this OK.  My address is below:

2LT. M  L B  ss#  (we would put our SS# right in the address)
HHC 1st Bde, 4th Armored Division
Attention - Officers club
APO NY NY 09140

Post Cards On The Way to Germany

Dec 20, 1970

 Made it to Chicago OK - So far so good!  Must go to bed now so I can get up early to catch the flight to Philly.
Love,
Marty

                                                          Dec 20, 1970

I made it to Philadelphia without any difficulty.  I have plenty of time, so I am catching up on my sleep here before I get a bus to McGuire AFB.  should be leaving McGuire in 9 hours.
Love,
Marty

                                                           Dec. 21, 1970

It is now 4:00 AM , Monday Morning.  I've been waiting here for about 7 hours.  My plane should leave in about an hour.  There has been some delay.  I am very tired, but every thing is going OK.  Will write as soon as possible after I get in Germany

                                                         Dec. 22, 1970

I made it!  I am now in Frankfurt!  I spent the night here at the Rhein Main Aerial Port Hotel which is run by the Air Force and is completely American.  It is now 10:00 AM, Dec. 22.  I just had breakfast and I am about to try and arrange transport to my station.  I was told last night by the Replacement Battalion that my orders were changed from Erlangen to somewhere else.  I don't know where yet!  Will write when I get settled.

PS...It's snowing!!

October 6, 1970

Dear Mom and Dad,
Everything is going OK here.  Until about a week and a half ago it had been very hot, with almost every day reaching into the 90's, but finally there was a break in the heat and it is now a lot more pleasant.  In fact, in the mornings it is down right cold, but it does warm up during the day.  The leaves are beginning to turn and everything is looking very nice.

I'm really beginning to feel at home here - having a car has been a great help (I leased a Ford Maverick)  I really love to take off on a Sunday and just drive without being concerned as to where I am or where I am going.  This weekend I went to the Virginia State Fair in Richmond.  It really wasn't as good as the Oregon State Fair, but still it was interesting, and most of all I enjoyed seeing the great cross section of people who were there.

Last Friday I graduated from the basic QM course.  I'm enclosing a copy of the program from the Graduation.  The diploma that they gave us is more impressive looking than the one I got from college. Looking back I am slightly disappointed in the course.  There was much too much concentration on general military subjects, with no more than about two weeks devoted to actual Quartermaster functions.  this is especially bad because any commander I might be under in the future will expect me to know everything about all phases of logistics, just because I have the Key and Wheel on my coat.  the Supply and Service officers course, which I was going to go to, before I went V.I (Voluntary Indefinite) is where they get down to the real nitty gritty of supply.  Hopefully though, since I am going to the Open Mess management course, I will be put in a job where I just have to know about working in an Open Mess, but unfortunately they don't promise you that you will be working in your MOS.

Well the OMM course doesn't stat until Oct 18, so I am now on Interim duty which started yesterday.   I've got a fairly good job for the next two weeks.  I check Id's and OK checks for cashing in the commissary!  the best part about it is that I only have to work a half day, because there is another Lt. on the same job.  One of us works from 8:00 to 1:00 and the other from 1:00 to 6:00.  Also we can work out our own schedule so we are going to work it so one of us will work a full day on Thurs and Friday and the other will work a full day on Monday and Tuesday, so this way we can both have a 4 day weekend!  It's not bad at all for about $50 a day!!  It is also a good break from study and classes.  During the last week of the Basic course we had two days of on the job training which was one of the better things we did.  myself and 3 other Lieutenants were assigned to a company with 400 men in it, which was run by one 1st Lt. who had been in the Army for only about 8 months.  One of the days that we were with him happened to be pay day for the enlisted men, so we got to help him pay the troops.  The pay roll came to $39,000 in cash!  I've never seen so much money in my life.  We had two armed guards with us all the time, while we were counting it and paying.  This was a great experience, because it is one job that is almost always given to the Junior LT. in a company.

Well that's about all for now, Please write when you can.
Love
Marty

September 19, 1970

Dear Mom and Dad,
Well after making two phone calls to you from here, I better start writing again.  I think I will tape some of this stationary on the phone in case I get the urge to use it again.  Not that I don't enjoy taking to you, but it does tend to increase the phone bill.  I can imagine what my phone bill will be like when I'm in Germany if I continue this practice.  That was my clever way of telling you that I am going to Germany, even though you already know this, it's the first time I've put it in print.  Yes I guess it's been about a week now since I made that decisive step.  That is when two people from the Office of Personnel Operations in Washington DC came down and interviewed each of us.  When it was my turn to talk to them, I first asked them about the chances of going to Belgium.  He said that that area was mostly limited to Majors and above, and the chances of a Lieutenant going there was not too good.  The same thing applied to Italy, but with over 60 bases in Germany they could almost guarantee a position there.  Well anyway I decided to go ahead and do it, even though it means another year obligation.  I hope you understand that I didn't extend because of any great love for the Army, but simply because of what I feel is a great chance to see Europe during a time of my life when it might be the most enjoyable.  Along with the change in assignments I also got a change in what is called functional schooling.  That is the school that I go to after the basic school, which was as you know, the Supply and Service Officer Course.  The functional school is what gives you your MOS (Military Occupational specialty) and in theory is the type of job you will do when you leave here.  The SSO course is probably one of the worst ones, mainly because it is so vague in nature.  it usually means to your commanding officer that you should be able to do anything in the field of supply operations, which is not the case, because it is mainly a survey course touching on many areas of logistics, which is fantastically broad and complicated.  Well anyway I got changed from the SSO course to the Open Mess management course.  I will now try to explain briefly what this course entails.  There are two main types of messes in the Army, an Open Mess and just a plain old Mess! ( I just read the above sentence and realized how funny that sounds)  A mess officer is usually an extra duty given to some lieutenant who has some other main responsibility.  As a mess officer you simply supervise the running of your units enlisted men's mess hall (eating place)  this is just one of the many extra duties that are given to young officers and you wouldn't have to go to the OMM course to do it.

An Open Mess is really completely different.   There are two types of Open messes:  One type for NCO's and one type for Officers.  Usually senior NCO's manage their own Open Mess and Officers manage theirs.    An officers open mess is another name for an office's club.  It could be be equated with a Country Club in civilian life.  At Fort Lee for example the FLOOM (Ft. Lee Officers open mess) has one fine restaurant, three bars, a swimming pool, a ball room, lounge and several rooms for meetings, etc.  Also it has a liquor store in it and a pizza parlor.

OK, now that you know what an Open mess is, the OMM course, in theory teaches you how to run one.  So that is what I will be doing in Germany.  I haven't got my new orders yet, so I don't know exactly where I will be, but I will let you know when I do.

Well I was going to buy a car here, and then drive home, but now I've decided not to, since I will be going to Germany.  It will be a lot cheaper to buy one over there, and it would be a pain in the neck to have it shipped over there.

I graduate from this basic school I'm in now on Oct. 2 which is two weeks from now.  on Oct 18 the OMM course starts here at Ft. lee, and it goes until Dec. 4.  Between Oct. 2 and the 18th I will report for what is called "casual" duty.  This is the Army's way of killing time for you, and it means just reporting in each day and doing whatever job has to be done, if anything.  Really this will be a good break from studying.  When I graduate from OMM I've applied for another week of casual duty, but I might not get it.  If I do get it, I will be able to spend Christmas at home, if not I will have to fly back to Fort Dix, New Jersey just a few day's before Christmas.  I have 15 days leave after OMM and I will depart for Europe from Ft. Dix.  Unfortunately the Army will only pay my expenses form Ft. Lee to Ft. Dix, so when I fly home during my 15 days leave it will be at my own expense, but it will be worth it since it will be the last time I will be home for 2 or 3 years.  A normal tour of duty in Europe is 3 years.  Lately, though because of Vietnam, most people only stay two years, and spend their last year in Asia.  But now it looks like that in 2 years, I won't be needed in Vietnam so there is a good chance I will spend all three years in Germany.  My total time int the Army will really be 3 years and 3 months if I do stay in Germany because the 3 months here at Ft. Lee don't count.

Well as far as the Basic course, I just have two more weeks of it left.  Last week we had a four hour test, which was really hard, but I think I passed it.  My roommate who has a masters degree in history flunked the test before that one, and had been going to a mandatory study hall for 2 hours a night.

Really everything is going OK,   I guess I better close now.  Here is my new address:  615 Dakar drive, Apt. 3, Petersburg Virginia, 23803
Love
Marty

Aug 22, 1970

Dear Mom and Dad,
Well I have just finished the first four weeks here!  Yesterday we got back from the A.P. Hill trip, which I told you about in my last letter.  We spent most of last week there, which also concluded the IMPT phase of this training.  The A.P. Hill trip was the hardest part of the time that I will be here.  We had to do things there that all officers must do as directed by CONARC.  (Continental Army Command)  Two of the most dangerous things that are required are the so-called infiltration course and the close combat course.  The infiltration course is the most physically demanding of the two:  you crawl about 300 yards, in the dark of night across a field covered with obstacles like barbed wire, logs, etc.  To make it interesting they fire live machine gun fire above your head.  If you lay on your back you can see the tracers whizzing above you.  If that bores you, they set off TNT charges every so often, about 2 feet from your head.  We had to go through it twice, once in the daytime, and once after dark.  I said that all officers have to do this, and they do.  At the same time as our class of Quartermaster Officers were going through it, they ran a group of Engineer Lieutenants from Ft. Euestus through, and about a dozen brand new Army Doctors, who of course are Captains, but have had absolutely no military training as we have. One of the doctors staggered to his feet at the end of it, and then promptly passed out, but he had plenty of help from his friends.

The Close Combat course was really much more dangerous than the infiltration course, because on the infiltration course about the only way you could really get hurt would be to stand up but there aren't too many people who would be that dumb. (Enlisted men don't go through it)  On the close combat course, though a whole squad of men would walk down a field with about the same type of obstacles. Each man carried an M-16 with live ammo, which each man fires as he goes down the field.  Your life is literally in the hands of the man next to you.  You just hope that someone doesn't trip or point his rifle slightly in the wrong direction.

There were other things we had to last week which I won't go into here, but I did manage to get through each day without too much trouble.  At least I really felt like I earned my money last week, which by the way I have plenty of now.  I just now added it up and found that so far I've been paid $812.85.  Only $316.27  of that was tax deductible.  Of course I don't have that much on hand, because it costs quite a bit to eat at restaurants and cafes, and the FLOOM for every meal which I have to do.  But I'm not hurting for money at all and we haven't even been paid any of our TDY money yet.  While I'm living on the post the TDY pay is $8.00 per day but when they make us move off, it will jump to $25.00 per day, all non taxable.  As far as I know now, we will have to move off on Sept. 4 which is about 2 weeks from now.  A Lieutenant friend and myself have already found an apartment in Petersburg which will be open by then.  It's $130 per month but we will share expenses which will make it fairly cheap.  Apartments off base are really hard to find because of all the military personnel living off post and because the apartments have to be approved by Fort Lee before you can live in them.  That is because a lot of the places discriminate against Negroes, so the army won't let their people live in them.

So, because the place that we've found doesn't discriminate, it is not the best place around, but it is air conditioned and has a swimming pool, both of which are an absolute necessity in this weather.  Sometime around the end of Sept we are supposed to get a check for about 2 months of our TDY pay which will come to about $1000..  At that time, I think I will buy a car.  It has been very difficult so far getting around without one, because Ft. Lee is a lot bigger than it looks on the map, and it will be worse when I have to move off post.  As far as what kind of car I will get, I am really not too sure right now.  I still think the Lotus is great, but so far I haven't found anyplace around here that sells them.  I might have to go as far as Wash DC to get one and when you come right down to it, it's a lot easier to talk about spending that much money than it is to really spend it.  So I might settle for a TR or something like that, but like I said, I'm not sure yet.  Last weekend I saw a little more of Virginia.  I went with a friend and saw Fredericksburg.  It wasn't quite as interesting as Williamsburg, and it was more commercialized, but it was a strange feeling to stand in the area where the biggest battles of the civil war were fought. We also saw James Monroe's law office in Fredericksburg, which has been restored and is fairly interesting.

The biggest news around here lately has been the new Army policy of cut-back on active duty tours.  I will try to explain it briefly.  About half of all ROTC graduates who graduated last year will get what is called active duty for training (ADT).  We were given a letter that explained all this and two forms with it.  One form was a request for ADT, which means 3-6 months of active duty and 8 years of active reserve.  The other form was a request to continue with the regular two year active duty program.  Now there has been  a lot of rumors connected with this thing.  It has been said that the 50% for ADT applies to the Army as a whole and that only about 5% of Quarter Master officers will get it, because there will still be a big need for supply officers in Asia, even if all Infantry troops are pulled out.  Even so, about 60% of my class, which is about 75 strong with only 5 who are not ROTC graduates, requested ADT.   I did not request the ADT program.  I want to give it more of a chance than 3 months and 8 years of active Reserve is quite a long time.  I haven't made a decision yet as to if I will stay in another year though for the Voluntary Indefinite program.   So far, I really like the life of an officer, even though we've done a lot of things, I'm not crazy about.  I'm looking forward to going to my first duty assignment and actually doing the work of an officer.  I've had all the privileges but none of the responsibility yet.

Well that's all I have for now.  right now I have to go to work on a 10 minute briefing I have to give Monday morning for a class called "Effective Speaking"  (just like college again.....so long for now
Love
Marty

Aug. 11, 1970

Dear mom and Dad,
There is a whole lot of things for me to write to you about, so I probably will forget some things, or jump around a little.

Thanks a lot or your letters and also for the things forwarded.  Could you also forward anything from my bank, especially deposit slips.  I've sent three checks to them so far, but I'm never sure if they reached them alright until I have a deposit receipt.

The last letter I sent you was on the first or second day I was here, so now in the middle of the 3rd week I have a better idea of how things are run.  To tell the truth, things so far are going very well, at least compared to summer camp. This first four weeks, as I think I told you before, is all general military subjects most of which I've had before, but it is meant to be a review, and a so-called period of adjustment back into military life.  Many of the lieutenants in my class have been out of ROTC for a year or more to get advanced degrees and several have been to law school or other types of graduate schools.  This is, I suppose the main reason for this type of training for the first four weeks.  Like I said, it hasn't been bad so far, a lot better than summer camp, even though we're doing many of the same things we did in summer camp.  There are two main reasons why things are going better here:  One, and most important, we are treated with 100% more respect than at summer camp, with absolutely no harassment from anyone.  Second, after duty hours our time is more free, and our living environment is much more pleasant.  These two thing combine to give one a a better mental attitude and also relieves a lot of the tension that was ever present at summer camp.  This helps one put out a lot more, when he has to and you can do whatever it is a lot better.

Dad asked about my daily schedule, so I will now try to give you some idea of what I do every day, even though it changes, every day.  Most of our time is spent in class, listening to lectures on general military subjects.  Each day we also have an hour of PT or an hour of "Dismounted Drill"  (marching) or both.  Some days we also have an early morning inspection.  Also we have to instruct dismounted drill and PT and of course we also have daily leadership positions.  All this is more or less like summer camp, except with a little more time in the classroom.  To give you a better idea I will tell you a blow by blow description of what happen yesterday for example:

Mon. 10 Aug

0800-0950 - dismounted drill with arms
1010-1100 - shots (ouch!)
1110-1200 "Personal affairs"  (a one hour class on that subject)
1300-1600  Mechanical Training- M-14 Rifle
1610-1700 Physical Training (PT)
 Another example:

Tues. 11 Aug
0715 -0750 - Inspection
0800-09850 Preliminary rifle instruction
1010-1100 - "Message Preparation"
1110-1200 - "Signal Orders"
1300-1450 -"Radio Telephone Procedures"
1510-1600- Conditioning Drills (PT)
1600-1700 - Open time

These are examples of just two days, but they are fairly representative of what I have been doing.  The normal day runs from 8:00 to 5:00 with an one hour lunch break.  At the end of next week we will be done with this phase of the training and will start studying about what Quartermasters do, so they say.  Next week will be the hardest.  That is when we will have to leave Ft. Lee and go to a Fort that is part of Ft. Lee but about 70 miles north, called Camp A.P. Hill This is when we will have the hardest field training including crawling under machine gun fire (don't worry though, nobody's ever been hurt) etc.  After that, the hardest part is over, and my only problem will be staying awake in class.

Now as far as what I've done on the two weekend I've had off.  The first weekend: On Saturday I went into Petersburg, which is a town about the size of Longview, I would say.  It's amazing that in Petersburg every building looks like a historical monument and most of them are just rooming houses or public buildings.  Every place you go through , there are historical monuments and other interesting things to see.  Also that day I went through the Petersburg National Battle Field which is only 2 miles from Ft. Lee.  I don't have time to tell everything that was there, but it was most interesting.  I really had the wander-lust that weekend so I rented a car on Sunday and drove through Richmond and all the way up to Wash DC.  I really had great time, even though it cost me a mint, and I doubt if I will do it again, but it was a great way to get oriented to the area I am in.  Mainly I took country roads, and it took me a long time to get there, but it's hard to tell you how enjoyable it was.  When I did get to D.C. I didn't have much time since I had to get back by 5:00 but I did manage to see the capital.  After I left the capital I got fantastically lost, but I just took my time and finally found my way out of that maze called Wash DC  I am going to have to go back and spend a day or two if I can, to see everything.  Last weekend I went with a friend to Williamsburg.  It is unbelievable the work they've done in reconstructing that city.  We spent most of a day there and still didn't see everything they have to see.  On the way there we stooped at a place called Shirley Plantation.  The same family live there now as did nine generations ago.  Robert E. Lee's mother lived there also.  It was very interesting.

I better stop now,I have to get up early tomorrow.
love Marty

August 1, 1970

Dear Mom and Dad,
Well I made it here to Ft. lee without too much trouble.  I guess I must have just missed Jim when I got on the plane, but I did get his card.

There is an awful lot to tell you and I might forget some of it in this letter, but eventually you will get it all.

When I got off the plane at Richmond, it was just like walking into Gone With The Wind or some other fictional story of the South.  the first thing I noticed, and still notice a great deal, was the heat.  It just hangs on you like a wet wool blanket, with absolutely no breeze to disturb it.  The airport had remarkably few people in it for a major city airport, and I will always remember standing outside waiting for a cab, with sweat dripping off every part of my body and the only sound around to interrupt the heat was several very loud crickets.

At the airport I met another fellow who was to report to the officer basic school also, so instead of getting a hotel room that night, we went straight to Ft. lee and reported in.  It was dark on the way in, so I didn't see much of Virginia, and so far I haven't been out of the camp so I won't make any comments about the state at this time.

At this time I am staying in the BOQ and I must admit that they are very nice.  The rooms come up to the standards of many motels I have been in, including maid service, done by a staff of hard-working negro ladies.  The only problem is that we must pay for the room at a rate of $2.00 per day and also as far as eating goes we have to more or less fend for ourselves.  There is no regular mess hall that we eat at and we have to find, and pay for our meals to the best of own abilities.  So far I've been eating at a few small cafeterias that are close to wherever I am at the time, during the day.

By far though, the best place to eat is at the FLOOM (Ft. Lee Officers Open Mess).  that place is really fantastic, and they have a buffet dinner for $2.50 that would make both of you very happy, including the huge salad table and main courses like sword fish, standing rib roast, etc. (including baked potatoes)

But of course all this stuff adds up, and right now I am a little tight for money but the future looks very bright financially.  First of all, in a few day so they say, they will give us a $200. advance on our first pay check, then in a few weeks we should get the $300 uniform allowance.  Then in about four weeks everyone will have to move out of the BOQ and find a place to stay off post.  This will be very inconvenient  without a car yet, but very profitable.  This is because at that time we will start drawing the full TDY pay,  Now believe it or not the full TDY pay is not $16 per day like I thought but $25 per day!! (non Taxable)  Just before we move off post (this is done to make room for another class of basic officers coming in) they will give an advance for a month of TDY pay which will come to almost $1000 (1 thousand)!  This TDY pay is completely separate from basic pay and since I will have to live off post for the remainder of the time I'm here I will get the TDY pay for the whole time, including the second 10 week school I will go to.

As for the school its self it looks like it will be very hard, to say the least.  To give you an idea of the studying we have to do, yesterday they issued our books which came to a grand total of 35 good size books and pamphlets.  The first four weeks are going to be almost like summer camp.  They call it the Intermediate Military Training Phase.  During this time we won't study much about the QMC but will concentrate on basic military stuff.  I hate this type of work but I've got go through it anyway.

One good thing, though is that when we are done for the day at  about 5:00 our time is our own, unlike at summer camp, and the BOQ's are very nice places to come back to, also unlike summer camp.

Well I still have a lot of things I must do tonight to get ready for tomorrow, so I really must stop writing now and say goodbye for a while
Love
Marty

This blog consists of transcripts  of letters I wrote home between Aug. of 1970 and May of 1971. after receiving my commission as a 2nd Lt. in the US Army.  In the summer of 1970 I was sent to Ft. Lee Va. for additional training in the Quarter Master Corps, and from there I was sent to Germany around Christmas of 1970 and was there for more than a year.  I was 22 years old when most of these letters were written.  I had originally received orders to go to Viet Nam, but those orders were changed at the last minute, and I was given the opportunity to go to Germany by extending my commitment for a year, which I did.

 I've tried to leave these letters pretty much as they were written, although in looking back on them it's easy to see my youth and inexperience clearly, and after more than 40 years, I'm certainly not the same person as I was then, however this experience is a part of my makeup and foundation.  There are also some photos that I will scan as I go along in this project.  Some of the letters are quite long,  so it will take a while to get them all re written.