August 25, 1941, 84th Combat Engineer Battalion, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. I thank you all for seeing me off! Arrived from La Guardia, at Dulles, and reached Fort Belvoir, Virginia, by bus, about 3 PM, August 19, 1941, reported to the general headquarters there, and was sent to the 84th Combat Engineer Battalion, which required another bus, as the place is SO large. This time, it was an army vehicle, a small truck, that let me off at Battalion Headquarters, (84th,) which set me up, temporarily, at a barracks where recruits were stationed until they were issued equipment, and assigned to a specific Company in the unit. Already, would you believe it, I am the round peg in the square hole! Mostly, what followed, was filling out papers, settling down, so to speak, getting my stuff from supply, and finding out where I'll be placed. Well, that's behind me now; I lay stretched out on my own cot, surrounded by a bunch of strangers, staring at the ceiling of the building, which has a small sign over the front entrance, reading Company "C," 84th Combat Engineer Battalion. My God, it's strange; like a whole new world; and, naturally, I am uneasy: a week has passed, I still don't know a soul around here, and, I feel very isolated.... The clothing I was issued at supply doesn't fit at all; I think they are World War I leftovers! I look like one of those doughboys in patriotic posters of that war: leggings, olive drab woolens, helmet, pancake-style, long-johns, and an Enfield rifle, British-made, which might have been used in the Boer War! By the looks of this, things appear to be tight, don't you think? Practical jokes, around here, I discover, are a way of life: "bingo," and they pull something on you; this is all very strange, but gradually, I believe, I will fit in. Mostly, now, after the preliminaries, mainly lectures on military principles, swearing in, all the rest of it, we are in the vast drill field across from our barracks at Belvoir, learning the complexities of close order drill. I try to remember left from right, but it is HARD, under these conditions, and the Sergeant, an older guy, very lean and mean looking, takes a dim view of my confusion. I am lectured, at length, the others watching, my intelligence equated at the zero-level, or even lower! Gradually, however, I am getting the knack of things; how to survive around this place. I handle the Enfield, the full-pack, cartridge belt, canteen, all fairly well, still, albeit, a trifle clumsily, I do admit ... Most of the men, with a few exceptions, are in the same fix, just civilians, with no experience in military matters. Well, it appears, that is of little consequence; the army expects this, and will MAKE you fit in, no matter how inept you might be. As far as the mess is concerned, it is not bad, not exactly home-cooking, but, adequate. I'll get a first-hand view next week, because as a recruit, they have kindly nominated me for kitchen police! I tried to tell the Sergeant I thought it was unfair so soon, but he laughed, rather nastily, and told me I was a "NOBODY," adding: "DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?" Then he shouted again "NOBODY," making sure the others would hear him. Anyway, to tell you the truth, I did know that, and I decided NOT to pursue the discussion. One difficulty, aside from the rather unfriendly attitudes of the non-comms, are the aches from the physical nature of the routines. God, I am a mass of pain from head to toe: the long sessions on the drill field, and the stress, morning and night, has done me in. Barracks here at Belvoir are permanent, pretty solid, slightly better than elsewhere, I hear, two-floors, heated. if you need it, and with large spotlessly clean latrines. Nevertheless, adjustment comes hard for me; it is so strange; morning formation at 0530 hours, lights out at 2000 hours; the grinding activities between, have me totally disoriented! I am used to being up late; late sleep in the morning, but that is just a memory! There is no philosophical side to life here; the, Manual is God, as the Sergeant says, and I believe him.... In concluding, let me say that I am getting the swing of things--but slowly. This does not preclude my asking myself what all this implies. My life is upside down, I feel threatened, separated from all the values important to me. At night, when the lights are out, I lay unable to sleep, thinking about what the future holds. I know it doesn't do any good to brood over these changes; what comes, comes. I admit I am a misfit here- I guess we ALL are! The main comfort is that I am not alone; I have you, our families, and look, all those other guys. Seeing, in the dim light of the barracks, the rows of sleeping men, gives me some comfort. No one can predict the outcome of this mess; we are not at war at the moment, but as you and I have discussed, that eventuality, with conditions as they are, is going to happen. We must just take events step by step, doing in a small way, what is necessary. Well, that is all I have to report at the moment; no big surprises; and nothing, really, I didn't anticipate; tell everybody back home, I am safely launched, with the immediate prospect, I understand, of approximately six months of recruit training, which is, as I have already said, the basic stuff of soldiering. I will write as often as I can; the opportunities are mainly on weekends, but I will TRY to sneak in a few during the week....