Bill received his first letter from home, and he is very happy about it.
After taking about trying to get a pass to leave the camp (these are not available until having served 6 weeks in the Camp), he then talks about his army classification, which determines where he will end up1. He is unable to get the work for which he is qualified; all the quartermaster’s corp is filled up. As well the Army Selective Training Program is also over crowded and thus not available. As a result, he remains in the infantry, although he thinks that after six week has can look into transferring to the ski troop. His impression is that 50% of the men won’t see active service, and he feels he is a “4F”2 (unqualified for active service). With all that, he has been moved to the 79th Infantry Battalion as a rifleman, from the 86th. Given his poor eye sight he is uncertain that this is the right decision.
As a result of the move, Bill thinks he might not get paid until January 1st, and so he asks his parents to send him $10.
- The question of classification will be a recurring theme in many of his letters going forward. To put this in context, Bill had poor eyesight and was not physically very strong. In the year prior to joining the army, he had been sick and out of school for much of the year. I suspect that he believed that these two conditions would rule out combat role for him. However, this assumption would be tested regularly ↩︎
- The 4F status was typically assigned to individuals who:
(1) Had medical or dental issues that made them unfit for military duty
(2) Suffered from significant health problems, including malnourishment
(3) Were physically or mentally unable to meet military service requirements ↩︎