See my book Dear Me to download and read the complete manuscript.

This article introduces my book "Dear Me," an unpublished collection of letters, available here for download, that I wrote to my high school "sweetheart" when I was a "grunt" in the Marine Corps in Vietnam.

The letters were written between June 1966 and October 1967.  They can be grouped into three parts:  1) letters from Marine Corps boot camp; 2) letters from aboard the USNS Barrett, a Merchant Marine ship taking approximately 1,500 soldiers and 500 of us marines to Vietnam; and 3) letters from Vietnam.

The letters all show an attempt by the writer to maintain a lifeline with home, and thus normalcy.  For the most part they are rather “typical” of chatty love letters, but every now and again there’s a jewel that reveals just how difficult things had become for the writer, but even more so just how immature we were then, a fact quite embarrassing to reveal so publicly now.

Most of the names have been changed for privacy reasons.

Come visit or revisit the 1960's, a time of turmoil and uncertainty not too different from today. Come get a sense of life in bootcamp, on board ship and in a war zone for a 19 year-old kid. Experience his youth, his struggles, his despiration, and the way his personality evolves over one year that seems like a lifetime. And from that, extrapolate to gain a feel for life in today's military.

 See my book Dear Me to download and read the complete manuscript.