Private Roscoe D. Schlink's Induction Day

Dear Folks: Just a few lines from your homesick army draftee. Just twenty-four hours in the army and if it was left up to me, I'd just as soon go home and forget the whole blamed thing. I feel I've been sentenced to life in the barren walls of Sing Sing. My first train ride was exciting for this old country boy, But beyond that the day has brought me very little joy. I reckon I'll never get used to their regulations and rules. The army is run by silly manuals written by asinine fools! I was stripped naked for dozens of very minute inspections. My arms are sore and swollen from numerous injections. Remember those wavy locks of hair that I pampered for years? In one fell swoop I was bald, almost driving me to tears! They prepared reams of paperwork and advised me of my pay. Wow! Twenty-one bucks a month, that's seventy cents a day! I hoped to be an air corps pilot but the tests just didn't agree, So I ended up as a buck private in the good old infantry! The captain swore me in - it's for the duration plus six, So there's no hope of getting out of this miserable fix. It's time to hit the sack, soon "Taps" will start to blow. Pray for me, write when you can, Your loving son, Roscoe. Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired (© All Rights Reserved)