Dear Mother,

Well, I'm all set to ship. All my bags are on the train and I'll be on it early tomorrow. I didn't realize how much stuff I had to carry with me. I have 9 pair of pants, 10 shirts, 2 wool shirts, 2 fatigue uniforms, a blouse, an overcoat, about 14 pair of underwear plus lots of other stuff. I have more clothes now than I ever had before. Yes, I still have my suitcase and black sweater. We are allowed to have a suitcase. This is because we live just like officers.

At Primary we will have complete officers quarters. I went down to see Charles last night - he is going to Stamford, Texas, which is 150 miles from San Antonio. He said that Edith has left here - don't know where she is now. (I don't anyway.) I still have one frat brother with me - Don Leugeman. He's also going to Pine Bluff.

It seems that Betty is pretty much "put out" with me, but it doesn't bother me much. My sole interest now is in growing some wings. She asked me what Jean has that she doesn't have. I just told her that Jean doesn't have anything that she doesn't have, but Jean's here and Betty's there! It's rather a hard way to put it, but Betty was entirely too serious. I think a lot of Betty, but I'm not for getting in a mess like Charles. I think she's cooled off quite a bit.

Speaking of Jean, she was out last Wednesday evening. We had supper at the Service Club and danced for a while. She left for home at 8:00 p.m. I'm going to try to get a pass tonight to see Rich for a while. But, I might be restricted to the area because of shipping orders.

Well, I must close for a while - I'll write "en route." I hope they have some decent trees in Arkansas. All they have here is mesquite and palms!

Lots of love,
John M.

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