Third Relief of Guard Duty

Marvin Dale Miller to his mother, 30 April 1970 — written from Fort Dix, New Jersey, on guard duty during basic training, the fourth surviving letter of the collection. Drawing guard in the "third relief," a weekend pass home and the long trip back, the puppies sold at home, a note that almost all the men with him are from his own 1st platoon, and his first detailed accounting of Army pay — sending ten dollars home from the eighty he drew that day.

Dear Mom,

I just received your letter a few minutes ago. Right now I'm in the third relief of Guard Duty, which means I don't go on duty until 9:00 P.M. It's about 6:30 now. I'm in a different barracks about a ¼ mile from ours. Almost all the guys with me are from the 1st platoon so we're having a pretty good time. Guard Duty is two hrs. on and four hrs. off. I'll have four hrs. of Guard Duty, the last two hrs. being from 3 to 5:00 A.M.

I'm glad to hear you sold all the puppies. They were pretty cute and that's what probably made them easy to sell.

I really enjoyed my visit home, even though it wasn't too long. It was a real pleasure to get up and do what I wanted to do. It was real nice seeing everybody. That Jimmy is one cute little boy, I hope he's behaving himself.

I really had some time getting back to Dix. I got to the Pittsburgh airport at 12:00 and couldn't get a flight to Phil. until 6:15. I was three and half hrs. late, but I haven't heard anything about it yet. I don't think I will. I'll probably get another pass this week end, but I won't have as much time as last week end so I won't be home. I'll probably go see a movie instead.

I owe a letter to Dan. I got one from him last week. I'll try and write him this week end.

I might go to the PX pretty soon so I'll close now.

Love, Marv

P.S. I'm sending home 10 dollars with this letter, tell me if you get it. I just got paid 80 dollars today and I already paid out $28.

Transcription Notes

• Transcribed from the original handwritten letter, dated "30 Apr. 70." Postmarked 4 May 1970 at Fort Dix, NJ.
• The hour he reports for guard is read as 9:00 P.M.: he writes that it is "about 6:30 now," that he is in the "third relief," and that his second stint runs "from 3 to 5:00 A.M." — a 9–11 P.M. / 3–5 A.M. split that fits a "two hrs. on and four hrs. off" rotation. The "P.M." on the first hour is faint in the scan but follows from the schedule he describes.
• "Phil." is Marvin's abbreviation for Philadelphia (the airport nearest Fort Dix).
• "three and half hrs." and the doubled "week end" are his own usages, preserved as written.
• The dollar amounts in the postscript are written plainly ("10 dollars," "80 dollars," "$28"); transcribed as written.

Archivist Notes

The fourth letter, and the texture of basic training: Written Thursday evening, 30 April 1970, from Fort Dix, New Jersey, about a month into basic training (which began 30 March — see the 29 Mar 70 letter). This is the first letter to show the day-to-day grind of training: he is pulling a guard shift, writing during the long wait of the "third relief" before going on at 9 P.M., moved to "a different barracks about a ¼ mile from ours" for the detail. The "two hrs. on and four hrs. off" rotation and the 3–5 A.M. stint are the ordinary rhythm of a trainee's guard mount.

"Almost all the guys with me are from the 1st platoon": A small line that the envelope confirms. The return address on the surviving envelope reads Co. B, 2d Bn, 2d BCT Bde, Fort Dix with "Plt. 1" written beneath it — so the "1st platoon" he mentions is his own platoon. Together the letter and envelope pin his basic-training unit for the first time: Company B, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Basic Combat Training Brigade, 1st Platoon, Fort Dix.

A weekend pass home — and a hard trip back: "I really enjoyed my visit home." He had a weekend pass the prior weekend (25–26 Apr) and made it back to Kittanning, then fought his way back to post: into the Pittsburgh airport at noon, no flight to Philadelphia until 6:15, returning "three and half hrs. late." He shrugs off the lateness ("I haven't heard anything about it yet. I don't think I will") and notes he'll likely draw another pass the coming weekend but with too little time to go home — "I'll probably go see a movie instead." The trip sketches the geography of his training year: Kittanning → Pittsburgh → Philadelphia → Fort Dix.

First detailed Army-pay note: The postscript is the earliest accounting of his pay in the collection: "I just got paid 80 dollars today and I already paid out $28," and he is mailing $10 home and asking her to confirm it arrived. The instinct to send money home and track it carefully runs straight through to the Vietnam letters — most plainly the 26 Feb 71 letter ("Jojo the Monkey"), where he lays out keeping about $35 a month and banking the rest, and the 22 Feb 71 letter, where the Elderton-bank payoff-and-savings plan begins. Here, as a Private E-1 a month into the Army, the habit is already set.

Family: "That Jimmy is one cute little boy, I hope he's behaving himself" — Jimmy, the oldest son of Marvin's brother Don ("Buss") and Shirley, and so his nephew. This is the earliest mention of Jimmy in the collection, from April 1970 — well before his baby brother Dean arrives in the later letters (Dean first appears Jan 1971; the "little ones won't remember me" worry of the 7 Mar 71 letter is about Dean, with hope that Jimmy might). Dan is his brother (the rifle owner of the 29 Mar 70 letter); the brothers kept up their own correspondence — "I owe a letter to Dan." The sold puppies are a thread of ordinary home news that he answers point for point.

Cross-references:

• 30 Jan 71 & 7 Mar 71 — later letters on Buss and Shirley's boys (Jimmy and baby Dean)
• 29 Mar 70 — the first letter; basic training about to begin (this letter is ~a month later, mid-training)
• 22 Feb 71 ("Distribute the Heat a Little More Evenly") and 26 Feb 71 ("Jojo the Monkey") — the later, fuller pay-and-savings letters this postscript anticipates
• Letters 2–3 (Apr 1970, Fort Dix) — the training letters between this and the first (transcriptions pending)
• Letter 5 (24 May 70, Fort Polk, LA) — the next surviving letter, after the move to AIT
• Profile timeline — induction and training, spring 1970; basic-training unit now pinned from the envelope