← Part of Letters from Vietnam
letter
Letter to Terrie, undated — clerk training, an E-2 not a PFC, and 'I type too slow'
Charlie's letter to Terrie from Army clerk training (undated on the page; single sheet, dad231). He corrects something she wrote: he's not a PFC — a PFC is the rank of E-3, and he's only an E-2, one step up from E-1. He types too slow and makes too many mistakes to be a good clerk, he thinks; they keep throwing things at him, and he guesses it's because it's all new to him and the Army's forms have to be just so. He cares but he doesn't care. At least now they get time to themselves; it's very boring just waiting there, and he's seen quite a few very bad movies. He hopes she does better this semester with 18 hours, is sorry Sandy isn't going full time, and just hopes she finishes; her letter hinted she'd be staying at Maryland. Signed 'Love, Charles.'
What the letter is
A short letter from clerk training — the Army teaching Charlie to type and to fill out its forms “just so.” It is a small, funny, exasperated page (“I care but I don’t care”), and it matters mostly for where it points: the clerk skills he is failing to love here are the ones that, a year later, land him the Camp Eagle clerk desk in Vietnam — the rear-area job that took him off the line. The complaint is the origin of the reprieve.
Transcription
Dear Terrie,
Got your letter today. One mistake, I’m not a PFC. A PFC is the rank of E-3 and I’m only an E-2 up from E-1.
I type too slow and make too many mistakes to be a good clerk I believe. They keep throwing things at me. I guess it is because it is all new to me and their forms have to be just so. I care but I don’t care. At least now we get time to ourselves. It is very boring just waiting here. I’ve seen quite a few very bad movies.
I hope you do better this semester with 18 hours. Too bad Sandy isn’t going full time. I just hope you finish. It hinted in your letter you would be staying at Maryland. Don’t work too hard.
Love Charles
What the letter records
Clerk training, and the seed of the Camp Eagle job. “I type too slow and make too many mistakes to be a good clerk… their forms have to be just so.” The Army clerical training Charlie is unimpressed by here is the exact skill set that would later matter enormously: the February 1971 move to the Camp Eagle clerk desk — “I’m in a relatively safe area” — was the rear job that pulled him out of the field for the back half of his tour. He learned it grumbling.
“I care but I don’t care.” The exact register of the whole training correspondence: the divided attention of a drafted man doing what the Army requires without letting it own him. It’s the same voice as the “it is all so petty” of the NCO-school letter and the “beginning to hate the army” refrain.
“E-2 up from E-1.” The rank correction dates the letter early: E-2 (Private) is one grade above the E-1 of the first months of service, well before the Spec 4 (E-4) he would make in Vietnam by November 1970.
Terrie’s 18 hours. “I hope you do better this semester with 18 hours… I just hope you finish.” The steady thread of him tracking and pushing Terrie’s schooling at the University of Maryland — the “keep studying” that runs from the training letters through the field letters a year later.
Scans
