Sept. 5, 1943
Sun. 12:30 P.M.
Dear Folks:
I guess I better drop you a line and let you know what I’m doing. In the first place we are so busy we don’t know whether we are coming or going. Our schedule is something like this: 7:00 we get up. 7:30 we eat breakfast. 8:00 code. 8:25 class on oxygen. 9:25 class on armament. 10:25 navigation. We get out of this at 11:25. Then we have P.T. at 11:35. Then we eat dinner. Then we have about 15 min. before we leave for the flight line. We get back from the flight line just in time for supper at 7:00 P.M. From 8 until 10 we have classes in officers status. We go to bed at 11:00 P.M. This is for 6 days a week. On Sundays we recuperate.
I went up in the AT-6 for the first time yesterday. Boy what a plane! It’s really got pep. 650 H.P. engine. I didn’t like the ride I gave my instructor but he didn’t say anything. He is nothing like my instructor at Basic. I’m afraid he is going to be too quiet.
Yesterday I also went and shot some skeet. I only got 10 out of 25 but he said that wasn’t bad for the first time. This is to get us in the habit of leading our target. We get some gunnery after a while. In the air that will be.
Last night I went to town and spent $136 on clothes. That sounds like a lot doesn’t it? Well it’s like this. When we graduate we are given $250 uniform allowance. We are required to have so much clothing and certain things. I’m going to try to not spend over $150 because I will need some to get home on and I will have to live a month before I get paid again. I still have a few things to get.
Boy if I can just get through this place I will be all set. I will be an officer and I will draw $225 a month. If I don’t make out as a gunner here I will probably be put on a B-24 or B-17 as a co-pilot. If I can make out as a gunner I will fly pursuit ships. I don’t care just so I get through.
It’s pretty hot down here now but we get a breeze off the water some. This place works us harder than any place I’ve been yet. But we don’t mind so much. Because the tactical officers treat us more like their equals and not a bunch of kids or a bunch of convicts. These officers realize that in a very short time we will be officers just like them.
Well folks don’t expect to hear from me very much for the next 8 weeks. I’ll be home for a while then and after that there is no telling where I will go.
I got my class book from majors today. I’ll send that and some pictures if I ever find a way and the time to.
Well I better close now.
Yours truly,
Alva
Ancestors Across the Ages 