Dear Everyone,

Things here are the same as last time I wrote. Still lots of training, running, yelling, and mud. Food is the same too, nothing compared to grandma's meals - Grandma, you would be appalled at what they call food here! I think you'd all like my friends, Grandpa, you'd really like Lutz. He's a joker and he might be able to do better impressions than you. That or I just haven't seen you in a while and he's the next best thing.

Most of the men still like me. There are a few in other companies giving me a hard time, but don't worry. I can hold my own and the other guys in Easy have my back. There is one officer in Dog Company who

My direct CO Winters is still a good ally, since he normally helps me skirt around Sobel. But I still normally have a few more shifts on patrol than the rest of the guys or get latrine duties.

I still have my weekend pass this weekend, so after our Friday night march, I might actually get to go out with the guys to the local bars, but I still have one day to get through that Sobel might take it away.

Thanks for the picture last week, it's nice to see you all in a cleaner picture than the one that's gotten so dirty here.

I'll see if I can send anything, but since we are taking off in a few weeks for Atlanta and then Airborne School, I might have to take a break from letters for a couple of weeks until we get settle again.

I hope everything at home is good. Dad -delivery route still okay? They aren't giving you too many more hours at night are they?

Grandpa-hope your back pains are lightening up. Have you been to the doctor again? Maybe they have some pain pills.

Grandma-Did the annual cooking contest go well? I am sure they voted on your recipes for something. I can only imagine that you won at least 2 categories and made Maude Simpson mad as a bull!

Until next time.

All my love,

Jean

As Jean sealed her letter in an envelope, she had just finished getting her stamp on when the letter was whisked away from her.

"George Lutz. I swear on anything good and holy, I will get you if you don't give me that letter." Jean said quickly, seeing the culprit.

"Why, you writing love letters to your boyfriend back home that I don't get to know about?" George said putting on puppy-dog eyes and a frown.

Jean swatted at him trying to grab the letter. "No, it's not a love letter. It's to my family, and I would very much like to get it out to the post today!"

George laughed and continued to dance around the barrack, garnering the attention of Toye and Guarnere. "What's this we hear?" Bill shouted. "Our Sunshine has a lover back home?!"

Jean turned bright red and turned to glare at her friend. "No, I don't. Not that it's any of your business. It's for my family."

"Right, her family." Toye joked elbowing Bill in the arm. "She just doesn't want us to know about her secret relationship!"

"Ugh!" Jean shouted as she sat on her bunk in defeat. "You all are ridiculous."

George laughed and walked past her bunk, laying down with his head in her lap. "Oh here you go, sourpuss. I don't doubt its just your family. You write them almost every Thursday at the exact same time. What I do need to know is if there are any boyfriends back home that Easy has to make sure is up to our standards for you!"

Jean's eyes opened wide as she looked down at George before pushing him off of her bed to the floor as the other men laughed at their antics. "No. No boyfriend, and if I did had one I wouldn't tell you! You'd be worse than my father."

Bill laughed, "Okay, okay, so no lover boy back home. What about out here? Anyone of us strapping young men strike your fancy, Sunshine?" as he gave her a wink and puffed out his chest.

Jean looked straight at Bill. "My goodness, Bill. You really figured me out didn't you."

The men all looked around, startled at her monotone voice and change in demeanor.

"I really joined the army to find a husband and get married and have babies. Running Currahee was just a downside that I had to take. And you know who I've got my eyes set on, Bill?" Jean said slowly. Walking toward Bill with a sultry sway in her step. "You. It's you Bill. All I ever wanted was you."

By this point some of the men started to snicker, but Bill looked half awestruck and half terrified. "Um, uh, well, Jean, I um, I mean, you're great and all, and I uh-"

Jean burst out laughing and smacked Bill lightly on the forehead. "Jeez Guarnere! You really thought I was coming for you, didn't you?"

All of the men that had been watch began to fully laugh now that Bill was bright red. "Sunshine, you're a right pain in my ass." He said as he walked to his bunk.

"And you're a pain in mine, Bill. Glad we are at that point in our relationship to open about it." Jean laughed as she went and sat back with George who had situated himself back on her bunk as the rest of the men carried on with whatever they had been doing for the rest of their 20 minute break.

As George and Jean talked about home and joked about their favorite movies, they heard Sobel start to bark outside about starting drills early. Everyone inside groaned and changed to full gear as they headed out to complete their day.

Two days later, after miraculously not getting her weekend pass revoked, Jean mustered all of her strength to get out of her bunk to get ready to go out to the bars with the guys. They had convinced her that since this was one of the only times she had a pass in almost a year at Toccoa, that she had to come out.

At this point, running up and down a mountain, doing PT in 100 degree weather in full gear, and even those 12 mile marches on Friday nights were preferred to going out. Even back home, Jean was always so busy that she never went out with her friends. Instead, she'd either be doing homework or going to bed early to help her dad with deliveries in the morning.

As Jean walked back from showering in her clean clothes and hair down, she got a few whistles and cat calls, but those were the norm now, no matter how much she or the other men in Easy tried to get it to stop. She just figured that the men that did it were too afraid to say anything to her face, so a whistle from far away was the least of her concerns.

As she rounded the corner she ran smack into someone, dropping all of her dirty clothes and showering supplies.

"Oh, I am so sorry-." Jean said as she looked up. "Sir!"

Leuitenant Speirs knelt down to help her gather her things. "Watch where you walk Private Murphy, you might get hurt if you don't watch where you're going."

Jean took her clothes from the man before her and nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll be sure to do that."

Speirs nodded at her before walking away, not giving her time to salute.

"Jeez, Sunshine, you gotta death wish?" Leibgott said to her as he came up, obviously having watched the interaction. "I'm surprised Sparky didn't yell at ya."

Jean just nodded as she looked back at Speirs as he made his way across the campus.

Once they got inside, Jean changed to her dress uniform behind her makeshift changing curtain in a corner and was greeted by hoots and hollers by some of the Easy men still in the barracks that hadn't already left when she walked out.

"By God, Sunshine, I almost forgot you were a chick!" Joy Toye said as he straightened his own uniform.

"Ha. Ha." Jean replied as she quickly walked back to her bunk for her heeled shoes and to straighten her hair after having slid on the dress over herself.

"We should really keep you locked up tonight, Jeannie. Those locals and other company's men better keep their hands off ya." George said from across the way.

"Oh stop." Jean said, "I didn't even want to go and you all said I had to so you could dance with a woman that Tab hadn't tried to hit on."

Talbert turned bright red as the rest of the men laughed.

"But really, Sunshine, you look great. We ain't never seen ya in a dress. Or in heels for that matter." Bill said as he walked up to her. "You'll be saving a dance for good ol' Wild Bill, right?"

"Of course I'll dance with you Bill. As long as you don't step on me again. Last time you tried to teach me a dance and you damn near broke my toe!"

"Hey! That wasn't my fault, you just got two left feet." Bill said in his defense.

"Ha! See, hence why I don't need to go out. Even Bill agrees that I can't dance." Jean argued.

Toye threw a shoe at Bill and said, "Don't listen to that oaf, Sunshine. Everyone knows he can't dance worth shit. You've been dancing with us on weekends for close to a year now and we all know that you really like it underneath your frown. You just gotta try it out in the real world, not in the barrack with a bunch of smelly guys"

Jean looked at Joe, "So you're saying the bar is a wonderfully clean place with great smelling men, huh? I thought you all were going?"

Her friends groaned and laughed as the final small group of them took off on the walk to the closest town to go have a night off and dance.