Jurassic War

Mary,

I am sorry that I have not written you much since coming to the west coast. We train almost around the clock and liberty is an afterthought. Your letters are encouraging, and I read them when I am able to steal away some time late at night. That’s also when I try to get some words down on my stationery for letters to you and occasionally my mother. There simply isn’t time to communicate with anyone else. I hope my friends and family understand.

Never thought that active duty would be so demanding. Our training for the Raiders is even more time consuming than boot camp. The only difference is that boot camp builds a mental toughness that can’t be displaced.

We are sill doing tons of forced marches. But now Lt. Col. Carson has us mixing in double-time along with the marching. All the guys work up quite a sweat. We still work on hand-to-hand combat and get to the rifle range at Camp Pendleton occasionally. The latest development is that I’ve actually gotten aboard ship. We’ve boarded destroyers and headed up towards Los Angeles. Our unit has done a fair amount of rubber boat work, with practice landings on San Clemente Island. It is basically a Navy base with a fair amount of open space and beaches on all sides.

The rubber boat exercises have gone well, but they make me a little nervous. We will be using the boats in the Pacific theater and they are not as stable as I had thought. The boats work fine when the weather is right. But weather is unpredictable, and the flat-bottomed boats do not handle heavy surf well. We’ve capsized a number of times. Guys flounder in the water. Our gear gets soaked in salt and clogged with sand. And we’ve lost gear that we couldn’t recover. Ammunition cans have been lost. A few guys even let go of their weapons, only to have them swept away by the current.

The missions will be to land by stealth in the rubber boats and head inland to encounter the enemy. Many times, the Japanese will be dug into fortified positions. Other times we’ll be fighting our way through dense jungle. Without truck and tank support, we have to rely on the gear that we carry. So, we can’t afford to lose anything during a landing hazard.

Lt. Col. Carson says we’ll get better at it, but I just don’t know. I do not mean to worry you with this. I’m sure it won’t put me in more danger. Just will make the operations a pain to carry out at times. Anyway, I am holding up well and really hope that you are doing all right.

Love,

Randell

Randell,

I got your most recent letter. The new Raider units have been featured in the press, but they did not mention the use of rubber boats. Maybe our government doesn’t want that publicized. It came as a surprise to me, but I guess I hadn’t thought about how you would carry out your missions.

We all have a lot of faith in you, the government, and your leaders. If the Lt. Col. feels that you will get better at it, then I expect that you will. You’re a strong swimmer and are familiar with boats. This isn’t what you should be worried about. I hope that when you do see action, you’ll keep your eyes open and head down and not get shot.

Things are going well here, and I am done with school. I graduated with honors. My diploma reads that I focused on the classical curriculum. But I am glad that you told me to take the accounting class, because they hired me full-time at the bank! I’m so happy. I hope you’re proud of me. I am still working with war bonds. Part of my role at the bank is helping customers buy them. I also volunteer with the USO and help out on Saturdays.

I am keeping busy to help pass the time. We go to church on Sundays and the minister always has a kind word to say for our troops. He mentions the local men and women serving every week. I miss you a lot, even though I try to stay busy. You are always in my heart and I can’t wait to see you again.

Love,

Mary