I guess soldiers' letters have been about the same down through history. My wife saved some of my letters from the Vietnam War, and they seem pretty boring now. Mostly concerning food, the weather, long hours without sleep, scuttlebutt about where we may be going next. Nothing about fire support missions, mining Haiphong harbor, taking hits and losing our SPA-29 radar array to enemy counterbattery fire, etc. About the most exciting thing I wrote about was a memorable liberty in Olongopo when we pulled into Subic Bay for reprovisioning -- the sort of escapade from which legends grow.