July 27, 1944

Dear Miss Thompson,

Received your card today and felt I ought to answer right away. Ive been receiving the newspaper thru the grace of the army postal system. Im no longer in San Diego, in fact I have not been there since Feb. We have moved up to Camp Haan, which significantly closer to Los Angeles. That factor, and that alone is the only advantage this place has. We leave camp and do some practicing in the Mohave Desert, in fact we are only about 50 miles from Death Valley.

When we arrived at our destination, we had to put up our tents, and make a camp right in the middle of nowhere. We haul water in 5 gallon cans for 14 miles if we want to drink, and we traveled 14 miles for a shower. We get electricity at nite because of our own power plant, but they cannot be run for long. It is a hot, dirty, miserable place. Frankly I cant see the logic in this training, especially the way A.A. units are being broken up. In fact I expect our unit to be changed to some other branch of services and I dont have the faintest idea what will become of me. I have requested overseas duty, but so far nothing has happened. This Oct. will be 3 years of service and the novelty is wearing a bit thin. The prospect for promotion have been out in A.A. for the past six months and the future indicates no change. It is pretty hard to keep driving out in the desert when there is no enemy or even a prospect of one within 5,000 miles. We have trained 2 very fine battalions of men only to have them transferred to someone else. It gets a bit discouraging.

Im not as beat down as this letter suggests, perhaps the 135 degrees takes edge off my sense of humor during the day. I usually find myself back to normal in the evenings.

In keeping with the army standards after completing the War Dept Intelligence School I found myself a Br. Adjutant. It is by far the best job Ive ever had, and it affords me all the satisfaction I could get in the army. In fact it is my every day work to that gives me something to look forward to. I actually enjoy my work. If I want to go outside I go, if I want to stay in my office I stay. Im responsible only to the Col and that makes life very pleasant, especially since the Col and I are very good pals  get the point.

Im anxious to know what has happened to some of my friends in the faculty  are they in the service? Write if you can get the true, meanwhile give my best regards to all.

Sincerely,

Abner Benisch