In September 1960, I joined the Marines and was sent to San Diego for boot camp. In early November, I got a letter from my girlfriend saying she, her mother and her aunt were going to make 12 dozen cookies and send them to me for Thanksgiving. I immediately sent her a letter telling her to definitely NOT send me any cookies, as I had seen what happened when sweets of any kind had been received by other boots - they were made to eat them all in front of the platoon after mail call. Too late!! Shortly before Thanksgiving, I was ordered to the drill instructor's hut after mail call. There was a box on his desk addressed to me. He had me open it and sure enough, there were 144 cookies of all kinds. He dismissed me and I never saw the cookies again. Not too long after Thanksgiving, we were at the rifle range; I was dry firing in the prone position. The drill instructor came over, leaned down and said, "Knoop, ask your girlfriend to send more cookies for Christmas. They were delicious." Needless to say, this message was definitely not relayed.