Our dad told us he had was sent to Korea twice and had only seen the inside of a tent once. He had joined at 17 and was sent to Korea. He never wrote home, so our grandmother wrote the Marine commandant saying she knew her son was in Korea dead and was only 17. he was called to the command tent and forced to write a letter home in front of them. then put on the next plane back to the States. He was sent to the Marine Corps barracks in DC and worked the gate until he turned 18 and then spent his 18th birthday on a transport back to Korea. It wasn't until decades later that he told me this. I was in the Army, and he said he had hated the Army because they had all the nice equipment and slept in tents. He told me the only time he saw the inside of a tent was when he had to write home, and that was the coldest he had ever been in his entire life. He went on to tell me some of the things that happened but said the very worst was mail call. when they called a name and no one answered. That surprised me, because mail call to me was a highlight of my day.