Communication

   War is a very stressful time for both soldiers and their loved ones at home. Both parties are hoping for the best and wondering how the other is doing. Until very recent years, the only form of communication available was writing letters. Although letters are very personal and nice to receive, it is not an efficient form of keeping in touch. Letters take a long time, especially when overseas, to travel. When sending a letter it would take a long time for the person you are sending the letter to receive it and even longer to get one back. Other major flaws are soldiers are always on the move so to get letters to some of the soldiers must have been a problem, and the same with sending them. You also had to trust when you sent it, that it actually got shipped over. Things nowadays can become messed up with shipping, just imagine when you are in a war and not even being a mail carrier is a safe job. Lastly another flaw is the want to see and hear the person you are sending letters to. It's hard to make sure they are sending them back and not someone else, or that your/their message is correctly interpreted in the letter. So all of these things must have been swirling through their minds and more. So all they had to do was hope they would soon receive another letter and when they do it wasn't a Dear John letter.