Fellowship when World War II broke out. Hundreds of sober AA members in the United States and Canada would enter the armed forces, some with little sober time under their belts. They would be sent across North America and around the globe. This meant leaving behind friends and loved ones, hometowns and AA groups. Many in the Fellowship wondered how these members, with little or no access to meetings or other AAs, would be able to stay sober.
At this time, interest had already sparked in creating a newsletter with AA news and inspiration—and its potential value to our members in the military seemed enormous. This newsletter would become our beloved Grapevine, and for those in military service, their “meeting in print.” From the very first issue, Grapevine kept servicemen and women connected to the Fellowship and our program of recovery, as the stories in this opening chapter attest.
In an article titled “Lieutenant Rediscovers the Beauties of Easy Does It” from 1944, M.L., a Second Lieutenant stationed in an “out-of-the-way place,” Grapevine editors recognize “a cry for help.” M.L. wrote of feeling a “total loss” when off duty and being unable to find “a single soul here that speaks the same language.” After receiving her first issue of Grapevine, M.L. wrote in again: “Does that mean I’m to get it every month? It’s proving no end of help to me.”
Very early on, Grapevine also received letters from AAs struggling to adapt to the return to civilian life. In a department called “Mail Call for All AAs in the Armed Forces,” published in the 1940s, a member writing with the initials T.D.Y. alerted AAs back home that “reconversion” from military to civilian life for AA members is “especially difficult—and dangerous.” He also wrote “that application of the AA way of thinking will ease the transition for the veteran in many ways.”
In a story called “Far From the Customary Skies,” member R.H. of New York City wrote that he received his first issue of Grapevine in June of 1944. He was stationed overseas at the time and had only four months of sobriety. He wrote that he found “staying away from the first drink isn’t easy.” The arrival of Grapevine “changed all that for me,” he added. He said that each issue that followed was “concrete evidence that we weren’t forgotten.”
The program helped these men and women get and stay sober far from home. And our servicemen and women helped carry our message across the globe and showed how to achieve sobriety in the most extreme circumstances.
Points of View
August 1944
Dear Grapevine: Your thought for servicemen is excellent. Alcoholics are put to their greatest test while under stress. The emotions take over, and we are in great danger. The strain in the Army is terrific. Voices shouting orders, the hurry up and wait, arbitrary decisions which cause great inconvenience; these, and the whole idea of regimentation, create stress enough to knock us for several loops as things were in the old days. It was well expressed by the soldier who was asked by the Colonel’s wife if he were happy in the service. “No, ma’am,” he answered, “I’m nervous in the service.” Then too, for those of us who like to be alone at times, it is extremely difficult. The only solitude I have been able to get in the Army has been in the middle of the drill field late at night.
Without the AA program I know that long before this I would have gotten into serious trouble. We must accept a situation we cannot change; and we learned in AA that the manner in which we accept things is infinitely more important than whatever we might have to accept. I don’t recommend it as a cure, but I believe that this is a constructive, beneficial experience. I have been forced to depend upon AA to the utmost to remain as well as I have. Two slips in 20 months in the Army is, to me, an indication of what happens when we don’t constantly practice our program.
John D.
Lieutenant Rediscovers the Beauties of Easy Does It
(From: Mail Call for All AAs in the Armed Forces)
September 1944
One of the strongest motives behind the starting of the Grapevine—in fact the main thing that pushed the editors from the talking to the acting stage—was the need so often expressed in letters from AAs in the service for more AA news. We felt that their deep desire for a feeling of contact with AA might be fulfilled at least in part by such a publication—by us and for us. And, as the first issue emerged from the presses, a letter came to one of the editors from a woman AA, a Second Lieutenant stationed in an out-of-the-way place. It was a cry for help:
… if things keep up the way they have been going I’m going to be in more trouble than I can handle. … I’ve been recommended for promotion, but …. My work is more than satisfying, but off duty I’m a total loss. There isn’t a single soul here that speaks the same language. … The Army is a funny place. One is expected to drink, but not to get noisy or pass out or do any of the things drunks do. … I’ve met a few AAs but we’ve only been in the same place for a short time. Several of them were in the same boat as I, skating on thin ice, but I don’t know the outcome. Frankly, I’m scared. Has this problem been discussed at meetings? If so, has anyone offered any constructive suggestions?
M.L.
A copy of the Grapevine went off by return mail. And now comes this:
Dear Editors: The second copy of the Grapevine just arrived. Does that mean I’m to get it every month? It’s proving no end of a help to me. Thanks so much for getting it started, anyhow ... I guess there isn’t much one can do about the sort of spot that I’m in. There isn’t anything wrong but loneliness and boredom, and there’s no way out of that, for now. ... Right after the first copy of the paper arrived I decided to try to take it a little easier (I’d forgotten all about ‘Easy Does It’). ... I was working so very hard that the hectic on-duty and the static off-duty hours didn’t mix. For some reason it doesn’t seem as bad to be bored now.
P.S. I got that promotion I wrote you about.
M.L.
Far From the Customary Skies
June 1954
I received my first issue of the Grapevine (Vol. I, No. 1) in June of 1944. At that time I was in the Army, stationed overseas. So far as I knew then, there were no AAs within several thousand miles of me, so you can imagine the kick I got out of that first number.
There was more to it than that, of course. I think I probably felt a good deal like a shipwrecked sailor when the rescue vessel steams in sight. For what that first Grapevine did for me, more than anything else, was to assure me that I was not alone.
I had come into AA almost two years earlier, and through the miracle of this Fellowship found the sobriety I had been seeking. When I was drafted, after only four months in AA, I was secretly terrified I would start drinking again. Thanks to loyal AA friends who wrote me, and to the good God who brought me to AA, I didn’t. But staying away from the first drink wasn’t easy for me, and I lacked any real confidence that I would be able to make it stick.
Vol. I, No. 1 changed all that for me. Because after that I knew that no matter where I went, my Grapevine would sooner or later catch up with me. And I knew, too, that in its pages I would find the help I needed. Just knowing it was coming each month helped keep my defenses up. It was such a solid and reliable tie to AA-style sobriety (and no other style had ever worked for me!)
“Mail Call for All AAs in the Armed Forces” was especially helpful, for it was concrete evidence that we weren’t forgotten. At the same time, it proved to me that
