History and myths of the dreaded ‘Dear John’ letter

This is a part of military history and has been for a long time...I guess when we ladies get the letter, it's a Dear Jane?

My son John was stationed at Fort Hood prior to going to Iraq in 2010. He and his girl friend almost got married that spring before he left. That summer, they went to watch the "Dear John" movie together, and he told her that was his biggest fear. She assured him that would never happen. We took him to the airport with her in early September, where we all shed tears as he got on the plane to go back to deploy. He was still in Kuwait when she Dear John'd him. Had not even got to Iraq yet. I remember all these girls who wrote me when I got to West Germany. The typical letter went, Oh Steve, I have fallen in love with __________, he reminds me so much of you. Part of the circle of life I guess.

When I went in in Sept 1972 I had a wife and 2 sons. Though I was deployed for for over 19 months and only home for 30 days in 2 years, she stuck with me. We are still married today.