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Basic Training?

Hey y'all! 

 

My husband just left for Basic Training and I am so nervous about it! We lived together before we were married and have never been apart more than a few days at a time. He's gone to basic for 10 weeks, then OCS for another 12 weeks directly after that. Have any of your spouses gone to basic recently? I'm nervous about it because I don't really know what to expect. How often will they be able to use the phone? How often do they get to write a letter? Any information and details you can share with me would be incredible!

 

Thanks! 

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Re: Basic Training?

  • He's in the National Guard!
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  • Army or Air? 

    I don't know much about AF Basic.  I've been through Army Basic.  Expect a phone call when he gets to Reception to let you know he got there.  He'll be there for 4+ days.  It's usually about a week.  Once he gets to his training unit, you probably won't hear from him much.  Sometime during the first week, you'll recieve a generic, typed letter from him with his mailing address.  We were not allowed to write letters for the first 3 weeks we were there.  I didn't get to make a phone call until day 36.  Granted, this was 6 years ago, but things haven't changed that much. 

    No matter how often you hear from him, write him every day.  Even if it is just a quick note on a post it, it will brighten his day.  I lived from meal to meal and mail time was like dessert.  Something from home made a good day better and a crappy day worth it. 

    Once you find out his training unit, check and see if they have a website or FB page. Some units post pics and updates through out training.  That may help you get through knowing how things are going for him. 

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  • imageiluvmytxrgr:

    Army or Air? 

    I don't know much about AF Basic.  I've been through Army Basic.  Expect a phone call when he gets to Reception to let you know he got there.  He'll be there for 4+ days.  It's usually about a week.  Once he gets to his training unit, you probably won't hear from him much.  Sometime during the first week, you'll recieve a generic, typed letter from him with his mailing address.  We were not allowed to write letters for the first 3 weeks we were there.  I didn't get to make a phone call until day 36.  Granted, this was 6 years ago, but things haven't changed that much. 

    No matter how often you hear from him, write him every day.  Even if it is just a quick note on a post it, it will brighten his day.  I lived from meal to meal and mail time was like dessert.  Something from home made a good day better and a crappy day worth it. 

    Once you find out his training unit, check and see if they have a website or FB page. Some units post pics and updates through out training.  That may help you get through knowing how things are going for him. 

    This was pretty much how it went down for me at AF basic as well. I think I only wrote home maybe 4 times while I was there. Of course, I was laundry crew so I was busy handling everyone else's dirty knickers during "free time" and rarely had chances to write letters, soooooo...

    Anyway, tell him not to end up on laundry crew.

  • I always snuck stuff to church with me on Sunday's so I could write letters to send to my kids.  There was a lady there who would collect our mail and put them in a mail box for us. 

    SI is right, though.  Don't expect much back from him.  Just know that every thing you send him is keeping him going.

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  • About 2 years before my husband & I were married, he left for basic training. He is in the Coast Guard & he probably wrote me about 3-4 times a weeks. He was never allowed to use the phone, unless it was an emergency. I don't know what branch your husband is in so it may be different. I personally LOVED writing letters!... Maybe one day I'll find something to with them besides keeping them stored in a box. :/ Anyway, we have been married for a little over four months now & we've been separated for the entire four months. Its not easy being separated, the best advise I can give you is stay busy & get involved with the military community. Hope this helps! 

  • D went through AF BMT in 2010. D spent some of his precious sleep time to write letters but he said otherwise he wouldn't have been able to write as much.

    I lived by the recruiting website that went through each week so I could have an idea of what he was doing.

    More  phone calls are "required" than previous years but it's ultimately up to his TI's but D's TI's didnt follow the rules (one lost a stripe because he had broken too many rules) but then we got long calls (2 hours) at  the end.

    Good Luck! 

  • It'll obviously depend on where he goes to BCT at, but my husband is a DS and where we are they usually get their cell phones back once a week to make calls home, I know Indifferent

    TTC#1 since 12/2010- 12/2011 Hyperthyroid with Grave's
    DX 10/2012 Unexplained IF
    IUI #2- 4/25/13- BFP 5/9/13- CP
    IUI#4- 9/3/13- BFP 9/17/13- Due Date 05/27/14
    First ultrasound 10/8/13- 7weeks 130bpm

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  • imageSunnySky06:
    It'll obviously depend on where he goes to BCT at, but my husband is a DS and where we are they usually get their cell phones back once a week to make calls home, I know Indifferent

    In one way, I Indifferent that.  In another way, it would have been so much easier and less time consuming for our DSs to hand out our cell phones once a week than it was for us to have to buy crappy phone cards every week that waste half your money on the fee and then stand in line for ever hoping we all get to make a call before they came out to make us go back inside. 

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  • imageiluvmytxrgr:

    imageSunnySky06:
    It'll obviously depend on where he goes to BCT at, but my husband is a DS and where we are they usually get their cell phones back once a week to make calls home, I know Indifferent

    In one way, I Indifferent that.  In another way, it would have been so much easier and less time consuming for our DSs to hand out our cell phones once a week than it was for us to have to buy crappy phone cards every week that waste half your money on the fee and then stand in line for ever hoping we all get to make a call before they came out to make us go back inside. 

    That's how my husband feels as well. It's still shocking though. 


    TTC#1 since 12/2010- 12/2011 Hyperthyroid with Grave's
    DX 10/2012 Unexplained IF
    IUI #2- 4/25/13- BFP 5/9/13- CP
    IUI#4- 9/3/13- BFP 9/17/13- Due Date 05/27/14
    First ultrasound 10/8/13- 7weeks 130bpm

    BabyFruit Ticker
  • Everyone's experience is different. When DH went 1.5 years ago, he was allowed a phone call once a week (almost always on Saturday) for 10 minutes. As PP said, they handed out their cell phones just for this. They were all in a room together so it was extremely hard to hear him most of the time. He wrote me almost every day because he was sneaky. They were only given time on weekends to write home, but he would hide under his blankets after lights out to write to me.
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  • Thanks everyone so much for your help!! He's at Fort Jackson for Army Basic Training. I really appreciate all the feedback!
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