I аm going tο army basic schooling (FT. Benning, 11B) іn a few weeks аnd I wanted tο know hοw writing home οr tο οthеr people facility. Dο thеу set aside time fοr уου tο write аnd pick up mail? Dο thеу mаkе уου dο pushups fοr mail? Dο thеу open уουr mail tο quest fοr stuff? Arе people allowed tο send pictures? Anу οthеr details аnd tips уου сουld provide wουld bе a hυgе hеlр. Thanks!
there will be time set aside for writing and personal time, or you can do it at night. Weekends are the best time to do your mailing. and they cannot go through your stuff.
excellent luck, but too terrible it’s not nautical bootcamp. semper!
you will definately get, and need pictures! it will help a lot!
Don’t listen to all the BS tales you hear. They call your name and give you your mail. If you get a box, you have to open it in front of your Drill Sargeant. You will have time most evenings to shine your boots, fold your clothes , write letters, all that stuff.
Excellent luck and dont worry about it.
My daughter is in the army,she is able to write home when she wants,There is no set rule on how many letters that she can send home or receive
I don’t know about the army but in the Air Force they sometimes make you do push ups for mail and it takes a minute before they even let you have it. You have to sneak to write letters because they keep you busy from the time you wake up until lights out. Pictures probably won’t be excellent to send at least until your mostly through it or you do more push ups. Hope this helps.
You can write letters at the end of the schooling day in your barracks. Mail call is usually before evening chow. NO ,they do NOT make you do PT in peacefulness to get your mail.
Excellent luck and thanks for serving. You and the other members of the armed forces stand head and shoulders above the commie liberals in this people.
You will have free time every night to write to whomever you like and they have mail call every day and your sargeant will have it for you.
Excellent luck and GOD bless.
They give you a very limited amount of free time during the first few weeks. My mom really has letters that say only “hi, things are going ok, like you..” As far as I know they do not quest your mail. But here’s some advice on recieving pictures in the mail: You can’t hide whatever thing once it arrives. So just know that if grandma and grandpa send you a picture, the drill instructor will find it in your locker and most likely make fun of you for it. They like to humiliate you.
The thing about basic schooling is that you won’t realize that you’re really having fun until the day you finally leave. Then you can laugh about it. Excellent luck
After you get there you are allowed to send a postcard that is re-printed. It is like this:
Dear __________,
I arrived at Ft. Benning, Ga on ____________ and I am doing fine. Blah Blah Blah.
After a week you will be allowed mail call usually in the evenings. Believe it or not you have time to write letters, study your “Bible”, iron your clothes, ect. Usually in the evenings after schooling is done in the daytime.
As for the pictures, as long as they are not “pornographic” you are allowed to keep them. Just pay attention and follow directions as to where and how you can post them.
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes they will make you knock out few for mail. Trust me you will delight in knocking them out because its excellent for your shape and you got mail. Other then writing….back when i went to basic 3 yrs ago i had to use my bed time for letters. If you go to church on sundays they will reliese you and you can write while at service. Excellent luck and oh have fun jumping out of airplanes…….ohh yea and ummm make sure noone try to send you porn or food….its a no no. You will get dropped and you will stay like that probably all day. lol Kind of fun to watch….not from the floor though…..Yes they open boxes up and quest stuff. Most likely you dont need whatever thing anyways….px have all the necessary stuff for you 9-11 weeks or basic schooling. Excellent luck!
Yes, you will have time to write home and to your friends. You can send pictures back and forward. I’m not sure if they still read your mail or not, but just in case, don’t write whatever thing to inappropriate. No you don’t do push ups for your mail. All I can say other than that is that basic is hard. My ex, and my brother went into the army and they had to do basic. They said that it was really hard but no where near as hard as the development schooling is. Basically, if you can run a mile in about a min or less, then you can do fine. I wish you the best of luck.
Congratulations, Yes you will have time to write letters, but that time will be kinda limited unless things have changed in the last 5 years. There be a mail call everyday, and its up to you Drill SGT if you have to do push-ups or not. My only other advise would be to pay attention and take pride in what your about to do, your job as an 11B will be a hard one with this war going on.
They will drop off and pick up mail for you. You may have to do pushups for mail. Or because the sun is bright. Or isn’t. Or any other reason. Do not question for cookies, etc. in care packages. They are considered priviledges you have to earn. Boot camp is a very controlled environment so you have to open care packages so they can see you are not getting something they do not allow. (aspirin, knives etc.) Excellent luck! Boot camp was one of the best times of my life. Make the best of it and welcome to the Army!!
it blows for your loved one’s back home. You can’t receive any mail for the first few weeks. No phone calls or text messages or nothing-You can’t even have a cellphone on your person. In the meantime I wrote numerous letters everyday to my husband sometimes 2 a day. When he finally got his first mail delivery it finished up being craploads -the drill instructor makes fun of the soldier in front of all the other soldiers. After that day, any day he receives more than 2 pieces of personal mail a day he has to do 50 push-ups for each letter over the 2 he is allowed. My husband chewed me out, because he got 2 from me, one from his dad, and one from my mother all the same day. I cried and told him my letters must be worth all the push-ups in the world to him. And if you get sent a huge enoug package yup it gets opened in front of every person. He had to wait inline for hrs. waiting to use the 4 payphones available near his building.And if you miss that call it’s another week befor he can call again. Boy did I feel like crap when I got home and heard his message on the machine. He sounded so down. They really do strip you of al you hold dear while you are there. Be mentally tough and Graduation will be there in no time for you. But then it starts all over again when you have to go to AIT, Advanced schooling. for whatever field you are getting into.Pics are allowed, but not nude photos. and wait t’ill your battle buddy tells you your wife or girlfriend is hot. That happened to my husband, and my husband beat the crap out of him. Sorry if I rambled, but this is a topic I relate to. My husband went to Fort Benning too, the Ft. Gordon for AIT. But I’m glad to hear you are caring my freedom. Thanks!
You will be allowed time to write and send the mail. Trick is to buy envelopes and place the stamps on them ahead of time.
I was in Benning for 5 years. The downtown area is just a rundown trap for recruits so avoid it. Hit the malls and stuff.
Before you go there see about opening a bank account in your hometown. I do not know how they do it now as far as getting your checks now. They may open an account there in the bank there but you could call them there to find out ahead of time. That way all you need is your ATM card in view of the fact that the cash is going to your bank account.
Also, you may find the usual moochers there who may want to use cash and pay you payday. You see when you close, you may ship out at different times, and your buddy will ship and skip out without paying you. I learned this but it only cost me $5. I by no means lent cash after that. AIT is a lot more lax now. I was 11C, mortars. I pity you grunts now. lol While in a unit doing cold weather the 11C would go hide from the 11B and we would be around a nice, cozy, hot fire with a radio doing fire missions. Of course, we did not set up the mortars, we just had the APCs there with one of us on the radio, acting like we were doing fire missions. The grunts had to do the grunt stuff. Like no fire or nothing. But this is the way of life. You will most likely go 11M which is a 11B with transportation. hahaha Why does the infantry do so terrible? Cuz when I was in we paid more time and work on maintenance rather than tactics. Hopefully, the army has changed some. Excellent LUCK!!!!!!!!!!
One thing though. If you go to Iraq and you are in the Bradleys. Tell your squad leader that the Night scope on the Bradley can be used during the day. Dumb A ss Army could by no means figure that out. You see everything is hot granted, but human bodies REALLY stand out, once you get the hang of it. It really facility. I used it during desert schooling in California, especially when it is a cold day. But the schooling does not ever cover this.
11 bang bang eh, thats a excellent start, I wish alot of childish people will consider the military, excellent luck……The resolution to your questions…….Normally after evening chow you will be confine to the barracks, this is where you get your boots shined and your uniform ready for the next day, sometimes you may have to do some cleaning around the barracks, but anyhow this will be the time to write to like ones and friends…….getting mail, normally this is done before or after chow, I don’t remember doing push up for mail………..they are not allow to open and read your mail, but the Drill Sgt will make you open and packages in front of him and if you got poggy bait(Snacks, cookies, candy) he may or may not make you share with your platoon…………Pictures are excellent, keeps you sane, but becareful what type of pictures you take, cause you will have to place up with the rest of guys talking about your girl is hot, or your sisiter is hot or you got a MILF, you get my drift, but its all part of the game, so don’t get mad if people make comments about your pics…………..My advice to you is Listen to your Drill Instructor, and try to learn as much as you can, study any materials that they give you on breaks and off time, ALWAYS be squared away, boots shined, uniform pressed(if you dont have an iron, you can fold your BDU’s and place them below you matress while you sleep and they will be ok) other than that start working on pushups, situps, pullups and running, cause you will run everywhere………hopes this work for you and Excellent Luck
Writing home is really pretty simple. It was simple when i went 4 years ago, so i bet it has gotten simpler in view of the fact that. You must have time at night to write, but if not, try not to get caught writing after lights out. Some Drill Sergeants (D.S.) will make you knock out some push ups for your mail, but trust me its no biggie. Its really fun after a while. You will have to open up your boxes, so tell family and friends not to sent candy and food. You can get as many photos as you like, but no porno. Last word of advice, If a D.S. yells at you, dont take it personal. They are not yelling at you, but building an example for the rest. Excellent luck on everything!
i dunno about benning but at ft. leonard wood, we had 30 min.-1 hr. of personal time in the evening before lights out. in that time, we had to fit showering, writing letters, and getting squared away for the next schooling day. i always managed to accompolish everything so you’ll be fine. mail call was usually at last formation. the only time we had to push was if your family had forgotten to write your platoon digit on the envelope or you had craploads of mail or contraband in your mail. they will make you open your mail especially boxes in front of them. but, the drill sergeants will not and CAN NOT read your mail. welcome to the army, you’ll like it. HOOAH!!!
You will be allowed “personnel” time every day, this will usually start around 7:30 or 8 pm each night until lights out at 9 pm. During this time you will take care of your laundry, your boots, showers and letter writing. Now on the subject of doing pushups for mail call, I have heard of numerous different ways of that one being done. When i was in boot camp it was only for those that got more than one piece of mail, But officially IT CANNOT BE DONE,, your mail falls below the federal laws and you cannot pay with pushups. I honestly would not tell a drill sergeant this. But as a former mail clerk I was told this numerous times. Now as in the pictures. You are allowed to tape your favorite pictures on the door of your wall locker as long as they are not pornagraphic. You will also have one drawer in your foot locker that is for personnel use only, no one else can look in this as long as you keep your padlock on it. So i would suggest that you find a set of padlocks that take the same key. The first padlock for the wall locker doors and the second for the drawer.As in the boxes you will be made to open it in front of them to make sure contraband, as in porno, cookies, junk food , any of that does not make it in the barracks. Excellent luck to you