Soo my boyfriend is shipping off to Fort Leonard Wood. And I having difficulty figuring out.. what can they get in the mail?.. like are pictures ok?. o.. and do they have access to like newspapers and stuff at the PX? if not. am i allowed to send newspaper clippings?.. I would appreciate a basic break down of Do's and Don't for writing letters. Also, Do we have to wait for them to write a letter before I can figure out his address?. or how do I find out where the letters are supposed to be addressed to?

You can pretty much send anything you want. I would advise you to keep it simple though. Try not to include pictures. If you want his Drill to make him open in front of the rest of the platoon and then subject your pictures and him to ridiculous abuse then go ahead. Newspaper clippings are probably taboo too. My drills did thier best to keep us away from the outside world. We were not allowed to read anything except military manuals. The only news we ever got was whatever the drills felt we needed to know. I did OSUT at Ft. Knox and was there for 4 months and the only time our drills told us anything about what was going on in the world is when American fighter Pilots shot down Libian pilots over some transgression the Mumhar Khadaffi had commited

It was the same for me when I went to basic training, we weren't told news unless it was relevant to us per the Drill Sergeant's. For instance we had a huge hurricane hit Florida and Georgia and they let the Soldiers who were from those areas watch the news for a bit then call home to make sure their families were okay.

As far as your letters, just keep up the encouragement and write A LOT. You can't go wrong with a letter and try not to send too many pics, there really isn't room to s tore a lot of things and some drills don't mind if they hang up pic in their wall lockers and some do.

You will have to wait until he writes you with his address.

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Armygirl4ever,
Proudly Serving in the Silent (okay, maybe not always so silent) Ranks

I was able to send my boyfriend pictures and little drawings.. For the most part, I sent him collages, that way the pictures wouldn't take up too much space.. I also sent him stamps, a phone card, and his St. Christopher necklace (it's considered a religious medallion.)

What you can send varies by DS, but definitely do not:
*Color or decorate the envelopes in any way.
*Send gum or food.
*Send electronics
*Send any kind of pornography

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Pretty much anything you can fit in an envelope is great..pics, newspaper clippings, etc. As far as pics though, make sure it is something that you don't mind everyone else seeing....i heard from a friend who was told by her guy that another guy's gf (yeah...hard to follow..sorry!) sent him some "special pics" of herself...their sergeant made the guys post ALL pics on the doors for everyone to see...so yeah. Be careful!

Small boxes are okay too. Just no sweets until he gets the okay from his ds (which won't be till the end of the training. I was able to send my guy brownies during his last month (he had a combined BCT and AIT in 4 months) and he ended up selling about half of them! The guys were desperate for something good and homemade--they paid a good price for a brownie square! LOL

Best of luck to you two!

WOOPS! I definitely decorated the envelopes! But it was okay, b/c my soldier started it!
Yeah, don't draw on the envelopes...it will attract too much of unwanted attention from the ds and the other guys there...but drawing little pictures all over the letter or writing in multi-colored ink is fun! lol

I sent more stamps, a phone card, mole skin/foam that I cut up in to various sizes, and a pair of Dr. Schoal's gel insoles that I cut to size.

Eight days and a wake up till graduation!

donna...
Proud Mom of G.I. Jake
BCT Ft. Jackson
1/13 Foxtrot Co.
Grad 29 May 2009