I know they don't need "stuff," but would like to send my son some homemade cookies. I don't want to do anything that will cause any problems. My son is sick, today was the first day of BCT and it hasn't been a good day, and he thinks the food is lousy.
I was reading a board yesterday that evidently was a Navy board and they were allowed care packages.
Not during BCT/Boot. Well they could be allowed but it doesn't mean that 1) they will get them and 2) they will not get in trouble (ie push ups) for getting them and 3) i believe they have to share it with everyone.
if your cookies are worth it then send them, if not just wait until he finishes and then you can send it to school he is in. That is when he might have more time to enjoy it as well.
I wouldn't do anything that would cause him problems, which is why I asked. I certainly would expect him to share with everyone, it is the way I raised him. The way I see it I have just become mom to 54 more.
Trust me, you don't want to go there. You send cookies for the unit just one time, and the Entire Army is notified, and you will be baking and sending cookies the rest of your life.
We sent my boy an enormous goodie box when he was in Basic. He had to do a horrible number of pushups with it on his back. His little brothers loved it.
My son graduated BCT from Ft. Benning in Nov. '08. There was a guy in his platoon whose mother made cookies weekly and sent them to her son. The DS's would keep the cookies so her son was NEVER able to enjoy them. They didn't even eat them, just threw them away. She still sent the cookies every week, though. Then at graduation, she brought a batch and shared them with ALL! Also, I'd send my son copies of the local paper (sports page) so he could keep up with his favorite football team and the DS's would take those as well.
However, there are some platoons that ARE able to get cookies and newspapers, etc. It all depends on the DS's he gets. I'd reccomend to lay low for the first few weeks and see if anyone else in his plt. receives things like that from home and see what happens to them. If they survive, then send cookies!!
Also, don't put anything lovie dovie on the outside of the envelopes. They'll have a field day with that.
Lead Mod Navy and Recconect America Forums catherine0830@msn.com Democracy will survive until the government figures out it can bribe the people with their own money.
Our son told us that lots of people got care packages with goodies in them. They gathered up all the goodies and had to eat them all really fast, then they chugged a full canteen of water and did PT (physical training) until they puked.
Basic must have changed a lot in the past couple of years (less than 3), because it wasn't until AIT that my husband was allowed to receive ANYTHING other than a Bible and toiletries and of course letters and pictures. Then even in AIT it was not allowed in the barracks, it had to be consumed outside - so I made the mistake once of spending money on a full box worth of food, didn't do it again.
First of all - never compare another branch's anything to another branch. Same goes with one location to another, and even one platoon to another.
Second of all, the best advice my husband ever got on how to get through BCT was to lay low and not bring attention to one's self. If you're naturally inclined to PT or marksmanship, ok fine, but don't voluntarily do anything to bring attention. The cookies, whether he can eat them or not, will ONLY do that and it's just not a risk worth taking.
This is blunt, but I hope the meaning can be taken from it, but it's military training, not summer camp. Basic training for all of the branches is seriously important, it's where - particularly the MOSs that are non combat related so they never have weapon training again - they learn survival skills for potential war scenarios - and we are involved in 2 wars, and many conflicts all over the world. The last thing they should be thinking about is the chocolate chip cookies back waiting at mail call instead of learning now to do hand to hand combat.
