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FORT BENNING 1. Your name (as you would like it to appear on the website): Mell (mellj) 2. Where did your soldier attend basic training? Fort Benning 3. When did he attend basic training? March to May 4. How often did you hear from him? (Phone and letters) I got a total of 6 phone calls while he was in BCT, (the longest phone call was 13 minutes-the shortest was three minutes). The letters varied. In the beginning I got one a week, toward the middle of BCT I was receiving four a week, the last two weeks he was so busy he stopped writing. 5. How long was it before you heard from him the first time? I got a call that he made it to reception right after he left. It was about two and half weeks after that before I got a letter that he wrote in reception. 6. How long did it take to receive a mailing address for him? Two weeks. 7. Were there any restrictions on what you could send him? Yes. The only things we were allowed to send were writing materials. 8. Were you sent information about family day and graduation? Yes. It arrived about four weeks before family day and graduation. 9. Did he have a family day? If so, please describe. Yes. The family day started at 9am with a ceremony honoring the men graduating with awards. We arrived around 8:15am and were able to get good seats. We also were able to peruse the vendor tables. The ceremony was complete by 10am. My DH and I then had to attend a family orientation which last about 30 minutes. They went over resources that the army provided our family. After we completed the orientation my DH was released. We were able to go off base and we visited the Coca Cola Space Center with our children. It was really neat and they gave us a military discount. We also spent some time at our hotel just relaxing. DH had to report back by 8:45pm. 10. Please describe the graduation ceremony. Graduation was really awesome. It started at 9am with a demonstration. This was fabulous. My son loved it and all the explosions! The men then marched out and they did a presentation. After the presentation was over you were allowed to go out and take pictures with your soldier. The men then marched back to the barracks to change out of their ACU’s into their class B uniform for the day. Again, we had all day to spend with DH, he had to report back by 8:45pm. 11. Is there a website for his basic training unit? Is there a place to see pictures of his training online? There was not an updated website for my DH training group. He was 2-47 Bravo Company. 12. Any other tips or information? DRIVING TO AIT/WEEKEND PASS: I know some of the CO’s will allow you to drive your DH to AIT, so stay on top of that. The extra time would be great! No one in my DH’s company was allowed to be driven to AIT (DH was 2-47 Bravo). However, many people followed the bus to Fort Gordon and were able to sign their loved ones out by 4pm. Our family didn’t follow the bus, so their was a little confusion and we didn’t get DH until 6pm. So, if you can I would recommend following the bus and waiting around for your loved one to processed. I would have waited all day for an extra two hours. Regardless, we got a 48 hour pass once DH arrived to Fort Gordon (well it was a little shorter than that he had to report back by 1pm Sunday). Make sure when you go to sign your loved one out you take your DL, Registration, Proof of Insurance, and the address of the hotel you are staying at. Thank you!
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