1. My Name: Amber G.

2. Where did your soldier attend basic training? He did his basic training at Fort Knox.

3. When did he attend basic training? He attended basic training January 27th through April 8th, 2010.

4. How often did you hear from him? (Phone and letters) He called a total of 8 times with 3 of those being in the week before he graduated. I also got an average of one letter from him per week. The longest conversation we had was 8 minutes and the shortest was a minute. For the most part he only called on Sunday evenings.

5. How long was it before you heard from him the first time? He called the first time the Sunday after he left but it was just to give me the address. (talked for a minute)

6. How long did it take to receive a mailing address for him? I got his mailing address from the Army about 2 weeks after he left.

7. Were there any restrictions on what you could send him? I only ever sent him letters. He asked for some toiletries from his mom which she sent.

8. Were you sent information about family day and graduation? I got the information about family day and graduation in the same letter with his address which I received about 2 weeks after he left.

9. Did he have a family day? If so, please describe. They went back and forth about whether or not they would have family day but they ended up getting it. He was able to go off base after graduation and didn’t have to be back until 7:45pm (19:45). We went out to lunch and went with to the Justice of the Peace and one of his friends got married.

We relaxed for most of the afternoon. He was tired since he had been up since 3am.

10. Please describe the graduation ceremony. It was fun but hard to hear the speakers. It was about an hour long. There were several speakers, some awards were handed out, and there was some music played.

11. Is there a website for his basic training unit? Is there a place to see pictures of his training online? I wasn’t able to find a website or pictures.

12. Any other tips or information? Write as much as possible! He complained I didn’t write enough. It will go by real quick.

1. Your name (as you would like it to appear on the website: Toni

2. Where did your soldier attend basic training? FT Knox, KY (Comp B 1-46)

3. When did he attend basic training? 01/10-3/10

4. How often did you hear from him? (Phone and letters) Letters about two to three a week, but phone calls, I got ONE the entire time…until he received his phone back 2 days before graduation

5. How long was it before you heard from him the first time? 10 days (I did miss one phone call his 5th day of reception, it was just to say he was ok)

6. How long did it take to receive a mailing address for him? 10 days. The first letter I got had his address on it.

7. Were there any restrictions on what you could send him? yup, just pics, letters and cards…no comics or puzzles…also, if he sends you a letter asking for a certain item, it was OK, my soldier asked for razors and soap…I sent both and he got both.

8. Were you sent information about family day and graduation? We were like 2 weeks before graduation..BUT! I found a perfect site with FT Knox, that was a lot of help, even I knew graduation date before hubby did, and when it changed I knew it before him…Ladies, this site is AWESOME : http://www.knox.army.mil/school/194arbde/GradSched.htm

9. Did he have a family day? If so, please describe. Yeah, he did but ughh..He graduated at 11am and after signing him out at 12:30 sucked to have to bring him back by 8:00pm But I did have alone time with him, thanks to my understanding in laws! They can’t drive, drink or smoke so you can kinda only take them to eat lunch, and dinner.

10. Please describe the graduation ceremony. It was nice, but kinda long We were in the field house and just a hint, sit in the middle bleachers, or the ones furthest from the entrance…closer to the boys!

11. Is there a website for his basic training unit? Is there a place to see pictures of his training online? there is but no pics pretty boring, the only good thing was the graduation information..so be warned.

12. Any other tips or information? Ladiessss! be prepared to WRITE! everyday…I did and it helps them…you might think you have nothing to say everyday and its boring, but to the boys, it doesn’t matter! For grad, make sure you get there early and DRESS TO IMPRESS, yet WEATHER APPROPRIATE, can’t tell you how may girls looked down right slutty, crazy or plain bummy…you have not seen your man in 2 1/2 months, or for OSUT longer, don’t embarrass your man! Keep busy at home, go out with friends, learn a new craft, something! It will serve two purposes, keeping you busy, showing your man you can do things on your own, and gives you something to write to him about! Send nice pics of you two and make sure to send a new one since he’s been gone…I threw a going away party for my soldier and I gave the guests the BCT list of items as ideas for gifts for him..it saved us on things he needed before he left, and any extras I sent to him when he asked for them.

1. Your name (as you would like it to appear on the website): Revee Kraszewski

2. Where did your soldier attend basic training? Fort Knox, KY

3. When did he attend basic training? January 12th – March 25th

4. How often did you hear from him? (Phone and letters) He sent me 3-4 letters a week. He wrote me as much as he could. He called me 4 times. Once in reception, once of valentines day, and 2 more times on the Saturday before graduation. His platoon won all of the awards so they let then have the phones for a few hours.

5. How long was it before you heard from him the first time? He called me 4 days after he left, and the first letters came the very next day

6. How long did it take to receive a mailing address for him? It came in the first letter he sent. He forgot to have it handy when he called me for the first time.

7. Were there any restrictions on what you could send him? He told me only to send him stuff he asked for. I sent 25 bags of couch drops while he was there. He had friends who needed some too. He asked for lotion, and chap stick. DO NOT SEND candy or cookies. They will make them do a lot of push ups. I sent him cameras when I found out a wife of someone is his company had done it. Always ask your husband if you can send things like that. Because I didn’t know they had time restrictions on the cameras. (They could only have them in blue phase) His came the first day of blue phase thank goodness! lol

8. Were you sent information about family day and graduation? I was sent a graduation letter, and it said to pick him up at 12:00 AM. They sent another letter correcting there mistake. It said to pick him up at 12:00 PM. He graduated at 9:00 AM and they let me sign him out at 10:30. They wanted to get rid of them early; I was more than happy to have him earlier.

9. Did he have a family day? If so, please describe. His were combined into one day. This was hard on a lot of the wives who were there. For some reason it was just the guys graduating on that day. Other companies had family day, and then their graduation.

10. Please describe the graduation ceremony. It started at 9:00 AM, we arrived at 7:30 to be sure we got a good seat. Go early to be sure you get there on time. We got lost on base! It was a very nice ceremony. Everyone screamed and clapped when they marched in. There was not an open seat, and a lot of people had to stand. The place was packed! It was 45 minutes long. They had a live band who played a lot of songs throughout the ceremony. My brother in law followed them as they marched from the field house back to the barracks. I would suggest doing this to make sure to don’t get stuck in traffic. Soldier are not good at directing traffic…lol

11. Is there a website for his basic training unit? Is there a place to see pictures of his training online? No I tried to find pictures but couldn’t find any for his platoon.

12. Any other tips or information? If you are married, GO ALONE! My husband and I had an awful time with his parents around. They didn’t want to leave us alone, and were very mean to us when we wanted time alone. They may want to be there to watch the ceremony, and they do love their family member. But you need time together after being apart for so long. My in-laws were the worst about this. My husband and I decided that they are never coming to anything Army related ever again. It will only cause problems for us as a married couple.

1. Your name (as you would like it to appear on the website): Amanda (amanda0406)

2. Where did your soldier attend basic training? OSUT at Fort Knox for 19D

3. When did he attend basic training? October 2009 – February 2010

4. How often did you hear from him? (Phone and letters) Phone calls were very few and far between. I received several phone calls in the first few weeks, but they were short. After that, the phone calls stopped coming. I went 4 weeks without a call three times. After the basic training portion was over, I only received 1 phone call in the AIT portion. I received letters pretty regularly. When people weren’t getting into trouble, I received 3-4 letters per week.
Twice during OSUT, they had some people getting into a lot of trouble and they took away everyone’s personal time, so I only received 1 letter during those weeks.

5. How long was it before you heard from him the first time? I heard from him once during reception, once on the day he started training to give me his address, once on Veteran’s Day, once on Thanksgiving, and once during AIT.

6. How long did it take to receive a mailing address for him? They were allowed to call the day they shipped downrange to give us their addresses, so about a week.

7. Were there any restrictions on what you could send him? Only letters, pictures, and cards.

8. Were you sent information about family day and graduation? Yes. I received the invitation about 1 month after he started.

9. Did he have a family day? If so, please describe. No. Because of Exodus falling right around the time of the family weekend, we didn’t have one.

10. Please describe the graduation ceremony. There was a dinner the night before graduation. We got about 3 hours to spend with them. At graduation, it was inside and the soldiers announce their name and hometown, there’s a guest speaker, some other formalities, and it lasted about 45 minutes to an hour. After that, the guys were quickly loaded onto buses and left.

11. Is there a website for his basic training unit? Is there a place to see pictures of his training online? This is a good one.

http://www.dropshots.com/perezjc1#

12. Any other tips or information? Charlie Troop seems to get less privileges in 5-15 than the other troops. Be prepared Charlie Troop wives! Be prepared. I’m sure it is for all the troops, but this was a roller coaster FOR SURE!