Fort Knox Basic Training Review

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!