Seeking Information on Acceptable Forms of Letters to My Recruit

Hello, I am fairly new to Navydads.com and have been looking for information on what is acceptable by the US Navy as it pertains to the letters my family and I will be sending to my daughter.

She just shipped out yesterday afternoon and after speaking to a lot of helpful members, having this information at my hands has greatly helped with the emotions and questions I seem to have. One of the issues I am having at the moment is, I am wondering if I am allowed to type my letters to my daughter or if they have to be hand written. As strange as this might sound, after writing for over 10 plus hours on my shift for the past 16 years, my handwriting tends to go south after the first paragraph.

I have read on some of the posts that other parents have attached newspaper clippings and photographs to their letters, but am truly confused now. I was told the letters had to be in a standard size envelope, not the legal size and could not contain anything other than the letter itself. Further more when addressing the outside of the envelopes, we were told to do it a certain way each and every time or else or daughter would be disciplined with extra PT, etc..

Can anyone help me with this topic of question please??

Like Jan I put my address in the return spot. However I thought in terms of how many letters I had written plus an estimation of others. I over estimated at 40 letters at 1.5 oz, cause most of mine were 2 oz and a lot of family sent cards or shorter ones. But 60 0z or 5 lbs.. it still surprised me the postage was not that bad.. maybe 12 bucks.,, when it came in he said his RDC Had him open it and said, " what is this, a envelope inside an envelope?" But they had a secure place they let him keep it until Sunday on liberty. He was pretty smart, that was his last Sunday to write. They will not write the Sunday before PIR. . He has missed mailing the previous letter and he stuck them both in the mailer. I was out of town and had missed getting the previous weeks letter, and when I came in that Thursday and saw the big envelop on the porch.., i will never forget it. His family had really wrote a lot. Some of the letters were unopened because he didn't have time to open them, although all of mine were he told me at PIR that some of mine had not been read all the way thru. I put them all up in his dresser. I know they will be more special to him one day when he reads them and thinks back to those 8 weeks. I don't believe they will ever forget the boot camp experience.

Replies

John Alan DeMarco December 10, 2016 at 8:12am

Like Jan I put my address in the return spot. However I thought in terms of how many letters I had written plus an estimation of others. I over estimated at 40 letters at 1.5 oz, cause most of mine were 2 oz and a lot of family sent cards or shorter ones. But 60 0z or 5 lbs.. it still surprised me the postage was not that bad.. maybe 12 bucks.,, when it came in he said his RDC Had him open it and said, " what is this, a envelope inside an envelope?" But they had a secure place they let him keep it until Sunday on liberty. He was pretty smart, that was his last Sunday to write. They will not write the Sunday before PIR. . He has missed mailing the previous letter and he stuck them both in the mailer. I was out of town and had missed getting the previous weeks letter, and when I came in that Thursday and saw the big envelop on the porch.., i will never forget it. His family had really wrote a lot. Some of the letters were unopened because he didn't have time to open them, although all of mine were he told me at PIR that some of mine had not been read all the way thru. I put them all up in his dresser. I know they will be more special to him one day when he reads them and thinks back to those 8 weeks. I don't believe they will ever forget the boot camp experience.
Jan Fehner December 10, 2016 at 1:34am

Two different times during boot camp I sent a large manila envelope to my daughter so that she could send mail home. I put over $4.00 worth of stamps on the envelope, and I still received "postage due" on each one when it was delivered to me. (I addressed the envelope to me and I also put my name and address in the return address area. This way, I was the person paying the postage due and they weren't being sent back to Great Lakes)

I love talking Navy - my son went to Boot Camp over 10 years ago and my daughter just graduated in September. Email me at yoopernavymom57@gmail.com
Margaret Clayton December 9, 2016 at 1:13pm

They get a locker on the ship too, for hanging uniforms, but no, it is not much space at all.

John Alan DeMarco said:

Yeah I had heard the space on a ship was smaller... wow.
John Alan DeMarco December 9, 2016 at 8:43am

Yeah I had heard the space on a ship was smaller... wow.
NavyDads Admin (Paul) December 9, 2016 at 8:02am

Instructing new arrivals at RTC how to organize their rack:
NavyDads Admin (Paul) December 9, 2016 at 7:55am

New berthing being installed in a carrier a few years ago:
NavyDads Admin (Paul) December 9, 2016 at 7:51am

Actual shipboard berthing area:
John Alan DeMarco December 9, 2016 at 7:49am

Thanks for sharing this Margaret. Picture is worth a thousand words.
Margaret Clayton December 9, 2016 at 7:00am

This is what a rack looks like at Great Lakes (and on ships). That box looking area to the right is their personal drawer, and that is all the space they have to store letters and pictures. Sending something for them to mail letters back home to keep is a great idea.

That is a visiting officer (Tunisia I think) checking out how out boot camp is run, but it is indeed at Great Lakes.
John Alan DeMarco December 8, 2016 at 9:42pm

My son asked me to quit writing due to space, I was sending a couple of letters a week. But there were other family writing also. I sent a pre paid postage bulk mailer and he was able to put all them in it and mail it home to free up space. He said they have a space about the size of a shoebox for all personal and hygiene items.

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