How to Send a Letter to Boot Camp
Because of the structured nature at recruit training command, your recruit will not be able to contact you on a regular basis. Your recruit is given a short phone call upon arrival to let you know that he or she arrived safely. Your recruit will also be given phone calls from time to time throughout training as a reward for outstanding performance. Your recruits primary means of communicating with family and friends is via the US mail. Mail call is the one thing your recruit has to look forward to and it keeps them going throughout boot camp. If only a line or two, get a letter mailed off everyday your recruit is there if possible.
Their ship & division number will come home with the infamous "kid in a box" around day three of their arrival. You may also just receive the form letter alone, not with the box.
Secondly, the recruits spend a week or more in a different building on base for in-processing. Any mail sent to them at their ships before they even are moved to their permanent ships will be greatly delayed or even returned to sender.
One parent recently posted this comment: My daughter's Recruiter gave me a mailing address two days after she left for GL so I started writing her that day. I received her Form letter about a week later with a different address, long story short.....ALL the letters I mailed out with the first address came back in a couple of weeks! I was really sad because she thought I wasn't writing her!
Bottom line: Wait for the official form letter that contains the correct address and do not mail off any letters before you receive that form, otherwise you risk your recruit either not receiving your letters for a few weeks or even worse, not at all.
This is all you need to start sending mail. Once you have these two numbers follow the address at the bottom of this page.
Starting with your first letter, number them 1, 2, 3, etc on the envelope's. In the beginning your recruits mail will be withheld from them until their division earns the privilege to receive mail. This could take a week or two.
Recruits will receive your letters throughout the week but can only respond to them during "holiday routine," on Sunday mornings and non-training days.
Proper mailing addresses for recruits are:
SR NAME
SHIP XXX DIV XXX
XXXX STREET OR AVENUE
GREAT LAKES IL 60088-XXXX
Ship 2
3600 Ohio Street
Great Lakes, IL
60088
Ship 3
3600 Ohio Street
Great Lakes, IL
60088-3156
Ship 4
3600 Ohio Street
Great Lakes, IL
60088-7103
Ship 5
3610 Illinois Street
Great Lakes, IL
60088-3118
Ship 6
3510 Illinois Street
Great Lakes, IL
60088-3119
Ship 7
3405 Sailor Drive
Great Lakes, IL
60088
Ship 9
3415 Sailor Drive
Great Lakes, IL
60088-3515
Ship 10
3425 Sailor Drive
Great Lakes, IL
60088-3525
Ship 11
3505 Sailor Drive
Great Lakes, IL
60088-3505
Ship 12
3515 Sailor Drive
Great Lakes, IL
60088-3515
Ship 13
3420 Sailor Drive
Great Lakes, IL
60088-3520
Ship 14
3410 Sailor Drive
Great Lakes, IL
60088-3510
Ship 17
2705 Kansas Street
Great Lakes, IL
60088-3140
In case of a family emergency contact the American Red Cross to assist in passing an emergency message to your recruit.
Also, double check RTC's official site on the address provided by following this link.
Replies
No- they are BUSY hence the lack of letters....
We've received one letter from our son in 5 weeks and it was to request that a copy of his passport be faxed in. He included 2 sentences about how BC was going and how he was doing. My wife writes him about every other day and I write him about once a week. It is nice to know that he is receiving his mail daily but very frustrating that he isn't writing us back. I read somewhere that they may give extra PT based on letters received as a fun way to 'beat' them, perhaps I should write more often just in case they are doing that in his division.
If they have time to write it will be on Sunday afternoons.....so mail would typically arrive at home Wed-Thur.