my dd took her boot letter and her acceptance letter to patrick air force base and was turned away. they said she needed a cap card which she doesn't have.
Call the Security/MP office ahead of time. Explain the situation. They often know about the boot letter, and will either give heads up to the gate, or will tell you to have them call if there is any question. Be polite and respectful! If they don't know about the letter, read it to them. Once they hear the wording they line up.
If they still don't let you in, then ask to speak to a shift officer. They may direct you to their office, copy your letter, take your photo, issue temporary ID, whatever. That part seems to vary by base.
The boot letter authorizes you to enter a base, and buy those items from the PX or order from AAFES via phone. When they see/read the letter usually the tune changes.
If you get much runaround, just go with AAFES. You have to call as instructed on the boot letter, you can't order from the web. They have copies of the boot letter, and lists of the appointees. They were super nice, and return is no big deal.
the trick is to find a brannock device at the PX or other shoe store, and get your fit exactly. That's the best starting point if you cannot try on the actual boots/shoes. Make sure they fit it right, the width is important!
From there the PX and AAFES staff usually could tell you if it ran true to size or not.
DS's experience last year and the consensus from others was that Bates low quarters ran true to size, and was typically much smaller than the candidate thought. Boots varied more, with Bates & Belleville having different fits.
Fit for Bates non-shiny & shiny low quarters is the same, except that the non-shiny will stretch more, so can be a bit more snug in the arch.
Start early so if you have to return and try sizes you can.
On low quarters most surplus stores are close in price. But for the boots we found the surplus stores to be almost double the AAFES price.
Local experience is that the PX's will usually let you buy boot socks and other supplies as well with your boots, if needed.
Also, even if you mail order the boots from AAFES you can return them locally at the PX or send them back.
One last option- the cadet store also has low quarters, and will ship them for a very nominal fee. Make sure and specify the bates non-shiny!!!
After dealing with the bases, then having to go with AAFES/cadet store due to size availability we decided it would have been faster just to do that up front.
If you do decide to try a base, look for an Air Force base for the low quarters as they still use the non-shiny. The army only bases will largely have corfams which plebes can't wear.
Good Luck!!