First Letters Home

FaithfulMom said:
I was just browsing around and came across this link (through USMA) of some form letters that us parents can copy (and adjust to be applicable to USNA) and send to our Plebe for them to complete and mail back to us. I've been meaning to create my own, but this is a great resource!

http://www.west-point.org/parent/plebe-net/letters.html

Some parents have commented that this is the only way they get to hear from their cadets/plebes.
Click to expand...

The first letter we received yesterday was written on 7/1 on USNA stationary. The second letter was the form letter questionaire that we had sent to my son. My daughter and I came up with the questions and possible responses. For each of the questions we made sure to include one or more responses that he could check that were funny (i.e. The things I miss the most are: mom's cooking, my bed, my family, my pool, my sister's sparkling personality, hugs, boxer shorts, my hair, etc.) He really enjoyed the form letter, but I was surprised that even though he did check off the responses, on the back he still wrote more then a half of page. I guess I've never really read his handwriting before, because it was terrible. We were holding the letter upside down and sideways trying to decipher some of what he wrote :smile:
 
Got 3 letters yesterday here in North Dakota!! My son is in P company 30 platoon and haven't seen any pictures of him yet on the official Navy Facebook site....I spend more time on the computer now then EVER! It was great to hear from him and we can't wait until the phone call tomorrow!

Nancy
 
Got our first letter here today in GA. Noticed no stamp on it. Wonder if that is why it was so late or if the US Post office mailed it anyway since it was in an official USNA envelope.
Anyway, requested more Cliff bars, but no Gold Bond powder. They were given Gold Bond powder. Said things were good but hard. Said one roommate was a NAPster (YEAH!!!) but one wanted to quit already. Which made me sad. Hopefully he will change his mind and hang in there.
If anyone is not on the parent list serve. It is very helpful!!! You should join. I get lots of email but I have them going into my SPAM folder so it is easy to separate.
One thing I learned is that some Plebe's have gotten no mail so far. And you can mail to them ("Any MIDN 4/C") via the Chaplains at USNA. Address:
Any MIDN 4/C, Class of 2014
c/o USNA Chaplains
U. S. Naval Academy
101 Cooper Road
Annapolis, MD 21402-5027
 
nfugleberg, have you looked at Dropshot for pictures?

There are numerous pictures at Dropshots - free to view and copy and after wading through hundreds/thousands of pictures, I finally found my son a number of times - very reassuring! There are 2 different places to look:

http://www.dropshots.com/USNA2010and07

http://www.dropshots.com/nushic

I am also debating signing up for the Thornton Studios pictures (they have a fee) http://www.plebesummer.com/psregister.asp - there you can search by last name/company/platoon. The other thing you get is access to your plebe's specific schedule at the end of each day and that helps when searching through the various other pictures (at Dropshots and USNA facebook) because at least you know if you son was even doing that activity that day.

Good luck with spotting your Waldo!
I think we will all need big thick glasses by the end of this summer!
 
2 letters today! One was half a page long, and the other was 3 notebooks pages long written on July 4! I was stunned! Lots of info. DS said that his roommates are great. They had gone to church, liked their squad leader, and the rest weren't too bad. His Reef Points had fallen down his pant leg and into the hands of a detailer. He said he got it back by reciting things. He said that we did not need to send him anything else except liquid bandage, because his thumb and knuckle are so cut up from reaching in his whiteworks to retrieve his reef points and notebook. He said that we should only expect to hear from him once a week as he has the most free time on Sunday. He also said that this Fourth of July had a whole new meaning for him. Well, I could go on and on. It was a pretty good letter. Hope the rest are as newsy! PS- Also said that the smell of the whiteworks was something he could not put into words!!! :shake:
 
SmilingParent said:
If anyone is not on the parent list serve. It is very helpful!!! You should join. I get lots of email but I have them going into my SPAM folder so it is easy to separate.
Click to expand...

I am on the USNA parent list serve. I also use gmail as my primary email account.

Most email accounts allow you to set up "filters" that direct certain (configurable) emails to their own folder and bypasses your normal Inbox.

That's what I have done with USNA list serve mail.

Anything that comes from @usna-parents.org goes directly to my "USNA Parents" folder.

There are actually two list servers, one for all USNA parents and one specifically for Plebe parents. During Plebe Summer, the Plebe parents are only on the Plebe list (usna-plebe-parent@usna-parents.org). Once Plebe Summer is over, the Plebe parents will be placed on both lists.


Once their midshipman is not longer a Plebe, they are automatically removed from the Plebe list server and are only on the Parent server.

Setting up you email folder to segregate the mail should prevent it from going into your Spam folder.

Also, can't you tell your email server (whatever it is) that it is "Not Spam"? Most Spam filters have the ability to "learn."
 
Received another letter today from DS, written 7/7 (the last ones were written 7/1 and 7/4). Says he is still doing good. Says he misses us but is so busy doesn't have a lot of time to think/worry about it. Says his voice is getting hoarse from yelling. He is requesting homebaked goods and this time he is asking for protein bars (last letter said he didn't need any). Asking again for news/current events. Do they get grilled on current events at this time or is it just because he's always kept up on the news/current events? Do they not have access to the news? Says the mail is a little slow. He is thinking about walking on to one of the teams (before was only planning on doing intramurals). Guess that means he plans on staying! :wink: We're getting better about deciphering his handwriting!

Having fun finding his pictures on dropshots, facebook and Thornton's (I have my daughters on Where's Waldo watch so I can protect my eyes:wink:). Some other parents, that I've met from this forum and elsewhere, and I have been trying to forward pictures that we find of each other's plebes. From dropshots and facebook alone we've amassed quite an album.

Thank you to SmilingParent for forwarding the info about sending letters to plebes who are not getting mail.
 
Re the current events: Yes, they are often asked for current events. They receive some newspapers. You can send some news articles. I tried to send unique ones, but not ones that are too time sensitive as obviously they do not receive the mail immediately!:thumb:
 
So glad to hear how well everyone's kids are doing! I suspect that if my son has any extra time he is writing to his two best friends and his girlfriend. They are all great kids, but I don't like sharing right now! As long as I know he is hanging in there and still alive, I'm happy. Can't wait for that call tomorrow!

Thank you to everyone for sharing your letters and other info.

For those of you unsure about signing up for Thornton's site. Remember that the membership fee ($38.95) is applied to any purchase you might make. That was the clincher for me, and I'm glad I signed up because I've seen some great photos of my son, plus I love seeing his schedule!
 
I would also urge parents of plebes to join their local Parents Club ... the veteran parents are so supportive ... and really do understand what you are going through! Our club is a joint group supporting midshipmen and cadets at all the service academies (we live in a small-population state) ... we have met wonderful people! We can only give our deep thanks to the clubs near Annapolis who look after our precious offspring! It really is a wonderful exteneded family ... congratulations to all parents in the new plebe class!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top