One-Way Ticket

marciemi said:
Wow - guess we overdid it because we tried to send 4 letters EVERY day! :eek: I wrote each day, had my husband write each day, usually sent another letter that was more just something funny (I'd found a bunch of websites with jokes, articles, etc. and would send one of those) and I'd make one of his brothers write around every other day. He was particularly down at Jack's and asked for more mail so we were trying especially hard then. Needless to say when he gave me all his mail at PW (including from his GF who'd written nearly daily plus all the people I'd given his address to!), it took up about half my carryon to bring it all home for him! :thumb: I sorted it all by date and who sent it and put it all in plastic sheets in binders for him to keep in the future - maybe someday he'll actually get a chance to read it all! Although I was surprised that he actually did read the letters then. When we talked to him on Doolie Day In or during PW, I'd mention something that had happened and he'd be like "I KNOW, I read the letters you sent!"
Click to expand...

LOL, marciemi!!!

When DH wrote, he tried to steal my news so I squirreled news away and didn't tell him what I knew!
 
I sorted it all by date and who sent it and put it all in plastic sheets in binders for him to keep in the future - maybe someday he'll actually get a chance to read it all!
Click to expand...

Dear Lord! Now I'm running to Wal-Mart to buy some plastic sheet protectors and some binders--love, love, love this idea.

Now I know why all these fabulous kiddos got appointments--they inherited their mom's type-A personality trait. :wink:
 
pinkharley99 said:
As previously stated, plain white paper and enveloped. Do not try to scan pictures into the letter. Did that, the letter was taken away.
Click to expand...

Wow which academy takes away mail with pictures printed on the paper? They are strict!

I was all paranoid from the stories I had been told so I only used white envelopes, didn't put any stickers on them, only used the flag or liberty bell stamps, etc. I wouldn't even buy a card to send him unless the envelope was white. After CBT was over my son told me the cadre only checked the contents of anything that looked like it could contain food. They didn't even care what color the envelope was or if it was a card. One of his company mates got a musical card but the cadre were amused by it so no extra attention was given.

I wrote 3-4 times a week and other family members wrote as well so he got mail pretty much every day, not that they had time to go to the post office to get it. Later found out he would get his mail 2-3 times a week depending upon the schedule. I too ran out of news to tell him so some letters would be jokes, trivia and cartoons. The jokes and trivia were especially appreciated because he could use those to entertain the cadre. It’s always good to have fresh jokes/trivia on hand when you are called upon. Another good thing to send is the “form letters” and enclose a stamped, self-addressed return envelope. That way they can just fill in the answers and mail it back. I got more of these back then letters he wrote out himself. Of course I kept the few letters we did get and they will go into the scrapbook for him.

Find some sample form letters here: http://www.west-point.org/parent/plebe-net/letters.html

Have fun! :thumb:
 
Dixieland said:
LOL, marciemi!!!

When DH wrote, he tried to steal my news so I squirreled news away and didn't tell him what I knew!
Click to expand...

We kind of divided responsibilities - my job was all the daily minutiae from just normal life - babble on about how boring life was to make his life seem more interesting! (You know, things like "I folded two loads of laundry, went to work, and took your brother to the dentist"). Dad was in charge of sports - with DS being a soccer fan and the World Cup going on, that usually could fill a letter. Kind of funny because the cadre would use soccer scores for leverage over the kids - so like if they did particularly well on something they could "earn" finding out a score. Then they found out my son kept getting them all from his dad and at one point one of the cadre said "There are only TWO ways you can learn these scores - from ME...or from (my son's) dad"! :shake:

Meanwhile my middle son has a great sense of humor and wrote some hilarious letters during Beast - just the most off-the-wall sense of humor. DS said everyone in his element looked forward to his letters and even the cadre would have him read them out loud just because they were so wacky! Youngest son is a big Apple/computer fan (as is the oldest) so he usually gave updates on what Steve Jobs was thinking or proposing for that week's news!

@WAMom - I printed most of those WP letters and altered them to work for AF and my son and his roomie LOVED them. I'd definitely recommend those to raise their spirits a bit. Also, yes, it's AF that didn't allow pics. A friend of my son went to USNA this year as well and my husband had included a pic of him from I Day (a week later than AF's) and the cadre took the whole letter (not just the pic) so from then on he told us no pics. But then as I said, with second detail, they allowed you to send pics, and allowed the kids to see them, but then confiscated them (but they didn't get in trouble at least) so son told us to send pics that we didn't care if we lost so we just printed a few on the computer each day for him (everything - from baby pics to GF pics to family pics, etc.). But I think like everything else at AF it depends on the specific squadron/cadre and what their rules are.
 
My wife and I sent 1 or 2 letters everyday during Beast; didn't get many by return. Our cadet did not get to the mailbox that frequently, so he always had a stack to pick up and read.

Included photos of his dog, and copies of cartoon strips, imported from the Internet and then printed out in color.

One or two pages everyday.

He welcomed them, encouraged them, and his Beast cadre never gave him any grief. Did stick with plain white business envelope, pre-printed mail labels, addressed as instructed. Never a problem.

Now during his plebe year, emails are the primary frequent communication, in addition to the texts and phone calls. Still asking for almost daily comics. I include the current ones, as well as search the comic archives for themed cartoons that mention his current activities. He tells me that he looks forward to them, and nags me when the inbox is empty.

Many good suggestions are listed above. Discuss with your new cadet-to-be or cadet prefers, but don't do anything to make your son or daughter stand-out during Beast.

Our family learned a lot from the posts last year.
 
DS is a 4th class at USCGA and I can still vividly remember taking him to R-day. I was sooo proud that I didn't tear up after our too brief "good-bye" at the end of the day. However, I have to confess, I was a MESS when we had to take him back to the Academy after spending time with him Parent's Weekend!

During swab summer, I sent a letter every other day. One thing he really enjoyed...I had given my husband a desk calendar from the TV show "Jeopardy", so we would collect up a stack of several days worth of answers/questions and mail it to him. Also, there is a website (can't remember it right now) that had really great historical quotations, and we found some that were really motivating and we sent them to him also.

Because we received such great advice on this forum, we provided blank notecards at his graduation party and encouraged everyone to write a few words of encouragement, and I collected them and mailed them during the summer. Some of his younger cousins wrote the funniest things like: "Don't party too hard!!" (I don't think they understood the SA environment, but they were soo cute and he got a kick out of them when he received them!)

We were also careful not to send anything that would draw attention to his mail. Plain envelopes no "Sealed With A Kiss". Lastly, he asked when sending packages, that we not include packing peanuts, because they made a mess! (Funny, he never seemed to care about a mess in his room at home!)

Hope some of this helps. The advice I received on this forum helped me sooo much!
 
This brings back so many memories! Has it been almost 7 years since my son received his appointment? My son and his girlfriend are visiting after returning from a 3 month deployment in the middle east. They are both KC-10 pilots and have managed to have their deployments at the same time. We were talking about BCT and how they have changed since then. They are both such amazing young people--very relaxed and self assured.

The best advice I can give to those starting the journey is to relax, step aside and do what your cadet wants. Remind them to keep their sense of humor and that they will have many times when they will question their decision to attend a SA. This is natural and part of the growing process, everyone goes through it at one time or another. Write often, that is the only connection to the outside world they have during their first summer. Keep everything you get from them and the academy, graduation comes faster than you will ever imagine!

Be forewarned that you will hit the wall at sometime or other (for me it was after the first Xmas break) when you realize that your son/daughter will never really be home again and life as you know it has changed forever. This doesn't end with their academy tenure--I have gone through it every time there is a new phase--the most recent was our first Christmas without our son due to his deployment. I now know that it takes me a few days of melancholy to adjust. Knowing that he is living his dream helps get through the bad days. As another poster indicated before, I know that I have done my job as a parent, after all how many 25 year olds are entrusted with a multi-million dollar airplane?

Congratulations to all of the parents of the class of 2015--welcome to the roller coaster!
 
I didn't know it until halfway through Plebe Summer that my husband wrote to my son everyday. He travels alot, so i hadn't seen the letters posted. I sent a care package once a week including Cliff bars, Powerade powder, semi healthy stuff for the entire Company. and I found a musical card to send once a week. motivational, fun, something they could keep in their head while things were annoying, hard, hot, hectic, tiring.

His company denied him nothing, but we did keep it pretty sane. The best days were when his 4 pg hand written letters arrived! Cursive script with a big signature at the bottom. MIDN 4/C!!
You could tell he was proud!!!:smile:
 
I would print a photo (5x7) on regular 81/2 x 11 paper and write my letter around the photo.
 
singaporemom said:
I didn't know it until halfway through Plebe Summer that my husband wrote to my son everyday. He travels alot, so i hadn't seen the letters posted. I sent a care package once a week including Cliff bars, Powerade powder, semi healthy stuff for the entire Company. and I found a musical card to send once a week. motivational, fun, something they could keep in their head while things were annoying, hard, hot, hectic, tiring.

His company denied him nothing, but we did keep it pretty sane. The best days were when his 4 pg hand written letters arrived! Cursive script with a big signature at the bottom. MIDN 4/C!!
You could tell he was proud!!!:smile:
Click to expand...

West Point parents, no care packages for you! You can only send approved items that the cadet received permission to have sent such as shoe inserts. They will open any packages in the presence of cadre.
 
I got choked up when going through the many boxes of stuff my grad hauled home in 2008, and found a shoebox filled with all the letters he had received during beast 4 years before. After 4 years, and misplacing numerous important items, he had held on to them. We sat down and read through everything and ended up laughing so hard we couldn't breathe. Those letters are priceless in more ways than one! :thumb:
 
AFA was pretty strict on letters 2 yrs ago...only photos printed on paper. Navy was pretty relaxed.....depends upon company. I sent pics often, but he could only display 3 at a time. I would avoid musical cards and perfumed envelopes for sure!
 
OK, I will fess up to what our family did all last summer. While DS was going through Plebe summer, we signed up for every website that would offer us a small glimpse into his world. We went on USNA Facebook and looked through hundreds, I mean HUNDREDS of photos daily. We would then find him! Our hearts would sing. I would email everyone that I saw the top of our son's head during the Rope obstacle course. Those pics would be saved and my dad complied an album and when DS got home at Thanksgiving, we proudly showed him our handiwork. Oh BOY! He was mad. He was very upset that we had this much time on our hands and demanded that we did not do this anymore. He even defriended his sister from Facebook for one day because she sent us a pic he had posted of he and his fellow Plebes out on the town after Plebe summer at Applebees. Long story short, at Christmas, all was well and forgiven and our son now has more perspective on why mom and dad and grandpa and grandma resorted to these tactics. Plus, those albums will mean a lot to him down the road. :thumb:
 
Just the other day, my oldest, who was in the class of 2005 and is now a Marine Capt stationed with his wife in San Diego called and said that he opened a box and reread all the letters he got during his time at Navy. He said some made him laugh out loud and some made him wistful for plebe summer ( he must have been out in the sun or something) He said it was odd to see how many people wrote him and cared and it was especially interesting to read letters from his baby brother who is now a plebe at Navy. I saved all four of the letters he wrote during his USNA time :biggrin: and reread the 28 lines total that they contain. I put them in a scrapbook that I made for his Commissioning. I have started a scrapbook for the youngest son and have already added the few letters he has written. I am going to ask for the letters they have recieved and put them in scrapbooks for posterity for them.

I wrote a letter every day to all three of my boys during Plebe summer. I bought postcards and put their addresses on them along with a stamp and carried them with me in my purse for the entire summer to hand out to people who asked about them when I went grocery shopping or to church or around town. I would ask that they write a few lines just for support. The boys were surprised and touched to get mail from people other than family and friends but from people they didn't know well but knew of.
 
I am alternating between smiles and crying while reading the posts in this thread. My youngest DS is heading off to Boat School this summer making me an empty nester. I have been through the experience with my DD who is now a 3/C. The posts are reminding me about all I did for her and all I will need to do for him. Meanwhile, I am trying to find ways to spend time with him without making him crazy. After much discussion, I was finally convinced that that I couldn't come to bb practice with him today (no parents allowed, no exceptions). But through the discussion, I saw signs of the man and leader he will become as he patiently discussed and worked through this rather unreasonable mom request given he's been going to practice on his own for a very long time.

For DD, I did send mail everyday and a package once a week. I wrote letters filled with day-to-day stuff, things the dogs did, things I did, nonconsequential things that would make her feel like she wasn't missing anything. Sometimes it was just a card with the words I love you. I will do the same for my son. I have noted the idea about carrying around pre-addressed post cards to hand out to people that ask how he is doing.

GoNavyMom
 
Oh my. This is making me a bit sad. My DS is just about to go through Recognition at USAFA and we couldn't be more proud of him. He has grown and matured in so many ways. This son of mine has never willingly thrown away anything in his life. His room is full of the trappings of boyhood through young adult-hood including rocks, sticks, snake skins, pine cones and all types of toys, small and large and they all have "meaning" to him. Before he came home for Christmas he had to pack up his stuff at AFA because they were all changing rooms after break. He told me he had found and THROWN AWAY all the letters he received during BCT. I was devastated, but tried not to show it because I didn't want him to dwell on it and be filled with regret. Sigh...
 
OK, I will fess up to what our family did all last summer. While DS was going through Plebe summer, we signed up for every website that would offer us a small glimpse into his world. We went on USNA Facebook and looked through hundreds, I mean HUNDREDS of photos daily. We would then find him! Our hearts would sing. I would email everyone that I saw the top of our son's head during the Rope obstacle course. Those pics would be saved and my dad complied an album and when DS got home at Thanksgiving, we proudly showed him our handiwork. Oh BOY! He was mad. He was very upset that we had this much time on our hands and demanded that we did not do this anymore. He even defriended his sister from Facebook for one day because she sent us a pic he had posted of he and his fellow Plebes out on the town after Plebe summer at Applebees. Long story short, at Christmas, all was well and forgiven and our son now has more perspective on why mom and dad and grandpa and grandma resorted to these tactics. Plus, those albums will mean a lot to him down the road.
Click to expand...

I had to laugh when I read this, LovetheNavy! I bought a USNA scrapbook over PPW but decided not to do anything with it until NEXT Christmas. I guessed that mine wouldn't appreciate it until later! After seeing your experience, I think I was right. :yllol:

Here is a suggestion that helped me, my son and his friends during Plebe Summer. I had two Letter-Writing Parties. I invited DS's closest friends and bought lots of stationery, cards, and stamps. Then we all wrote a couple of letters each, and I sent them out over the course of the summer. I even bought my son's favorite snacks, and his friends ate them during the party and talked about times when they ate those snacks together...just a bit of memory inspiration, and I got to hear lots of fun stories about my kid and his friends. We did it again part way through the first semester, which was actually harder for mine than Plebe summer.
 
Oh, Mom14, that would break my heart, too! My oldest is like that. He is currently stationed in Japan, but we still have his old toy box, filled with all kinds of weird stuff!

I did keep all the letters we wrote during our older son's spec ops boot camp and our younger son's Plebe Summer. I also kept the letters they sent home to us. It is amazing how much they grow in the first few years as young adults in the military!!
 
Letter writing party

We did something similar. At our Plebe's High School graduation party we had cards and stationary handy and asked everyone to write out a quick note or letter, seal it in an envelope and drop it in a basket by the door. We slapped an address label on them and mailed them out periodically throughout Beast. This idea accounted for nearly 40 cards and letter from his friends, teammates, teachers, and neighbors.

We also had laser printed business cards available with the 'Beast' address for anyone who was either rushed for time at the party or wanted to write later in the summer.

It was interesting to hear who all wrote during the summer. Several classmates wrote extra letters, and even a few parents of these classmates.
 
Love this post! Just a word to the wise----maybe it was just me but i wrote every day to DS too. Purchased great inspirational cards and numbered them so he would know if he missed one. Well-------- as the summer progressed i was feeling pretty proud of myself and one Saturday well into the summer DS was having a hard time and i was miserable. The mail arrives and i go to get it looking for an ever elusive note from said DS. There were like 12 cards in the box return mail ---not enough postage for the size envelope the cards were in! You could have heard my cry of anguish in the next town! DD and Dad came running all i could do was sit in the driveway sobbing. DS would surely think no one missed him or loved him and here he was watching everyone else get letters from home and his mom didnt send anything----i was devastated! In the car i go-- now mind you the post office here closes at noon. I run sobbing into the post office out of breath and they were locking the door as i arrived. Seeing a crazy woman sobbing must have worked! They open the door -calmed me and saw all the letters in my hand---Ma'am are you ok---YOU dont understand i sobbed ---ma'am what can we do its ok ----but you dont understand my son is at the naval academy and this is the only way to communicate and he thinks i dont love him! Ma'am we can over night these no problem heres a kleenex and a piece of paper to write him a note on----PPW DS laughed at me he got the big envelope with all the letters realized what had happened and enjoyed the thought of not having to witness my mom fit! (think it was $18 to send the BFE.) DD told him it was not a pretty sight. Moral of the story ---before you get cool cards check out the US postal service sight for dimensions of cards and the postage it takes to mail them! DS likes to drop a smart remark on occasion of how his mom didnt write for a week and he felt so unloved---might have to kill the kid someday really might! DD almost decked him she had to live though the situation. Again mom fits are not pretty.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top