Letters During Buckner?

classof2022

classof2022

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Can New Cadets still receive letters when they are at Buckner? Or will they be held until they get back? When do they get back from Buckner?
 
classof2022 said:
Can New Cadets still receive letters when they are at Buckner? Or will they be held until they get back? When do they get back from Buckner?
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Discouraging to hear that they were not able or want say they will be able to work that out to make it possible at a time that it could make a difference. Same as where is the laundry?? If we are all equal and believe we all have the same need. However, It's not a controversial complex issue to make the headlines therefore suck it up...?
 
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sa2021 said:
classof2022 said:
Can New Cadets still receive letters when they are at Buckner? Or will they be held until they get back? When do they get back from Buckner?
Click to expand...

Discouraging to hear that they were not able or want say they will be able to work that out to make it possible at a time that it could make a difference. Same as where is the laundry?? If we are all equal and believe we all have the same need. However, It's not a controversial complex issue to make the headlines therefore suck it up...?
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I was just asking out of curiosity... thanks though.
 
I don't know if they will receive mail or not while at Buckner. We have heard some saying yes and some saying no. FWIW, I sure hope they can.
 
In the past they did. Time will tell if they do this year. There are always laundry issues. As long as they are filling out their slips correctly, they will be fine. Their TL will walk them through the process during reorgy week.
 
classof2022 said:
I was just asking out of curiosity... thanks though.
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Sorry. Last I heard it was not possible (with an added if it's worked out, they will) Didn't mean to sound offensive with the extra verbiage. Hoping for the best.
 
I will raise it here because I would probably get banned on the Facebook pages. The academy and cadet leadership should be figuring out how to get mail to the field. This is a very practical problem that the officers have most likely tackled in the past and the firsties will encounter again in as short as the next 18 months. The idea is to let the leaders develop just like the New Cadets and this is an important part of taking care of your soldiers. It may have been a few years ago, but telling my Battalion Commander as the S-1, that we would not get mail out to the field would have not gone over very well. His response would have been something like: "LT, you better go figure it out or I will find someone else who can"
 
The Academy has already figured out this problem.You have to be certified to legally handle mail. That's why plucks can get mail during CFT. Part of their cadre will have been certified and they get issued a PO box out at Buckner that the mailing system can forward their mail to. The time the New Cadets spend out at Buckner isn't really that long at all (varies from year to year but I'm assuming a week, if that for these guys) to make the time doing either of these requirements would necessitate to justify taking away from the rest of the train-up the cadre needs prior to taking their NC's.

I have yet to hit a field problem where my mail is forwarded to me in the big Army, and I view this the same way. Its understood that you'll survive a few days to weeks without mail. Deployments are different because of the length of time associated with being overseas, but even then, there are limitations depending on where you are going and the military postal system. Its all part of the life you agree to be a part of when you join the Army.




Caveat, I'm not taking away from the fact that mail is a great morale boost and leaders need to be taking care of their guys when in their abilities. Part of leadership though is making tough decisions though to accomplish the mission, even when they might be unpopular. Sometimes your guys just have to suck it up and deal. Hopefully you as the leader have built up enough trust and confidence that they'll keep following you.
 
Casey said:
The Academy has already figured out this problem.You have to be certified to legally handle mail. That's why plucks can get mail during CFT. Part of their cadre will have been certified and they get issued a PO box out at Buckner that the mailing system can forward their mail to. The time the New Cadets spend out at Buckner isn't really that long at all (varies from year to year but I'm assuming a week, if that for these guys) to make the time doing either of these requirements would necessitate to justify taking away from the rest of the train-up the cadre needs prior to taking their NC's.

I have yet to hit a field problem where my mail is forwarded to me in the big Army, and I view this the same way. Its understood that you'll survive a few days to weeks without mail. Deployments are different because of the length of time associated with being overseas, but even then, there are limitations depending on where you are going and the military postal system. Its all part of the life you agree to be a part of when you join the Army.




Caveat, I'm not taking away from the fact that mail is a great morale boost and leaders need to be taking care of their guys when in their abilities. Part of leadership though is making tough decisions though to accomplish the mission, even when they might be unpopular. Sometimes your guys just have to suck it up and deal. Hopefully you as the leader have built up enough trust and confidence that they'll keep following you.
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@Casey This is an interesting perspective. In my day we routinely brought out mail to field problems. I just see it as a learning opportunity for the upperclassmen to learn about all of the "additional duties" they will face when the get to the Big Army. The do not teach about Arms Room Officer, NBC Room Officer, Mail Room Officer but having some knowledge of the "staff" work is almost as important.
 
USMA 1994 said:
@Casey This is an interesting perspective. In my day we routinely brought out mail to field problems. I just see it as a learning opportunity for the upperclassmen to learn about all of the "additional duties" they will face when the get to the Big Army. The do not teach about Arms Room Officer, NBC Room Officer, Mail Room Officer but having some knowledge of the "staff" work is almost as important.
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That's completely fair, and I can appreciate what you're saying. I currently hold two of those positions (among the multitude of other unexpected additional duties that we get tagged with). I think USMA as a whole could spend time and emphasis on staff positions. I was lucky based off where I was placed my firstie year job wise that I learned how staff worked prior to graduation which helped me immensely when I first showed up to my unit, but I didn't have necessarily the experience of a typical cadet and I can acknowledge that. The good news is that someone at the unit will be happy to teach you or tell you where to go figure it out if you didn't get it at school.
 
Casey said:
USMA 1994 said:
@Casey This is an interesting perspective. In my day we routinely brought out mail to field problems. I just see it as a learning opportunity for the upperclassmen to learn about all of the "additional duties" they will face when the get to the Big Army. The do not teach about Arms Room Officer, NBC Room Officer, Mail Room Officer but having some knowledge of the "staff" work is almost as important.
Click to expand...

That's completely fair, and I can appreciate what you're saying. I currently hold two of those positions (among the multitude of other unexpected additional duties that we get tagged with). I think USMA as a whole could spend time and emphasis on staff positions. I was lucky based off where I was placed my firstie year job wise that I learned how staff worked prior to graduation which helped me immensely when I first showed up to my unit, but I didn't have necessarily the experience of a typical cadet and I can acknowledge that. The good news is that someone at the unit will be happy to teach you or tell you where to go figure it out if you didn't get it at school.
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Looking back, it would have been beneficial to have some understanding of the mail room before I was standing in front of my Brigade Commander's desk discussing if we should Court Martial or just Article 15 one of my soldiers for doing something dumb in the mail room. As the new S-1, I had no idea what they really did. It was an "additional" duty that you did't deal with unless their was a problem.
 
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