<p>RTBdad, yes I'm amazed at how much longer my food is lasting, LOL. We still have 3 other teenagers here, but I think CDK ate about 2x as much as and then when his friends were always over. I'm shocked that I keep over-cooking and we have all these leftovers. I was talking to my H and said they would have to have a higher scholarship amount for him, cause he will eat so much ;-) That will be great for him to get the extra supplements, since we always had those here for him. It's comforting to know he is at a place that cares.</p>
<p>An interesting footnote. My son is on ops at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane. That's where they have the Combat Survival Training. He was taken out on a two-day survival hike and given one MRE to last the whole time. By the second day he was literally too weak to walk. Two of the other team members had to sacrifice a little bit of their food to snap him out of it. He got back just fine, but Red Robin restaurant lost some money that night feeding all those guys with the so-called "bottomless" french fries. Our boy has just got to get a little fat on him and build up some reserves!</p>
<p>RTBdad - glad to hear your son is ok. Sounds like he is having a better ops at Fairchild than the first ops group there. They were pretty bored last I heard. The new personnel were not real prepared for them or something. All I was told they did was shadow and one ride in a refueler.</p>
<p>Yes, he's having a great time at Fairchild. Got to drive a bulldozer, of all things. Also, one great big difference, there was some trouble in the enlisted barracks with underage drinking during the first ops group. It didn't involve any cadets, but the powers that be decided to put the second group in the base hotel. My son has a two room suite and no room mate. He has been doing a lot of shadowing (even including food service and preparation), but they've kept the cadets pretty busy. Another plus was being there during July 4th. It was a good holiday on the base.</p>
<p>I should know the answer to this one, but I don't.</p>
<p>Do they let the Basic Cadets take their mail to their room and keep it?</p>
<p>Hit the Jackpot on mail today - THREE letters in one day!!! And, all of them were very upbeat and good. What a wonderful to hear! D sounded like the kid I know and love! Relayed some funny and some not so funny stories - glad to be there. Tired - can't wait for BCT to be done and would love to have some ICE CREAM and Chocolate!!!! </p>
<p>Hope everyone else has had a good mail day too!</p>
<p>Absolutely, basic cadets are allowed to take their mail to their room, provided that the cadre didn't find any "contrband" in it...pictures, candy, etc.</p>
<p>What I did in basic is hoard all my letters until the cadre left us alone to go to bed, then I would get up and read them all and write back.</p>
<p>So, yes. Unless something has changed, your basic can read his/her mail in their room and keep it. I had a big box full of all the mail I got in basic (Plus my family, I was very lucky to have amazing friends who wrote...one even wrote me from overseas!) until I decided it was time to toss it out at the end of the year.</p>
<p>Great! Glad they can keep it. I saw cadets reading in the mail room and didn't know. I sent clippings and pages of jokes and didn't know if he would even have time to read them. Thanks.</p>
<p>Hi all - I just got two letters from son!!!! He's doing well - a bit dehydrated and very tired but still knows AFA is what he wants.
Jwags - your son has been a great help. He's funny and keeps up a good attitude-my son appreciates the laughs he's given him. My son said to let you know he (your son) is fine.
Also, Son sat next to Redhead in chapel. She's still energetic, happy and loves being there.
We have scanned pictures onto the letters, technically contrabrand, but none taken so far.
Last note, the girl in the wheelchair stress-fractured her leg on day 2 and was given a medical turnback on Day 8. Bless her heart...
Only 2 full days until those WONDERFUL phone calls!</p>
<p>Thank you Falcons 11. It warms my heart to hear that. What a small world we live in. :-)</p>
<p>Just got a letter from my Barbarian dated July 7. It does not seem that he has been able to receive any family mail, but he has received a few letters from friends. Do they intentionally block family mail?</p>
<p>We are still waiting for our first letter...appreciate the "news" everyone has shared.</p>
<p>Our Son-Interceptors, has received the letters from the family and has managaed to write 6. Our letters are not long, like a front and back of one page, you can tell he is writing VERY quickly, just stealing a few moments.
Every letter is more encouraging and he is totally enjoying Intermurals.
He said the food is good. What we notice the most, is that he is keeping his sence of humor and when he does "complain" about missing everyone, he will stop himself and then start to mention the postivies. He pushes himself VERY hard physically before he went in and said it is nothing compared to some of the training.</p>
<p>Our son is a real Dilbert fan, so last summer when he was in BCT we would print out the day's Dilbert cartoon off the internet, write a newsy encouraging note under it and mail it to him. "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine."</p>
<p>Got the bad letter today. She has hit the wall. Cadre have turned up the heat and are constantly in the face. Her knee is hurting and she is questioning if she can complete second beast. Good thind DDO is this almost here.</p>
<p>Yes, I think DDO will help everyone. It will also give her an opportunity to rest her knee. What squadron and flight is she in? Maybe we have some from this forum who could encourage her. Isn't that what it's all about? Teamwork. The way I hear it, they make sure that every one of the basics hit the wall at some point.</p>
<p>We received our first true "doom and Gloom' letter.They just get really tired of all the yelling I think. It probably does wear you down after awhile. I told my husband its our fault because we didn't yell at her enough! Phsically a person can train their best for BCT, but mentally with all the yelling, how does someone prepare for that??? The next letter will be better, just like everyone says.I know how you feel. Its amazing how those letters effect us.</p>
<p>grlboxer9 our daughters are in the same Squadron B. My duaghter is Potterfan1989. She has a classmate from HS that is also in B, and is having the same problems. I was concerned when I heard there would be no Lackland TI's this year, and hope this isn't some of the difficulty. I know B4 has already suffered (3) losses. Mike Knight, and two others. Just hope thiings get better for them. Can't do anything else because it is their Basic Training. So powerless to watch though.</p>
<p>ds52262. Hang in there! My daughter is 2010 and was a Barbarian last summer. Things will change after the new cadre takes over tomorrow. Could be for the better. I've seen USMA Beast from three viewpoints: as a new cadet, as a cadre member and as a faculty member. Normally the cadre in the second round tend to focus more on the professionalism and not the breaking down of the basic cadets. I think she will find Jack's Valley more fun although more physically demanding. I sent you a private msg since I also live in the Vegas valley and would be happy to talk to you any time. I would really hate to see someone throw in the towel so early in the process especially when there are so many applicants that did not get the chance to go but may have had the drive to finish no matter what. Be proud of your daughter for the path she has chosen and thank her for me for her service to our nation.</p>
<p>My son is from Barbarians squad B from Las Vegas. We have received 2 letters first was pretty upbeat, just sore feet from standing all day. He did mention one of the cadre was going to make him his special project. The 2nd letter had my wife a little concerned, he had to go to the group command table ( highest table or something like that )for both lunch and dinner and the raked him over the coals pretty good. Said he did not get to eat very much either time and then at breakfast did not get enough to eat as well. He had only lost a 1 1/2 for the first week. His only comment about going to the group command table was I don't want to have to do that again. Said he did not mind shining his boots but did not like the ( ironing props to mom ) He did say he was up to 10 pullups which is an improvement over the 7 he was doing before he left.</p>
<p>1st time using this site, not sure what the difference between post quick reply or go advanced. Option below this post, has a box to check for quote message in reply not sure what that does.</p>