<p>In the care package drive I sent NutriGrain bars, pop-top can tuna, Wasa, crystal light individual water sweetners, individual dole fruit cups, and little spoons. No cookies from me, but it was the package, not the contents, that was important!:) Somewhere some plebe is wondering "What's this Wasa stuff?" ;)</p>
<p>Momof1, crystal light! Did the same here. I recall last year somebody saying don't send a Gator-aide tub of the powered mix because they truly need a funnel to get it into their water bottles. Those little packages are just the best idea. I gotta know. what the heck is Wasa? LOL </p>
<p>I'm sorry to say I sent alittle candy. I couldn't help it you guys!! I didn't think about it not be allowed. I sent jelly beans. Oh well. Maybe they'll pass them out later. </p>
<p>I knew I shoulda put "boiled p-nuts" in my box for maybe a southern kid...... :D</p>
<p>NONONO, remember? It is not "boiled" (I had to concentrate to write that) but, according to the sign that is probably still standing at the intersection of highways 301 and 341 in Jesup, Georgia, it is "boilded" peanuts! That has been a family joke for 20 years now. </p>
<p>Wasa is kinda like RyKrisp. Helps with those chores that I have heard are kinda difficult for the first part of Plebe Summer. Lotsa fiber. ;)</p>
<p>Jamzmom,</p>
<p>Wasa is the Scandinavian equivalent of your biscuits. :D</p>
<p>Last night I was out at our new Walmart- and saw small plastic snack packages of corn and almost bought them as a joke to send to my son- I go on missions to find individual wrapped items which I think will be fun. In his last letter- he requested cookies ( as many as could fit in a container) and so I baked ( rather poorly- slice and bake) but still I fullfilled the request.</p>
<p>Middiesmom-The corn reminded me, when DD was small I had my girls convinced that green beans were a snack food! I will have to send her a few of the individual serving sized cans to see if she appreciates ol' Mom's sense of humor. </p>
<p>I confess, I sent some junk food in my care packages, including home baked cookies but some other snack foods as well. Oh well. Maybe the cadre will look favorably upon her if they get a lot of good stuff from a plebe's mom.</p>
<p>Gotta go out and get some green beans!</p>
<p>PHONE CALL...4:05 pm. Lasted all of 3 minutes I think, thank god we were both on the phone with her or someone would have been left out. She sounded great, but said she hurt her hamstring the other day, but she's sucking it up...Thats the ARMY blood running through her veins..HUA. Said all is ok, and DON'T WORRY, which of course made us both tear up. They run everywhere.....run run run, and then some more. We let her know where we stand to watch the 12:00 formation, so now she'll peak....BUT NOT GET CAUGHT..lol. Told her we'd be watching the parade on the 14th....and thats when she said GOTTA GO, bye, love you both, send pictures, hug Bandit (our Pug) and Trixie (the cat)....bye. </p>
<p>Been waiting 12 days for the 3 minutes...... :)</p>
<p>I hope everyone else had a wonderful chat, and look forward to hearing from you all.</p>
<p>DAD.</p>
<p>PHONE CALL 1:30pm 4min. Best call ever!!!!!Jake sounded hoarse and tired but really happy. He's in some boxing group and also in the choir. Has no problem with PT etc...Has lost either 1 or 2 roomates who dropped. He said send a lot of soft food like TWINKIES, HOSTESS CUPCAKES. I'm off to the store! He has gotten some of the mail but not all.</p>
<p>TWINKIES???? TWINKIES??????</p>
<p>They running a club med out there in annapolis this summer for the plebes??? :)</p>
<p>Any New Cadet Parents find a way to squeeze a twinkie in the mail? :)</p>
<p>Those phone calls are priceless. Remember to take notes while you talk to your son or daughter, it helps when the rest of the family starts asking details!</p>
<p>After waiting how many days for the call to come, would you believe I missed it??!!! I can't believe it!! Thankfully hubby was home to get the call- </p>
<p>would feel absolutely miserable except I got to hear from him yesterday for 20 minutes- unbelievealbe- postive, happy and adjusting....passed his first room inspection- good day!</p>
<p>today was a different story- in the four minutes he got to share, he said the cadre were all over him today- lost his reef points for calling a "ma'am" a "sir" (won't share what else he said about that)....but the good news is that he told his Dad that he was going to work that much harder, was NOT going to let them get to him, etc......</p>
<p>His dad said he sounded "tense"....call lasted 4 min 49 seconds....</p>
<p>how on earth did I miss this?????? I feel terrible- I should lose my parenting license!</p>
<p>I go tmy phone call at 4:12 and it lasted for about 4 minutes 30 secs. Let Bobby's gf talk the most. He's been getting the mail and said that it is what is keeping him sane. Little extra note for people whose plebes have their won cell phones. Both my son's gf and myself left a text message to bboy on his phone on Thrusday- he must have had enough time to read it after the phone call because I got a text message back which said- I luv u 2. I didn't care if it was for jme, for Katelyn or for both- its on my phone now forever. I realize just how important the mail is- Bobby also said in a letter that they keep telling him- his gf will be breaking up with him-and although this may be true in the future- I do feel that at this point they need the encouragment. His gf and and I did scrapbooking today and looked througyh old video tapes of Bobby- counting the days till PPW</p>
<p>We got our phone call at ~1615. She got to talk to us for over 30 minutes! I was totally shocked. </p>
<p>I'm working tonight but the wife is off to the store for requested items. DD said they are pretty lenient (so far) on care package items. M&M peanuts, gold fish, oatmeal cookies and she said the little handi snack bread sticks with cheese are a very hot commodity along with the payday protien bars.</p>
<p>Said the first thing she wanted PPW was a long shower, mexican food and see a movie. She also said that letters were the best thing to send - she REALLY looked forward to letters.</p>
<p>Good luck to all and know we're praying for all the Mids - the summer's just starting.</p>
<p>Be safe and God bless.</p>
<p>Navy2010......Don't worry about it, as long as someone OTHER than the 20 folks their with every second of the day answered, he's happy. If you don't mind me asking, how did you get 20 minutes yesterday? That must have been NICE.</p>
<p>Dad</p>
<p>HA! I sent goldfish in my box too! Excellent! I hope some Plebe will enjoy the entire bag all to him/herself. Very cool you guys got the phone call. It's funny, but when they are finally able to call more often, you'll find that they have an up day & be so excited. Then the next time you talk to them they are hating life. Academy kids have a true love/hate thing going on.</p>
<p>You hit the nail square JM!</p>
<p>I remember talking with a Mid during I-Day and she said the EXACT same thing - love/hate relationship with the Academy.</p>
<p>Hope to see many of you PPW. </p>
<p>Be safe and God bless.</p>
<p>My wife talked to our son for roughly 20 seconds, the other 4+ minutes went to his girlfriend. Such is life... When I asked my wife if she was ok with that, she answered, who did you call? Her...so what goes around, comes around. At least he had enough time to say he was doing ok.</p>
<p>I did the same with my son's gf- bottom line- my son knows that no matter what is mom is going to be there- thick or thin. They know that in their hearts- but the girlfriend thing is different. I made a chocie- I wanted my son's morale to be high after the phone call- and his girlfriend shared most parts of the calls with me- I made sure I gave her privacy on my cell phone. We also texted messages a few days before- and right after the phone call- we got a text back from Bobby- it simply read Iluv2. don't care who it was for- its in my phone for eternity.</p>
<p>Here's a question for you old pro's. I see alot of Plebe's on crutches, see the posts about strep throat, arm's in slings, hamstring pulls etc etc... Question is..How far can these kids go before they would be considered dropped from the academy? I mean EVERYONE gets sick, and in a stress heavy enviroment I'd assume there would be plenty of plebe's getting sick and then spreading it to their classmates. As a parent I hate to get that call saying she is coming home because she had the flu, or her hammy just won't let her run as much as she needs to. Just wondering.</p>
<p>Dad</p>
<p>I'd say pretty far . . . last year a plebe, during the summer, fell off one of the tower exercises. Splintered--probably not an accurate medical term but other describes the injury--his lower leg. Rushed to Bethesda [I think], patched up and returned to his company. Obviously, he was on limited duty but otherwise he crutched along with his company as best as he could. [Those that can't run are sometimes asssigned to pool duty where they exercise in water, sometimes described as being worse than running.]
"Temporary" injuries, e.g. breaks, illnesses, etc. are tolerated and fixed. Medical dismissal would only come after a board review that concluded the injury/illness/defect would preclude the person from serving as an officer.</p>
<p>I got a phone call this morning- from the USNA football office- my heart skipped a beat- "my first thought- okay what happened and whats the injury. Thank God it wasn't that- our high school hadn't sent in transcripts to NCAA clearinghouse- but let me tell you after viewing all the plebes on crutches and the like- all I could think was- injury. Glad it was something simple:)</p>