My friend started Marine basic training at Parris Island last week and I want to send her a letter.
When mailing a letter to a recruit at basic, do you need a specific address or would simply writing their name with the base’s general address be sufficient? Parris Island’s website (http://www.mcrdpi.usmc.mil/faq.htm#2) says that if I haven’t received a postcard from her with the current address, I should contact her recruiter. Well, I don’t know who her recruiter is. I could find it out, but I’d have to ask my friend. And she’s at Parris Island. Where I can’t contact her.
Any information about what I should do to send her a letter would be appreciated.
I think when my brother was in basic at Benning, we had the name of his training unit or class.
So it went-
Name
Training class #whatever
Fort Benning, GA 12345
You will probably need some more information from her.
You could see if her email is up yet. The standard formula for the army is firstname.lastname at us.army.mil. Hers might be similar (us.marinecorps.mil?).
I would generally advise against sending a generic address due to the increased security at most military mailrooms. Do you know the recruiting station that she went to? Maybe a recruiter ther can give you more information. Recruits are generally not given much free time, so it may be an issue of priorities on her part and not a slight of you. She will probibly want to hear from you and may be able to write you at some point, but has not had the time to send her address to you. The best I cna advise is to wait to hear from her if you can’t get anything from the family.
Tell her thank you for her service.
I know it is a problem for well meaning friends, but recruits are also protected from other people that may pose a distraction to their trianing. That is why you need to know the recruiter.
She might not have been there long enough to send you a letter. We did not get a letter from our son (at Parris Island last winter) until he had been there two or three weeks. You will need to know which Platoon, Battalion and Company she’s in. Here is how the recruit Parris Island addy looks:
RCT DOE, JANE Q.
PLT ??? ?RD BN ? CO
BOX ???
PARRIS ISLAND SC 29905-???
For example, if she were Platoon 3000, second battalion, Papa Company it would look like this:
PLT 3000 2ND BN P CO
BOX 3000
PARRIS ISLAND SC 29905-3000
I also think that the recruiting station is a good place to start. Look it up in the Yellow Pages if you have to. Here’s the listing in the yellow pages for Bloomington:
U S Marine Corps Officer Selection OFC
327 South Walnut Street # 101, Bloomington, IN 47401
(812) 332-6852
Yeah, that’s what I figured concerning the rules listed on the Parris Island website. It didn’t really seem like just sending a letter addressed to her would work, although I thought I’d check regardless.
I will be thanking her constantly over the next five years in the form of care packages and I’ll probably try to visit wherever she’s stationed (if in the states) a few times if I’m able.
The problem is she enlisted in Chicago and there are a few recruiting places there.
It looks like I’m just going to have to wait until she can mail me. She may not have had time yet, as someone pointed out.
That’s odd. When I attended Navy Basic Training about a million years ago (1976), on the very first day of basic, every recruit was required to sit down and write a letter to their parents (or spouses, etc.) with their brand new, Navy-issued stationery and Skilcraft mechanical pencils. We were told they didn’t give a flying rat’s ass how often we wrote home after that, but we would damned well write this one. IIRC, this letter accompanied a box containing our civilian clothes and personal items that we would not be allowed to have for the next nine weeks (watches, jewelry, pocket knives and so forth).
Have things really changed all that much?
BTW, in the first 3 weeks of boot camp, I wrote about 60 letters to friends and family. Yes, they keep you busy in boot camp, but when they’re not busy molding your character (“Drop and give me 20, maggot!”), there is absolutely nothing else to do.
It hasn’t changed much, but as you stated, the letter was to family and spouses. As the duty day ended, there was time for other letters to be written, but not always to everyone you want to write to.
In our experience, it was a phone call. Seemed like he was reading off a card: THIS IS RECRUIT SO-AND-SO I’VE ARRIVED AT PARRIS ISLAND PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANY CANDY. Then he hung up the phone.
heh.
M, if it’s within your power to do so, consider going to the graduation ceremony. Words cannot express the awsomeness of it. My hubby and I drove 12 hours to see our recruit graduate. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything
If you don’t know what specific recruiter was used just ask your local recruiting office for help.They can find out but I am not sure if they will for a non-family member. Hold off sending any care packages until after boot camp. “Contraband” is confiscated. It’s either thrown out (while the recruit watches) or distributed to the whole platoon. Don’t send anything that isn’t requested. Do keep trying. Those letters do help, especially in Basic Training (sorry Boot Camp).
This would not seem to be very helpful advice. Unless things have dramatically changed in the last few years, recruits do not have access to computers in boot camp. Also, the OP doesn’t have the recruit’s e-mail address, and anyway, military members (much less a recruit in boot camp) do not generally get an official e-mail account unless required for their particular assignment. And finally, as far as the USN/USMC is concerned, I’ve never seen a service-wide domain used for e-mail addresses; every USN/USMC address domain that I’ve ever seen was related to the command the member was assigned to.
That is not correct. The the Army it has become rquired to get an account on AKO (Army Knowledge Online). The email address becomes John.Doe@us.army.mil. I think the other services have the same or similar. It’s been a while but I doubt there is any access in Boot Camp.
As the website states, the Navy does not have service-wide e-mail addresses; they are assigned by the individual command. Whether or not you actually get one is up the individual command.
Additionally, this website indicates that only the U.S. Army maintains a service-wide e-mail system (i.e. e-mail accounts that are not dependent on what command or base a servicemember is assigned to.)
The upshot is that, with the exception of Army personnel, there is really no easy way of tracking down a servicemember’s e-mail address, assuming they have one. If a Sailor or Marine does have an official e-mail address, realize, too, that every time they transfer to a different command, the account is deleted.
Well, in my case I’m glad the Army does it this way, but it’s a shame the other services don’t. It sure simplifies things.
Sorry for forgetting that recruits probably don’t have accounts yet… It’s been a long damn time since someone I loved was a raw recruit!
