I am a happy happy happy woman today because I received a letter from my husband who, as most of you know, is away at Navy Boot Camp. When it arrived in the mail yesterday I was so hyper dancing around the house singing that the dog started howling. Not even joking.
Granted, what I received in the mail was less of a letter and more of a form, but it doesn’t matter. I’m still walking on air! (And he snuck my pet name, FreeCougar, on the recipient line. Tricksy boy!)
The form provided his mailing address and his graduation date, which is set for August 2, 2013. (Only 48 more days to go! We got this.)
For those of you who know Jonathan, and even to those of you who don’t, but would like to adopt a sailor – if you would take a moment to write him an encouraging letter, send a card, or even drop him a brief line, it would be greatly appreciated! I want to smother him in love and support!
Jonathan will be at Boot Camp during his first Fathers Day as a daddy (June 16th), his 28th birthday (June 25th) and Independence Day (July 4th, duh).
If you would like to drop him a line, his mailing address is:
SR Freeman, Jonathan T
Ship 02, DIV 938
Recruit Training Command
3600 Ohio St.
Great Lakes, IL 60088-7105
This is the longest we have ever been apart and I know he is missing his wife, his unborn daughter and his five cats. Also, apparently the 900 divisions in Navy Boot Camp entail extra performance duties, so Jonathan has additional tasks to learn and rehearse and events to attend on top of the expectations required of him in Boot Camp, so he’s working extra hard. Any support and encouragement would be greatly appreciated! I am so proud of my handsome husband.
Dear Gynji,
As a family, deciding to serve your country is a wonderful thing. Myself and the other Navy families, applaud both your and your husbands courage, honor and commitment. And more so, HOOOYAH! for choosing the Navy!
However, there are a few things that go along with that. OPSEC is one of them. You are not going to want to release your husband’s address to the blog-o-shere no matter how much you wish him to receive mail. There are 4 main reasons why.
1.)Your husband is going to have very limited space while at the RTC. (We have official Navy pictures on our blog Buoyed-Up.com to show you how much space they actually have)
2.) RDC’s aren’t fond of Sailor’s receiving too much mail from sources they do not personally know. (A few in our sailor’s brother division got extra IT because of it)
3.) Packages and other random banned items. People have good intentions, but sometimes they really don’t know the mail rules and can inadvertently send a banned item causing a SR more hassle than good. (My sailor’s grandma sent the cookies- twice. He got extra IT while the RDC’s enjoyed a snack)
And last but not least…
4.) When your husband moves to the fleet certain communications are held in check. This is a great time to start practicing operational security.
Feel free to stop on by our blog Buoyed-up.com for more information on what you are going to experience, from those who have been through it before.
Ollie
Oh yeah, one more thing… welcome to the Navy family.
Hello! Thank you for the warm welcome and the advice as a seasoned Navy family member! I spoke to my husbands recruiter about receiving large quantities of mail, and he said the more the better, but he did reiterate your concerns regarding sending food items or large packages. Since my blog reader are largely close friends, and one of the only ways some of Jonathan’s friends / relatives who do not have my info or Facebook can reach me, I find this platform to be the easiest to share Jonathan’s contact information. From what everyone on the PIR 8/2/2013 Family Facebook Group are saying, I should be expecting a phone call from Jonathan either today or tomorrow (a lot of gals got their calls yesterday!) so I will ask him if he’d prefer me to take his contact info down. So far, the people sending him love I can count on one hand, so I do not anticipate my calls for avalanches of love to garner enough response to run Jonathan into any trouble – while it will make it easier for the friends and family who do want to show legitimate support and appreciation. But thank you so much for bringing these issues to my attention! I will talk to Jonathan about what he prefers as soon as I get my first “real” call!
Sending letter!
Thanks!
Wishing him Good Luck.
I would add some Old Sailor Advice but I have been Retired almost twenty years now. It is a different Navy now.
BTW, I am familiar with your neck of the woods. I was at NAS Lemoore from May of 1985 to March of 1989.
Thanks for the well wishes! This was such a tough time!! But man, how time flies!
I totally had a dream last night that we were sending him a card, and I was trying to smuggle all these awesome little things in with it, but then I was worried that they would search the card and take all the cool stuff out…. But I was like “I don’t care! I’m gonna try ANYWAYS!” *nod*
LOL, you goofball!
Support and love is always great, specially when they have to be away for such important dates, like Father’s Day! I know it killed my hubs to be away for his first Father’s Day with Ethan actually here this year. I feel so sad for him, but we sent him a super awesome package that hopefully he receives today! (Mail takes veryyyyy long to make it to the ships!)
I wish you an easy 48 days! I can only dream of having 48 days left, lol.
I’m sure I will be in your shoes soon enough, and to be honest, I can’t even begin to imagine being away from him for longer than this (seeming) eternity… how do you do it?!?! When that day comes I’ll most likely be sobbing onto your blogs virtual shoulder, lol. I hope your Fathers Day package arrives in time for your hubby!