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**UPDATE 4/26/2022** Effective with the May 6, 2022 PIR 4 guests will be allowed. Still must be fully vaccinated to attend.
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Calling cards in boot camp
HELP! New navy mom here. My son is in week one of basic. I would like to send him a calling card with my first letter. I am lost about what kind to send. His phone is of course secured.
Can someone give me some direction?
Views: 475
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by TravelinMom on
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Most of the cards seemed to be for minutes on a cellphone, not what you want. I finally found the right kind at CVS, probably they're also at Walgreens, but I did have to ask because they kept them somewhere weird, not at the front. The ones at the grocery store expire if you don't use them once within 30 days! Expire! That's ridiculous. Anyway, they can also purchase one at the NEX (exchange) so you could just send an NEX gift card as well. The one I got was the "up to 600 minutes" one for $30. Probably was overkill since my son isn't much of a talker! They didn't have anything in between 200 and 600 minutes when I went to the store though.
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Permalink Reply by Diahn on
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Hi Shebamom - I found a card at Walgreens that looks like this:
It lasted my sailor the entire time. They can also purchase calling cards at the NEX. It's not easy to find an actual landline calling card these days, but they keep them in stock at the NEX just for this purpose.
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Great I found one of the Walgreens cards. Did you activate before sending?
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I don't think so. You'd think I could remember back to early February, but nope!
I don't think we did anything with it after we bought it - he just stuck it in his wallet and did everything once he made his first call. He told me that his RDCs said he wouldn't use all the minutes, but our last phone call used up the last of his minutes, so it was perfect. Glad you found one!
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I didn't activate the card before he left (meant to!), and I also took a pic of the front and back of it so I could check minutes on it. I had read those suggestions somewhere. You'll need to scratch off the area that reveals the PIN before doing that. I could still activate it for him though with that picture I took.
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Permalink Reply by Chipmunk on
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Shebamom - I am sorry that I did not see this earlier but I was away from my computer. For any future recommendations - we usually suggest that you just let them purchase their calling card at the NEX if they are not able to get one before they leave for BC. They are given an allowance to begin with which will allow them to purchase a calling card there.
When my son left 6 years ago, I think I finally found his calling card at a CVS store. You definitely have to find the ones for pay phones. And my son did activate his card before he left for BC so that he knew what to do and so that it was ready to go. My son's recruiter told him to buy one before he left and so I searched high and low. But many never buy them beforehand and their SRs are able to get them from the NEX.
In the future, I would refrain from mailing calling cards, gift cards, money, etc to your SRs or sailors. Too many hands come across their mail in the mail rooms and those kinds of things can disappear easily, unfortunately. Instead, you can put money into their checking account for them instead. If they have a black or dark Navy blue (I think) wallet, then they are able to keep that with them, as well as their bank cards.
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Permalink Reply by belovedbyHim on
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Shebamom -- I Hope You see this before it's too late..... STOP!!! Do not stress yourself over getting a calling card. They have them available at RTC and they are able to buy them there easily!! Once your Child is Done with Bootcamp the odds of them EVER using a pay phone again are next to Nil and that becomes money wasted (I KNOW, I did that very thing!) Don't waste the gas, the money, the hair.... there is no need!!
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OK. I see that you already bought and mailed one, so hopefully it will make it ok but just know that it's likely to go unused.
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