Girlfriends, Fiances,and Wives of Sailors

I got my husband's form letter. I was prepared to wait a while for the box and the letter, but it all came rather quickly. he left 9/10 and i recieved his box 9/13 and then recieves the form letter 9/17 (yesterday) and his PIR is 11/2. It is a week before we both thought it would be. I'm rather optimistic now about the whole thing, and excited that next week is week 3 so he should start receiving my letters by then (i sent them all today). i still miss him like crazy but i am also so proud of him and so excited to see him graduate.

My boyfriend is officially a U.S. Navy Sailor!! :)

Congrats briana. How did graduation go?

BEST VOICEMAIL EVER. I wish that he could have been given a phone home time that wasn't during rehearsal, but at least he knew I couldn't pick up.

Still kinda new to the area. Looking to make some new friends. We have two boys (8 & 2). My husband is on the USS Newport News. Is there any other SO on the same boat?

hey girls....quick question - how long were some of your letters to your sailors? i've been writing him every day of course....I just wonder how long they have to read their letters of course....i dont want to write him story books incase he's short on time....but then again, sometimes i want to write a novel! ...gimme some pointers...i should be getting his form letter soon so im getting ready to mail my letters out any day now...

I write about a page and half usually

mayersr10,

My boyfriend graduates bootcamp this friday. I will fly out tomorrow, but I will be sure to let everyone know how it went and maybe I'll be able to give a few tips to ladies who will be attending PIR in the coming weeks based on my experiences. This will be my first time on a plane EVER so wish me luck ladies!

Briana

I usually write about two pages but it's front and back. Sometimes it's shorter and other times it's longer.

Briana: My bad I totally spaced that it wasn't Friday yet haha. Good luck with the flight :)

Oh and Juliette: I wouldnt worry so much about the length of the letters. Our SRs live for the mail they get while at bootcamp. I finally received the Sailor call yesterday, during which my boyfriend thanked me for every single letter that I wrote. Just write what you feel and what's on your mind. Your SR will want to know everything that's going on as those letters are his only connection to the outside world. Personally my letters would get a little lengthy at times, but I never got a complaint from my boyfriend, so I dont think you will either! ;)

@briana... do you need tips for getting through airport security smoothly?

awesome, thanks guys! i just write down everything...and sometimes i feel like im constantly repeating about how i much i miss him LOL...hopefully he don't mind...but he'll surely be getting alot of letters from me....so i guess im not the only one! :)

Ok great. Thanks guys for the tips. I've packed about 4 letters in each envelope, so hopefully they won't have to scan anything, they're not to thick. I'll definitely put some pictures throughout here and there....and 12 pages or more is awesome! LOL. Ok, well I thought my 3 plus pages were overboard lol. My fiance was always a whiner if I texted him too much because he hated typing and crap....so I'm assuming the letters will be a different story lol. I just write and ramble forever....it just gives me comfort since i can't text or call him when i want now :(

oh i know exactly what you're saying! my hands start aching after the first few sentences because i'm so not used to hand writing letters anymore ... but i write them all by hand as well - it makes it more authentic and genuine....i never wanted to type them! but i look forward to always having them once he's through bootcamp...it's something to look back on....i just hope i get some cutesy love letters out of him lol....it's so nice reading stuff like that, especially with all this time apart from each other!

Juliette, I literally sent my boyfriend a whole notebook while he was in boot camp...i filled it with pictures and little letters on each page while he was gone and sent it to him the second to last week of boot camp. So dont worry about packing letters too thick (except for the stamp part...I accidentally stuck too many in one envelope and i didnt know i hadnt put enough stamps until it returned two weeks later with a "Return to sender" stamp)

Anndrya- You should definitely put at least 2 stamps on it. You don't want to chance it getting returned back to you. When I wrote my bf 4 pages (no pictures included) I would always put 2 stamps.

Hi !

sooooo I am fairly a new navy gf i have gotten through bootcamp, a- school and c - school and now starting DEPLOYMENT!!! and all this has happen within 7 1/2 months! My bf just left to guam yesterday for deployment for 10 MONTHS and honestly this something that i wasnt prepared for :( but i am managing.... I just have a question for those who know how the communication works on ship anything helps !!!!!

Anndrya, I feel you....I'm on day 8 as well and still no letter in the mail. I have so many letters to send him out! I'm anxious to see when his PIR date is...his division, ect...It's really making me mad now. I want to come home finally, check my mail and get that form letter....how much longer can we wait? Ugh...

Hey ladies,

I'm seeing a fair number of posts about boot camp. 

My SR graduates bootcamp next weekend, but I thought I'd share my experience... I didn't get my SR's form letter until the second week in, so hang in there and keep writing. Stock pile those letters til you get the address! My SR LOVED receiving a pile of letters on their first mail day. My SR's division wasn't able to send a personal letter out for a while. It was a solid 3 weeks before I heard anything from him. I've written all but 2 days the whole time (tonight is letter number 44!) that's a lot of stamps! BUT do keep in mind they have VERY limited space. I actually sent some larger (6x9) envelopes about half way through so he could send back some of the letters I'd sent to clear some space for the new stuff coming in. He didn't want to have to throw any of them away. There's no guarantee they'll get to use an envelope like that, but it worked just fine for my SR. I received both envelopes back stuffed with cards and letters he'd received. He kept the pictures and I assume his favorite letters.  The worst that will happen is they won't get used and a few envelopes will be discarded. 

At the end of this, my advice is keep yourself VERY busy and the time will fly by! And practice patience, the SR's have very little control over their time, it's not always their fault if they can't write as soon as you'd like them to :)

Yes. They address the envelope. They MIGHT sneak in a little note on it... My SR said "read ALL of this and give the address to my parents too, miss you." It's a very impersonal letter though. 

Anndrya - It is something they have handwritten, but you probably won't recognize it.  They learn "recruit handwriting" which is a sort of block letter thing.  I worked at the same company as my husband for 3 years and did data entry of his work.  I KNOW his handwriting.  I did not recognize it. Of course, his writing is always pretty sloppy, but it was very, very neat in everything he wrote at bootcamp.  I showed it to his mom and she couldn't believe it either.  lol. 

reading all of this is going to make me cry LOL....just to see his handwriting as you said is enough for me...god, i really wish i could get this letter before the weekend :(