My "big brother" just left for basic training. He isnt really my brother he is my sisters boyfriend but it has been so hard on me and my sister... He is going to be gone for 4 months and that is soo so hard... but when i think about how small amount of time is 4 months compared to 2 years... i dont know how i will be able to handle it... i know its not going to be easy but i never knew it was going to be this hard.... Any Advice??

321543

Write him plenty of letters ever day. With good things. He remembers you, and even you and your sisters perfume, all the times you spent together. It drives him and gives him strength and courage to make it through his living hell.

The last thing he needs while he is there is to get a Dear john letter. A dear john letter is a letter from his girl saying she is sleeping with somebody else that she wants to remain friends. That she has met somebody else.
Please help keep her under control. The US Military has him under total control. Don't let her be little herself or standards with some cutie that (will present him self to her while he is away). I tell you, this is no man. A serpent coming to destroy. This will happen so be ready for it .

95 % of young men in Basic receive this so called Letter. I was one of the Drill Instructors that was left cleaning up the mess.

Hai89

That Was Crap. Why Would She Send Him A Dear John Letter.

redhed35

hey,its a scary time, im sure sending letters and pictures would really help with any homesickness he would feel..i dont know if you would be able to do this,but a tape recording of the people from home,everyone saying hello,and laughing,its nice to hear peoples voices,letting him know how proud you all are and sending him lots of love and good wishes.
4 months is only 16 weeks,keep busy.
Mark off a calender,and when he gets home,it will be like christmas,birthdays and the best day!

321543

Temptations my dear, not have been theres or watched others go through it.

STG

Write the letters...any military man appreciates getting them in situations like basic, PLDC, OCS, etc...it means a lot...just speaking from experience.

321543's comment on dear John letters is accurate. Your sister has to work to keep the relationship going because her boyfriend won't be able to during basic. The letters will help this.

13sldr

I dont know if writting him would be a good idea.....

although when I am going to go to basic, I hope I dont get any mail at all. I am going there to turn from a boy to a man. My eyes will be on the finish line and the last thing I want is a letter that will make me realize what I am missing and how much I cant wait to graduate basic, I think that would make the time there seem longer. but this is just my opion

celestiallady

My son just graduated from Marine Boot Camp and the best advice I can give you is to make sure to send letters EVERY DAY..it is the single most important thing you will do for him and yourselves. Also, I found great comfort in going to websites such as YUKU.COM and reading posts from military families that were going thru the same thing...it also answered a lot of questions I had about Boot Camp.

airborneranger7

Kid I was hoping the same thing. Fact is you live during that time period for letters. What part of cut off from the world don't you understand? Honestly Basic isn't even the hardest part. Reception is. Reception's where most suicides in the military occur. Or attempts now I should say. They've taken steps to ensure that measure doesn't get taken. Letters give you something to look forward to. Time will fly on it's own when you actually get to Basic. It'll stand still when you're in reception. Try sitting on a wooden bench for 8 hours, only getting up to go stand in line for chow (sucky chow), unable to talk, freaked out by looking around and realizing you can't scratch yourself without asking, trying to stay awake, doing absolutely nothing but looking around a room dead silent with at least 400 people in it asking God what they signed up for. Then 1500 comes and someone got the bright idea that this could be a form of torture so they pass out the book that you'll know by the back of your hand and more important than the Bible. A book that breaks down all of your training into 500 pages and has diagrams and instructions that you can look at ahead of time. A book that a Drill Sergeant will tell you to study the night before, will give a quick class on it the next day, and then expect you to execute it perfectly. You think that letters will distract you from your mission at hand, yet you don't realize that letters are an escape. Better than any drink or cigarette or drug. You run from 0430 in the morning until lights out at 2030 constantly learning and trying to absorb things. On your "day off," you stay around the bay with 60 other guys cleaning incessantly for the entire day. You don't understand that when you get correspondance, for that moment that you're reading that letter, you're not doing anything Army. You're escaping back to a safe place where the stresses of formation times, bay maintenance, and uniform policing are non-existent. Trust me. Letters aren't a distraction. They're hope with a stamp.