Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this group. My family is a very new navy family. Our son just graduated bootcamp on 04/08 and we couldn’t be so proud of him. I was referred to this group for some additional input about a matter which will be a separate discussion from this one.
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Congratulations to your son. Were you able to attend the graduation at GL or was it only available to stream w/ Covid? Our son graduated a few years ago and it was a fun weekend back there.
Hi Kevin, I am a new Navy dad and saw your response in the discussion. Since you have a 2 yr old Navy son, I wanted to ask a few Q's and maybe you can answer or direct me to where I can get answers. Our son just left for boot camp 5-9-21. WE just got our first ltr from command w/our son's address and then things about what to expect, etc. I want to write him a ltr asap but my wife said she heard from another navy mom that maybe we should not as it could be an embarrassment to our son as they make recruits read the ltrs out loud to all the other members in his squad. Can you tell me if this is true? If so I could write a great ltr for him to read out loud. My normal ltr would be to make sure he is doing well, how much I already miss going hunting w/him and playing the guitar with him. Normal stuff. Also to ask if I can send him anything such as his phone or other items he might want and need.
ANy help would be appreciated.
Thx Matt L
Kevin Nor Cal said:
Congratulations to your son. Were you able to attend the graduation at GL or was it only available to stream w/ Covid? Our son graduated a few years ago and it was a fun weekend back there.
Hi Matt, congrats and thanks to your son.
For letters during Boot, use the Sandboxx app...it gets the letter delivered much faster than USPS. It is a great service. It makes it easy to include photos with your letter, etc. It is worth the price, which is reasonable.
As far as whether a letter will be read by others - no way. That is not the case at all. We sent letters to our son, and he wrote back a few times - we saved the letters.
As far as sending things to your son, I can't remember when I sent a package to my son who was in an 800 division, but we used a UPS store in Waukegan to send him a pull-up bar for his door. My understanding was that sending packages to the base mail was unreliable and slow.
Feel free to ask any other questions...it has been two years for me, but I still remember most details.
Kevin
DO NOT send anything to RTC that does not fit in a flat envelope....policy for many many years.......
as far as Sandboxx- this from 2019
Paul, in our experience (mid-2019), Sandboxx was widely in use as a way to deliver messages TO sailors in boot. As I am sure you know (but Matt above might not), the app is used by people sending letters TO (not from) the RTC. The app converts the letters to plain old-fashioned paper, and delivers the letters (which can include pictures) to the sailors.
IIRC, no sailors in boot have computers or phones. So replies to us from our son came as old-fashioned letters on RTC stationery, delivered via USPS. Those were great to receive...like letters from camp. I laughed that his biggest complaint was no coffee at boot! No OPSEC with those kind of letters.
Again, a strong recommendation for Sandboxx for families with sailors at RTC. You just need his or her ship number and division, and the app does the rest.
you are welcome to contact Navy personnel directly as I did....I offered no personal opinion on using the app....and I've had sailors in the Navy since 2005 (daughter 2005-2010, son since 2007)....
Kevin Nor Cal said:
Paul, in our experience (mid-2019), Sandboxx was widely in use as a way to deliver messages TO sailors in boot. As I am sure you know (but Matt above might not), the app is used by people sending letters TO (not from) the RTC. The app converts the letters to plain old-fashioned paper, and delivers the letters (which can include pictures) to the sailors.
IIRC, no sailors in boot have computers or phones. So replies to us from our son came as old-fashioned letters on RTC stationery, delivered via USPS. Those were great to receive...like letters from camp. I laughed that his biggest complaint was no coffee at boot! No OPSEC with those kind of letters.
Again, a strong recommendation for Sandboxx for families with sailors at RTC. You just need his or her ship number and division, and the app does the rest.
That's great, Paul, thanks to your son and daughter for their service.
I only added my clarifying post because the first part of your post (message from Naval Operations Security) implied that the recipients of Sandboxx letters would need to download the app or a message, which could pose a security risk. At RTC as you know, the SRs don't have computers or phones, and a Sandboxx letter is delivered to them as a plain old physical "letter", envelope and all.
I would never use Sandboxx after RTC (I can just text or call my son now that he is in AD), but for boot, it fills a need.
To Matt: good luck to your son and hope that his graduation ceremony is open to families!
Kevin
Just curious as to how Sandboxx knows my cell number and recruit's name. How do they obtain this information?
What do you mean? Sandboxx in my experience just converts an electronic message to a paper version for delivery to someone in boot.
Buzz said:
Just curious as to how Sandboxx knows my cell number and recruit's name. How do they obtain this information?
Yes, I understand how it works but only a few days after my recruit got to boot camp I got a text from Sandboxx touting their service. I had not signed up for anything. Just wondering how they knew his name and my phone number.
Ah, yes, that is strange. It has been almost four years for me since our son was in boot, so I can't really remember how we found out about Sandboxx....but maybe your son signed you up for it at some point. That's all I can guess.
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