OSUT

[BrooklynDB]

What is the difference between going to OSUT and going to BCT/AIT seperately? Is there a difference in the privileges? I was told I could visit DH at AIT, but what he doesn't have AIT, so what does that mean? No visits other than Family Day/Graduation? Also, I haven't gotten any info the base DH is at for training as far as things I can send and such. Do I need to request it or will it come on it's own? He just left today and heads to Knox tomorrow for reception.

[Katie]

We are at Knox (as our duty station not for training) and my hubs trained here... He is coming here to train to be a 19D right? That is what my husband did. It was Osut too, basically it was just all in one, but the way it fell it was over Christmas, so they were able to come home over Christmas break. I was able to come for family weekend. (He was actually able to leave the base for this) As well as graduation. Otherwise no, we were not permitted to be here. All we really sent to him were letters and a few pics. He said he really didn't have room for anything else. So I can't really be much help as far as that is concerned.

[Kira]

The only difference I know of is that he will have BCT and AIT at the same post, but he does have BCT and AIT. There were guys DH went to BCT with at Sill that were OSUT they had graduation and had to report to AIT that night for some in processing which sucked, while DH had the evening with us before he left for AIT. Privledges, they are usually up to the commanders, so every place is different. When DH was in AIT he got an off post pass maybe like 4 or 5 weeks in. We took 2 trips cause he wasn only 7 hours away. So one trip he requested an overnight pass ( I think he was like 7 or 8 weeks in ) and the other trip we took was to AIT graduation. His AIT graduation was small and nothing compared to BCT but I still had a great time!
Not sure about getting info on things you can send, I know some things are off limits. To be safe I only sent letters and pictures. DH said a few guys got cookies and things like that and they got smoked. As far as graduation info, you can usually find lots of info online ( check out the ft knox website ). I was sent info on graduation like 2 days before, so it would help if DH already knows his dates you can plan ahead. I got lots of info online and booked my trip like I said way before I got the invitation info.

[KristiMarie]

I know kela marie is at it right now... but like Katie said, she got christmas exodus... sorry im not much help

[Katie]

I know that if you plan on coming out here for family weekend or graduation I can def help you find someplace to stay and such..

[Erin]

OSUT is so short that they probably wont have time to phase up and therefore won't have a chance to get off base passes - therefore you probably wont be able to visit.

Dh went to AIT. For the first few weeks he didn't get any passes to leave the base. But then they phased up and he was able to get off base on the weekends. Then he phased up again and we moved up to where he was, and he was able to get off base every day for the evening.

But again, his AIT was 20 ish weeks and I think OSUT is typically a lot less then that.

[BrooklynDB]

Yea he is at OSUT a total of 14 weeks, I think, so it is a lot shorter. Katie, I will definitely let you know when the time gets closer. I have family in Bowling Green so I plan on coming a day early to visit them, but it would be nice to know in advance some nice hotels in the area...probably wouldn't hurt to book a reservation. I'll be getting in touch with you when though. Thanks a ton! I appreciate it!

[Katie]

Oh Bowling Green isn't far, So I could even give you good directions here, how to get on post, which gates to get in etc... I will give you the hook up girl don't worry. *HUGS* Everything will be ok. When hubs went through training here it went really fast.

I asked him last night about what to send what not to send he said letters and mayyybe pics, if pics nothing remotely sexual, becuase the Drills will go through them. He said some people have their wives send things like deoderant, soap, razors etc... but keep in mind they make sure the guys go to the atm ( we live across from it and its kind of funny to watch them all pile out out of a convoy of trucks and hit up the atm) and pull out money and then go to the Px and get what they need. He said one of the best things you can do is always make sure he has money in his account... He said there were some guys that would go to the ATM the day or two after pay day to get stuff they needed for training and have negative balances and then would get smoked for it....

[Erin]

Great advice!!

Also, don't write anything on the outside of the envelope aside from the address. I've heard mixed reviews about this, but some drills will smoke them for having something else on their envelope. Same with scents. And write to him every day!!!

You'll be fine! I know it's hard, but it sounds like you're keeping yourself busy so hopefully it'll pass quickly!! And you know we're always here if you need a shoulder!

I personally didn't send DH any boxes of stuff when he was in BCT because I knew he could buy stuff and the rest he wasn't allowed to have anyway. But I sent a letter every day.

[BrooklynDB]

Thank you, girls! You're such a great help!! I'm still hanging in there so far. DH was supposed to call yesterday though and didn't! :( His brother is a SGT and got him out of the hotel to go play some pool for a bit, so I know he could have at least called me from his brother's phone if he wasn't able to call from the hotel...Oh well, I guess...I'm just going to start writing him today in case I don't get a chance to talk to him for a while. He'll just have a few letters to read the first day he gets them. He said that he will get smoked for getting more than one letter a day and that they might keep his letters from him for a few days to break him down, so I hope they don't let them pile up too much. I'll wait until I hear back from him to send him pictures, so I know he's getting his letters. I heard about no sexual ones already haha! Def don't wanna get passed around the barracks, so I'll be refraining from that! ;)

Now one more question...will he know his address when he goes to reception...or? When will he find it out and how will he let me know it?
Thanks again girls! You rock!! :thanks:

[Erin]

I remember getting the address pretty early on, although I don't remember exactly when. I don't think it was at reception though.

And as for them getting smoked for letters - DH got smoked for every single letter. I told him I would send less, but he said not to, that it was kind of nice and he didn't mind doing more push ups if it meant getting more letters.

[Katie]

I wrote hubby everyday, the more the better, they never held his letters back, sometimes I would write more than once a day on purpose or write in a letter and send a card all in one day so he felt special, hubs has a big family and his mom and sister are very supportive but beyond that not so much... so I really wanted him to feel special compared to the other guys, like he really had alot of my support! I wanted him to know, Althought life was "going on" without him hear in the sense that I was doing what I needed to do and getting it done (I think it is really important our guys know this, so they don't worry, they don't want to think of us as a emotional wreck on the floor balled up not eating and sleeping, not showering not functioning... they want us to miss them but not be so co-dependant we can't hold our own) And that I missed him very much and he was on my mind everyday. I wanted him to know that even though he wasn't physically at the house with the kids and I he wasn't really missing anything (I wrote about stupid stuff when I didn't really have anything to write about becuase it can get kind of hard to write EVERYDAY after a while.. so I would talk about what we ate for dinner how the kids did in school....lol that way, he didn't feel left out.) HE reminded me too that I did send him books of stamps every so often in my letters. even though he can get them at the PX it was easier for me to send them. OHHH...

PS...
IF you talk to your hubs at some point, my husband had some advice for him.... At some point, they are going to bring them to the PX to let them have free time (not right off the bat, he thinks it is towards the end of basic) and they are going to allow them to buy soda and drink energy drinks and candy and burger king etc... As much as they want.... Tell him DON'T DO IT!!!! It's a trick!!! Hubs was one of the only only guys to see through it in his group, he was like "heyyyy wait a min this doesn't feel right, why would they let us do this?" so he just walked around drinkin a water... Then after everyone pigged out on like 4-5 energy drinks, tons of candy, big macks etc they screamed at all of them to form up and SMOKED the crap out of them for almost 18 hours straight followed by a LOVELY 5k Ruck march... LMAO.... Just tell him to NOT fall for it...

[BrooklynDB]

Oh geeze! That was no fun! HAHA! I'll tell him about that one. One great thing he's got is all of the stories he heard from his brother who has been through it all, so he knows a lot of things to look out for. I already started writing him and letting him know my financial plan for while he's gone. That was his main concern, but I'll be sure to make sure he knows we're holding our own, but still missing him tons. I can see how it can get hard to write daily, but I promised him I would, so I'll probably be doing the same thing...writing about anything and everything. I like the idea that he can feel like he's not missing out on anything while he's away. I told him I would get a growth chart for Chassidy, too, so he can see how much she has grown. I can take pics of her being measured and of the chart too so he can see it as we make it. I'll probably go Friday and get it and some other things that Chassidy can use to make him stuff with like construction paper and paint or something. I'm completely broke right now, so these last couple of days have consisted of us just sitting around...it's getting long already, so once Friday gets here we're going to have to get motivated and start going on more outings to make the time pass quicker. I can't handle 14 weeks worth of days like today!

Oh yea, and I guess if he gets smoked for all of his letters,(gulp!) he'll just have to tell me in his letters if he wants me to send them less often. I will still write everyday, but maybe mail them a couple times a week?...I'll have to play it by ear I guess. My mom also said she'd just send me her letters to him and I could put them in with mine so he won't get too much mail (and he can have a nice surprise!)...but if he doesn't get smoked for mail, I'll have her send her own so he can get plenty of mail. I'm sure no matter what I do he'll still get smoked PLENTY of times...I think Drill Sergeants live to smoke Privates. lol :-P

[Erin]

I dont think there is any avoiding being smoked. I think they intend on smoking the guys a certain amount and just find excuses to do it. It makes them stronger

[BrooklynDB]

Yeah...and it makes for really funny stories after the fact ;)