Mail in boot camp
 

So I leave in 2 weeks...Time flew by! I have people wanting to write to me. Is it true they should only send letters in white envelopes? No cards (my birthday is in boot camp)? Also I have heard of people getting packages, what is allowed in a package?

Thanks :)

It doesn't matter what color envelope your letter is in. As long as it's not covered in porn or rap lyrics, it will be just fine.

In my experience, normal envelopes could be opened privately, so you can get birthday cards if you like and nobody will know. But don't let anyone send you the musical or noise-making kind. That'll definitely get you called out and made fun of. On the other hand, the little devices in those get a handy second life as magnets on the boards in the RDCs' office, so if you feel like providing one...

Packages and large, padded envelopes WILL have to be opened in front of an RDC so they can see there's no contraband. What falls under that definition is somewhat up to them. I received a booklet of sudoku puzzles, a larger, magazine-like book of assorted other puzzles, and a number of home newspapers. I suspect my senior chief liked me pretty well, or I'd never have gotten to keep any of it. It's also possible he just didn't quite notice. When brother div's chief saw it, he nearly lost his mind. (If you like puzzles, have someone print a few individually on paper tucked in a legitimate letter, or printed on the backside.) But really, I don't advise getting anything but letters. You barely have space for them, and not much else will generally be allowed.

Here's the other side of the coin:

One of my Marine buddies swore he was pretty much obligated to send me a sizable package covered in "gay porn" markings and anti-Navy slurs, just to get me messed with. I almost wish he had done, because I'd love to tell that story now.

We weren't allowed to get packages from what I witnessed (the few that did arrive resulted in the division getting compartment ITE), but it may be different for others (even though there's a standard "syllabus" for training a lot is left up to RDCs as to how boot camp is carried out - not every recruit gets the same experience).

I'd advise telling folks to send plain letters, and tell them to slash any and all zeroes put on the envelope (a divisional rule was individual ITE for each un-slashed zero seen). I managed to get a few cards, so those shouldn't be a problem. Also don't worry about your mail being read, I never received a previously opened letter.

Be prepared to not get all of your mail on occasion, sometimes we'd gather in the center of the compartment and we'd get quizzed for mail. For each question correct an article of mail would get passed out (to a random recruit), and each time a question was answered incorrect all mail would be gathered back and withheld until someone got one right. The premise being study hard and encourage your shipmates to do the same. If it so happened that all mail wound up being returned due to quiz-failure the mail PO would still manage to get some passed out after taps (RDCs go home after taps unless they're the ship rover or OOD).

A birthday in boot may be fun for ya, if you've got cool RDCs you'll get a "birthday beating".

Honestly, they can send you any color they want! There was a guy in my division who's girlfriend literally sent him a different color envelope each time lol. And yes you can receive packages, but not much of the stuff you can keep because nine times out of ten they are going to send the wrong things. Also keep in mind if you have a bunch of stuff that you can have in boot sent to you, you'll still have to fit it all in your A and B drawer (personal drawer where you put everything in that doesn't go in your rack). And also, we had a ton of guys who got birthday cards (I even made one for my wife and had the guys sign it before I sent it out) don't believe any of the stories you hear about "ice cream parties" or how the RDC's will make you read it out loud. Not a whisper of that happened while I was there (: Oh and I should mention that you do have to show the RDC's your pictures you get sent to you! So make sure that you let everyone know to not send anything they wouldn't want their grandmother to see! I hope this helped (: