ok...i want to send my boyfriend a care package while he is in basic training at ft. jackson. what kind of box can i use? would a shoe box work? just as long as i tape it really good...or should i just stick with trying to find a standard brown box?

Shoe box works fine & you can even go to a shoe store & ask them for their extras boxes :)

but before you send him anything, I would make sure he can have it first...

i didnt think they can get packages in basic.....

yeah... I dont think so either. DB is in AIT even and for Valentine's Day I didn't think he'd be able to get to keep his candy... luckily his Drill S. let him keep it...

A shoe will work. We sent pg to dh in BCT at Fort Jackson. But make sure it is stuff they can have.If not they take it way and lock it up til after grad.

i didnt think they can get packages in basic.....

I didn't think so either. I just asked Dh if he was allowed packages and he said no...

I didn't think so either. I just asked Dh if he was allowed packages and he said no...

I asked a guy who went to Ft. Jackson and he said just as long as it's not food or candy. I'm sending him cough drops, tissues, moleskin..nothing really exciting.

Hmmm, my wife was allowed to have care packages in basic but what was in it was stuff like arch supports, gel insoles and that type of thing. no food. When I was in basic for the Navy we were allowed to have care packages of cookies, but we had to share which was no big deal. I was in during christmas so I am thinking they were a little easier on us but not much.

Don't send too much. That will make him stand out. That is a bad thing. If he needs things, he can buy them at the BX.

Hmmm, my wife was allowed to have care packages in basic but what was in it was stuff like arch supports, gel insoles and that type of thing. no food. When I was in basic for the Navy we were allowed to have care packages of cookies, but we had to share which was no big deal. I was in during christmas so I am thinking they were a little easier on us but not much.

You must not have had my DH as an RDC. :giggle

I don't know how Fort Relaxin' Jackson is, but Fort Leonardwood basic (where I went) wouldn't even accept care packages. They were sent back.

My husband is in BT at Ft. Jackson now also. He said they get "smoked" even when they get regular mail, so I am not going to send him a care package ... don't want him to stand out since that is a bad thing to do in basic. I think he gets in trouble enough with my plain white envelopes, since I tend to mail him daily. So far he said it is worth it though to hear from me. :D

Yeah I wouldn't send him anything. If we did get care packages when I was in Navy Boot Camp, we had to open them in front of the RDC's and pretty much everything was trashed.


I seriously can not believe that any RDC would allow the cookies sent to just be shared and that it was 'no big deal'. Half the time we weren't even allowed to have sweets with meals.

Anything he needs he can get on base, and anything you think he wants is probably something he can't have.

i didn't think they could either. i know when dh was in boot (he's navy) he couldn't get anything but flat mail (i.e. pictures, newspaper clippings, letters, etc)

I sent DH stuff! He graduated from Jackson in Sept. It was like insoles and hangers and stuff like that. He would ask me to send him stuff and I would. But yeah, they get smoked for every piece of mail they receive. So if you do send him one, keep it small. less push ups the smaller the size.

I just found this thread, and thought I'd say this... My DH graduated from boot camp at Great Lakes in 2004, and he wasn't allowed any kind of packages. Although, I did tape a couple of pieces of Juicy Fruit to each letter...one for him, and one for his rackmate so he wouldn't tell :)

Gotta make sure you don't stack them in the letter, do it side by side or otherwise the they can feel them through the letter. ;) Good luck!

YEah I think in the paper they get before they leave (list of what to bring etc..) it says for them to tell family to not send packages as well as they don't have the room to store alot of stuff just a little locked box at the foot of there bed. I would just send cards and pictures.