chris
- Absolutely. I also think that it each soldier should know before he or she leaves whether or not they can have their phone. Its rediculous that it is a wait and see game. You hear stories before you leave that if you bring it, you might never see it again. I believe that the soldier and the family back home need a connection at least once a week. As a single mom, this is the longest I have gone (4 weeks) w/o speaking to my son who is doing osut (14 weeks). It is very hard, I am sure he misses home. Phone cards are a joke---have you ever looked at the back of one of them---they deduct up to 35 mins. for using the card at a pay phone. Way to support our soldiers AT&T. If you're lucky enough to be able to go to a commissary, you can buy an AT&T card there that "ONLY" deducts 14 mins per call. Fortunately, I was able to go to a base with my other active duty son and buy the cards there to send to my son at Ft. Benning.
- —twinarmysons
Hell No!
- I do not think they should be allowed to have their phones it is basic training not summer camp. If our military gets to soft our country will no longer be free. The military is not for the soft minded if you can not live without your phone maybe you shouldn't sign up. No one is no longer forced into the military so therefore know what your signing up for before you sign the papers.
- —Guest random person
Old times exaggerate
- Cell phones should be permitted in bct. Their is nothing wrong on sunday which is their day to relax to be able to use a phone. All of you POG's that just wrote about this have probably used the phone more on a deployment than anyone at bct. Ive deployed twice to afghan and to iraq and ive lived on patrol bases, cop's, fobs and all of those places have phones and you can even purchase a hadji phone on deployment. So it is stupid to say what are you going to do on deployment when you cant call. If anything it will help to push soldiers in bct to work harder during the week in order to earn that privallege. You say BCT is suppose to break you down but you forgot the other part of it, which is to build you up. And soldiers in bct working together to accomplish a misson and being "awarded" with a 15 minute call to family will do nothing bad to a SIT. So YES to cell phones! Sorry old timers, yall are just mad because they werent around then. 7 year 11b still active!!
- —Guest 11b
YES
- Absolutely! You have family back home. They need support just as much as the person going into the military does! Especially if the one.going to basic has children. Like me!!
- —Guest MOTHERof2
Nope
- I leave for basic training tomorrow. and i am definately gonna miss my phone and being able to call everyone and talk but it is only for a short time. I was told you get to earn privileges to use a phone(usually pay Phone) so thats better then nothing. plus letters im getting will definately show how many people actually care what im going through and who will be showing support for me. I think it is just fine not having a cell phone.
- —Guest Private Colon
YES
- YES.I UNDERSTAND ITS BASIC TRAINING BUT FAMILY IS ALL WE HAVE BACK HOME.OUR SUPPORT SYSTEM.ENCOURAGE MENTS , A FEW MINUTES JUST TO CHECK IN WON'T HURT.
- —Guest Sammy
ABSOLUTELY!!!
- Me and my boyfriend started dating a month ago and our relationship is growing stronger by the day, but tomorrow at 12, he leaves for basic training, 1,040 miles away from me...we are both scared that our relationship will change while he's away but we know that we both want to be with each other, since he has been in my life for about 6 years but we never did anything til' now (just my luck!) but I feel that in order to really make things work, we should ATLEAST be able to get a phone call or a text message a day to keep the relationship strong.
- —Guest Military Girlfriend
NOOOOOO
- This disenfranchises every other soldier who has been there before. This makes you mentally stronger. It makes the time you have more appreciative. Get a phone when you go to AIT.
- —Guest Guest veteran
Dumb
- I can see allowing them to use them on Sunday to make a call, but that's it. It's boot camp for crying out loud, not camp cupcake, you signed up for it.
- —Guest LT
YES
- I dont think that many people here also realize that basic is not just basic anymore for a lot of new recruits... It is a combined OSUT, this is 14 weeks, not just 9 weeks. So, yes, especially in the cases of recruits attending OSUT they SHOULD be allowed a cell phone, at least as a reward. Also, many of you on here went to basic when cell phones did not even exist. I bet if you had a cell phone back then, you would want to be able to phone your spouse, family, significant other, ect. as a reward.
- —Guest GUEST
Soldier now coastie
- No I like the old school way when one had to sacrifice in order to concentrate more on being a soldier
- —Guest Nikita
Heck Yess!!!
- Yes, because I'm going into basic in a few and my mom has bad Heath problems and I HAVE NEVER LEFT HER and I'm leaving and I wanna keep in touch with her to make sure she is alright!!!!
- —Guest VannahBugg
yes they should!
- My boyfriend who I have been together with for 3 years and we have been best friends since we were 12, joined the army and graduates basic training in 2 weeks. During this whole process, I have had such a tough time dealing with the little contact besides letters. I wish I could atleast have gotten to text or call him once a week or more would be great. I miss him so.much, and this is so new to us. I think they should be allowed to have their cell phones when they have free time so that the ones suffering from missing their soldier in training back at home could feel a little better and I'm sure the soldiers in training would love to have some encouraging words to think about while they are training.
- —Guest Army significant other
2012 of course
- Really. This should be a no brainer. As long as you get them on Sundays, for a certain time, it's the same for the pay phone and you are responsible for the monthly pay of the phone anyways.. You should be able to at least use it once a week. You have family too. It's not like you are going to have your phone out while getting shot at. You are an adult and are more responsible than that...
- —Guest Brittany
CIiPJsdDzHD
- You should just be able to take the phone to the creirar and have them activate it for you. But their could be some issues with software. Because your creirar may sell their Blackberry's with their software.
- —Guest fdcNdehXOw
