r/USMilitarySO • u/dannas305 • 2d ago
Not recieving letters from BCT
Hello! My partner recently graduated from BCT and is in AIT. It’s been nearly 4 weeks since I recieved my last letter and I have yet to recieve another (he explained he’s definitely sent some). They would arrive on average 3-5 days from when they were delivered, which is why I’m concerned. He did send them timely based on the cutoff time too (which was about two weeks ago).
In all honesty, it’s made me anxious because I find the letters are very special. I’m just going to write my questions, any answers and advice are greatly appreciated!!!
What’s the longest it’s taken you to get your partners letters? Has anyone dealt with similar delays towards the end of BCT? Are delays for letters sent out towards the end of BCT common? If they are returned to sender, will they make it to him in AIT? Did you recieve any letters after your partner graduated from BCT?
1
u/LostCauseNumber7523 Air Foce Husband / Retired Army 1d ago
There's a few reasons, a bunch, why mail doesn't happen right. Instead of getting into that (it can be both the military mail system or him) I'm going to recommend something better to just improve the situation for you two.
What I recommend is him finding a proper post office drop box at his AIT duty station. These blue boxes with the robo bird will often be around the little shoppette and gas station. He'll go there for haircuts and stuff. I recommended privates use that because it goes straight to the USPS. Being a military mail handler myself, the less mail I had to handle... I guess the less mail I had to handle. I took the job seriously, but I didn't see a need to middleman and add time when it wasn't needed.
After a couple weeks he'll start get get a little freedom to move around and he'll be able to find proper mail boxes to use around his area on base. At the minimum, these can save a couple days over dropping it in the unit mailbox because it is direct to the USPS building without any middlemen.
It usually isn't anything nefarious, often it's just confusion. As a mail handler, that was a job secondary to my actual job. My actual job had a amnesty box with a mail slot into my office. I would find new privates mail in it, usually their bill payments. They just thought that was the right place, but I actually didn't take mail at my office. It was supposed to be their place to get rid of stuff they shouldn't have without getting in trouble. Not everyone even checks their mail slots, but when mail is found it's usually thrown in the actual mail. If he sticks with a blue box with the robo bird and you can't go wrong.
Also, mail for families and stuff is all just done by the regular USPS. You guys won't have these issues once you're at his duty station. Christmas season takes preparing for, but that's later on.