Army Bootcamp Support

I am an Army mom and belong to a Navy Mother's club in Arlington. We are a great group of ladies and if your cousin's wife lives around this area, we would love for her to come visit us, if she would like. Even though she is not a military mom, we are all going through the same thing, that being we have a loved one serving in the military. We have all experienced what she is going through plus more and would love to share things and help her get through this. Either of you can email me at ____@____.com...

Your cousin has ( or SHOULD HAVE) a military identification card that will give her access to the military base closest to her. She should go there and simply ask at the gate as she shows her identification where she should go to find the military spouse support group. Is he in the regular Active Army or in a National Guard State Organization? It makes a difference as to whether she is going to find support on a military post or in the town where her husbands National Guard or Reserves unit is located.
My husband is retired after 30 years in the Army ( half in Active Army half as a full time National Guardsman) so I have seen both sides of the support program. After he graduates from Basic and AIT ( the next step in his training)....he will be part of a unit and then the support group will be more specific because she can join the enlisted wives club that is part of his unit. ( That isn't the specific name...it has been too many years since I was involved and the titles have changed!!).
While he is in Basic Training, encourage her to write a LOT of letters ( but don't expect a lot of letters in return, he doesn't have the time or the energy to do much writing!!!)...have the children draw pictures, and include newspaper clippings of the things going on in his hometown or what is happening with his favorite sports team...etc.
Also please tell her to pass along my thanks to her husband for his service and sacrifice...and tell her to give HERSELF a pat on the back too...being a military spouse is a job in itself!!!

I am a Navy mom and Marine wife. If you Google Army wife support groups or something like that the Army wife blogs should come up. I am on Navyfamilies.com and navyforfamilies.com, there are also similar Marine blogs that are very helpful to the moms and wives of men and women going through boot.
There is a ton of information out there.

Tell her lots of letters. We wrote every day and I sent a letter about twice a week,but in the Navy he only got mail on Sundays. He did notice when I only sent one letter one week. In the Navy those singing cards will get them in trouble. Also no food, candy, anything like that. I did sneak flossers in an envelope once.
13 weeks is a long time but she'll get through it. When he deploys he'll have more contact and she can send him all sorts of things.

Contact Military One Source. They will help her locate everythin near her :)

You as a wife should have a military spouse id...go on base to the family center they usually run with the chapel there someone will have plenty of info for her...tell her the one thing she can do for him is write him everyday have the kids send him pics oh and put mags clips and stuff he would like to read like jokes there really good he won't write her as much explain that "call of duty" but it will help him get through the hard days believe me and it will give her some one on one time so she doesn't feel he is really gone..I was on the other end of this situation and letters is all you look forward to.