February 2011 Women around the world are falling victim to a scam where the person pretends to be a U.S. military soldier. After a certain level of trust and communication has been established, the “soldier” asks for money to establish a phone connection or to return home for R&R leave. These requests are often in the thousands of dollars and seem very legitimate … [Read more...]

January 20, 2011 Stacey Abler When my husband was in training, he often told me that he felt like he was a success if his drill sergeants didn't know his name. The reason being that the drill sergeants tended to know the names of those who caused some sort of trouble or didn't follow standards. He did his best to remain under the radar screen of his drill sergeants and … [Read more...]

January 19 Stacey Abler When a soldier is in basic training, the main form of communication with family and friends is through sending and receiving letters. While some phone calls can be made, they tend to be very short and only occur at maximum of once a week. For this reason, letters tend to be referred to as gold during basic training as it is the main form of support from … [Read more...]

January 18, 2011 Stacey Abler It seems to be inevitable that new recruits will all get sick at basic training. I believe this is a combination of being within such close quarters of hundreds of other recruits as well as the physical and emotional stress that is placed on your body. My husband was one of the lucky ones who got sick during basic training. He was sent to the … [Read more...]