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Someone I love very much is going through boot camp in a branch of the United States military. Without divulging more information that may not be appropriate to share, I thought this request was wise and truly spoke to the health of the soldiers. This type of mindset would work well in the private sector; just something that may make you reconsider sending three dozen full-fat triple chocolate chunk peanut butter brownies to your loved ones. Is that really the best thing for the recipient? Probably not. Read on and let me know if you think this is will change the way you view and send gifts of food.
Letter Regarding food. Your Soldiers are not able to store the food that you send – even commercially packaged food. They have personal time from 1930-2030 (7:30PM to 8:30PM) daily. Anything you send has to be consumed during this time on the day they get it. They are not allowed to share homemade food with anyone and can only share commercially purchased food with battle buddies that have met the PT milestones so far. Please remember that your Soldiers are working very hard to reach the highest levels of physical fitness. So even though they may ask you to send thousands of calories of sugar for them to consume just before bed – they know that it’s not going to help them reach their goals. This is not to say that a candy bar or a small bag of M&Ms or their favorite treat doesn’t play a huge part in our high morale – it certainly does. So here are a five things to think about regarding food.
- They have to eat their treat before they go upstairs for the night.
- They cannot share homemade food with others.
- A thousand calories of sugar at 8:30PM makes for a rough night of sleep!
- Your Soldiers are working hard to cut fat and gain muscle – so even if they ask for large bags of candy – it’s not what they need.
- Sending small treats has a huge impact on morale and we appreciate all that you do.
Bottom Line: Your packages and letters are a huge part of the morale in the military and your Soldiers look forward to getting them. Honestly with our lifestyle these don’t have to be elaborate. A picture of our favorite place, a letter that smells like home or a small treat can have huge impact on the next day’s training. They miss you – not the candy.
