Can I keep in contact with family and friends through my phone whilst at basic training?

Good evening, thanks for your question.

Maintaining that contact with family and friends is absolutely vital through basic training. They can support us, and ground us when things might go a bit hectic and so much more. Part of the reason why basic training can be so intense, especially through the first half, with not being able to go home to see family and friends, is in order to make our new soldiers aware of what could be a possibility when deploying on operations.

But that doesn't mean you should be completely devoid of any contact at all. Certainly for the first half of your training you will be given at the very least, some time every evening to contact friends and family and let them know how you're getting on etc. Further to this, if anyone would like to keep it old school and send you letters then that is absolutely allowed too, and your training staff will provide you with the information on how they can do so.

The thing to bear in mind however is that basic training is not how the army will always be. We are just like the rest of the population in having access to phones to speak to family and friends whenever we need to, it's just a bit more restricted through training so that your focus remains where it should and you can learn to be a professional and effective British Army soldier.

Most of our soldiers enjoy a similar life to our civilian counterparts, making the most of weekends and evenings off from work, free to use as you wish and make the most of. So it's a common misconception that you will be without these possibilities. The only difference is that this could change slightly when/if you are deployed on operations around the world, simply due to the possibility of security threats and other issues it may cause.

The Army will never stop you from doing something without providing you with a reason, and sometimes, you will find that your training will absolutely fly by, before you know it you'll be back seeing your friends and family on a much more regular basis!

I hope this answers your question. I'll be happy to help if you have anything else. Best of luck for the future!