Family Readiness — Before Basic Training

Before They Leave

This is not about a combat deployment. It is about the days between the day your future service member signs and the day the bus leaves for basic training — the paperwork, the pay, and the one legal step that protects your Family while nobody can reach them by phone.

See the official packing list
What this is. I built this off a one-page checklist for families of a future service member headed to basic training, and I checked every line against Military OneSource, Navy Recruit Training Command, and Air Force Basic Military Training. Where those sources disagreed with the original page, or with each other, I say so instead of quietly picking a side. This is free. There is nothing to buy and nobody to pay.

"i bring the truth, simple and to the point. i have nothing left in this world than my word." That's my rule for every page in this binder.
Money — Read This First

Name a Life Insurance Beneficiary

The single biggest money item here, and it is not something anyone carries in a folder.

Every service member is enrolled automatically in Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI), coverage up to $500,000, in $50,000 increments. The beneficiary is not named on paper — it is set, and changed, online through the SGLI Online Enrollment System (SOES) inside milConnect at milconnect.dmdc.osd.mil. A blank, stale, or wrong beneficiary is a half-million-dollar mistake sitting there unnoticed. Current premiums run about 5 cents per $1,000 of coverage, plus $1 a month for Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI). Read VA's own page: va.gov/life-insurance/options-eligibility/sgli.

★ Check the beneficiary. Then check it again.
Legal

Get a Free Power of Attorney

This is the one that keeps bills paid and accounts open while nobody can take a call.

Every military legal assistance office will prepare a power of attorney (POA) free of charge — a document that lets a parent or spouse pay bills, handle banking and insurance, and deal with property while the service member is unreachable in training. A general POA covers a broad range of matters; a special POA names one specific institution or transaction. Some banks and title companies will not accept a general POA and insist on a special one naming them by name — ask the bank what it wants before you need the document, not after. Read more: militaryonesource.mil/financial-legal/legal/military-power-of-attorney.

★ Get it before they leave, not after something is already frozen.
Money

Get Paid Right, From Day One

  • Direct deposit — write down the routing number and account number, not just the bank's name. That is the piece that actually gets the paycheck moving; a direct deposit form is on the official packing list.
  • Health coverage — once on active duty, your service member enrolls in one of TRICARE Prime, Prime Remote, Prime Overseas, or Prime Remote Overseas, depending on where they're stationed. Decide on purpose what happens to any civilian health coverage instead of quietly paying for a policy nobody needs anymore. See tricare.mil/adsm.
★ Know the number, not just the bank.
Documents

Locate These Before They Leave

Find these, and put them where the Family can find them too.

  • Confirmed Social Security card — the strongest item on this list, confirmed on three separate official checklists.
  • Confirmed Driver's license or state-issued photo ID
  • If applicable Marriage certificate
  • If applicable Dependents' birth certificates — original or certified copies for any child under 18, plus a divorce decree or separation order if there is one. These drive dependent pay and benefits enrollment.
  • Confirmed Proof of citizenship, naturalization papers, or a permanent resident card — for anyone not born in the United States.
  • Confirmed The enlistment contract and every document the recruiter or MEPS issued — MEPS is the Military Entrance Processing Station, where the physical and the paperwork happen. Bring all copies.
  • Confirmed High school diploma or GED, and original college transcripts — these can affect starting pay grade and bonus eligibility.
  • Confirmed Immunization records
★ Paperwork now saves a problem at reporting.
Read Carefully

Four Items Worth a Closer Look

Your own birth certificate. Worth keeping in the family file, but I could not confirm any official checklist that asks a recruit to bring their own. Every list I checked asks for dependents' (children's) birth certificates instead. Keep it for other paperwork; just don't expect it to be checked at the gate.
Names must match. Navy Recruit Training Command requires two forms of valid photo ID, and the name has to match across all of them. A recent marriage or name change that hasn't made it onto the Social Security card or the license yet is exactly the kind of thing that stops someone at reporting.
  • If applicable Passport — not required to report to basic training, but the Navy accepts a U.S. passport as photo ID at reporting, and it will matter later if orders send your service member overseas. Keep it where the Family can find it.
  • Single source Eyeglass prescription — good practice to have on hand, but the only document that mentions it is a single Air Force list last updated in 2016. Confirm with the recruiter that it still applies.
★ Match the names before the ID check catches it for you.
One More Thing

Confirm the List With the Recruiter

Every branch does this a little differently. The Navy asks for immunization records and an exact name match; the Air Force list doesn't mention either. Military OneSource asks for a diploma and transcripts that the Navy list doesn't call for. I could not find a published document checklist for the Coast Guard or the Marine Corps, so if that's the branch, ask the recruiter directly rather than assume this list is complete for it.

★ This is a starting list. The recruiter has the final word.