Recruits call home during their scheduled divisional phone calls at Recruit Training Command in December 2023. Boot camp is approximately 10 weeks, and all enlistees into the U.S. Navy begin their careers at the command. (Stuart Posada/U.S. Navy)

Phoning home during training just got a little bit easier for incoming sailors, thanks to a policy update by Navy Recruit Training Command.

As of March 29, recruits can use their personal cellphones to connect with family and friends during scheduled phone call periods. Previously, recruits — typically allowed five standard phone calls during their training — had to use pay phones or landlines.

“In this post-COVID pandemic culture, digital identities have proven increasingly critical in helping to deal with day-to-day stress,” said Capt. Ken Froberg, commanding officer of Recruit Training Command at Naval Station Great Lakes. “We decided it is time for recruits to connect with their loved ones in a more modern way. Simply, I used a pay phone and phone card calling home from overseas in 1994. We can do better in 2024.”

The Navy hopes the change, which came after a test period, will help alleviate stress and slow attrition rates during the early stages of basic training.

“As digital natives, new recruits can potentially experience psychological stress from being abruptly disconnected from their digital identities,” said Lt. Eren Roubal, Recruit Training Command’s Clinical Psychologist.

The use of cellphones remains limited, however, to calls during designated times and not for other smartphone applications.

“It is still important that we train sailors to be resilient,” Froberg said. “We have to do better in this space to prepare our sailors for a digitally austere operating environment at sea.”

Boot camp runs approximately 10 weeks for roughly 40,000 enlistees throughout the year, according to the Navy. Training includes five warfighting competencies of firefighting, damage control, seamanship, watchstanding, small arms handling and marksmanship, as well as physical fitness and lessons in Navy heritage and core values, teamwork and discipline.