"A" School in Pt. Hueneme

[Melinda-Matthew's Mom]

My son Matthew is currently in boot camp, his PIR is Dec 19, he will begin "A" school on Jan 4. We are so glad that he is able to come home for the holidays. My husband was in the navy for 20+ as an OS so I do know about the navy but things have changed since he passed away on active duty 6 years ago and it is different when it is your son too. Matt is going to be a CM.
I married my husband after he was in navy for 3 years so just hoping to get some insight on "A" school.
I have heard that the first few weeks are kind of like boot camp with regards to liberty. Does anyone know it they have access to computers for emailing? Or is it best for them to bring their own. I just know it will be better when they can have more contact to the outside world and of course us moms want to know what is going on with them.
We want to be there to comfort and support them when they need it and also congratulate them when they succeed.
So glad I found this site, it is helpful to be among others all going through the same thing.

[Carol F.]

Hi Melinda, I was going to start a discussion for Port H. but decided not to. I am so glad you did!

My son has been there since Oct. 1st for "A" school. He is going to be a CM too.

It would be best if your son has his own computer/laptop, but this is just my opinion. I do not know anything about what the computer lab is like for the kids there.

He will be able to have his cell phone! Which makes the world of difference in communication! As you are finding out, bc is awful for communication. I don't miss those days at all!!!!

When he does arrive at Port H., he will probably have to wait a couple weeks to get enough for a class. He will be cleaning, being bored, and waiting, which is the thing to do in the Navy, we are finding out.

The Seabees have to usually phase up together. My son just got up to phase 2 this past Friday. But he has heard that some kids who have been awhile still are in the first phase. My son says he has some good petty officers that are keeping them motivated and on goal.
One thing about the area tho, my son says Oxnard has a lot of gangs so watch out. Plus there is a lot of shootings right outside the gate. That is very scary for me to think of.

My son does love it there tho. He is pretty happy for the most part. He has done very well on the tests for school.
My son is coming home for Christmas too and I am so glad. He will have to go back to finish school and will graduate on Jan 22.

But..................Good news for me..................I am going to Port Hueneme this Wed. to spend Thanksgiving with my son, to see the base, see the area, and of course, get some sunshine!

So hope to see you around here on the Seabee group. Also, you better go to PIR. It isn't something you want to miss! Believe me, it was the most wonderful experience!
Carol

[Melinda-Matthew's Mom]

Hi Carol,

Thanks for the info. My son is very homesick now and probably even more so since he just got married the end of Sept. So I think it is hard on him and his wife, Ashlin. She is also joined some of the groups on this site. We are keeping each other company and I couldn't ask for a better DIL.
But it will be easier for all of us once he goes to "A" school and can have better communication.
We have already made our reservations to come to his PIR, we wouldn't miss it for the world.

Take care and so glad that you will be able to see your son for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Melinda

[Joanne]

Hi Ladies

[Carol F.]

Wow, I can imagine he would be homesick with a new wife on board.
But with "A" school, they can text, instant message, talk on cell phone or pay phone, etc. Believe me, it is much better! Tho in some ways, he may be even more homesick but having the communication tools is a huge plus.

Good that you 2 can keep each other company. Boot camp is a very hard stage for us moms! I never want to go thru that again. Tho if they go overseas, it can be very similar but hopefully we will understand it much better by then.

Good that you are going to his graduation. You all will totally enjoy it.

Keep in touch here, later, Carol

[Jenny...CBmom "CAN DO"]

When he gets to Port H you can send him his cell phone, laptop,snacks, blanket etc. DO NOT ship it overnight/express mail, it will take forever for him to get it! Just send it standard priority mail and it will get there faster, sounds crazy but we learned the hard way. It's way better than boot!

[Melinda-Matthew's Mom]

Carol and Jenny- thanks for the info.

Ashlin and I both can't wait to see Matt. I can certainly relate to her since my husband left for a 6 month deployment 2 months after we were married and that was back before email, cell phones, etc. All we had was snail mail that took 2-3 weeks to receive.
We haven't from him since Nov 12 by phone but we did some letters last week. It is just the not knowing that is also hard. Just wish we knew how he was doing on his tests, etc.
The 3 of us are looking forward to "A" school.
Take care ladies and Happy Thanksgiving!

[Carol F.]

Melinda, keep writing each day while he is in boot camp. Ask him how things are and maybe on his Sunday writing, he will answer.
As Jenny says, just send the things by normal mail. It just sits in a room until they finally get the mail slip to go get it. I found out that my son's laptop and cell phone were sitting there for almost a week!!!
Also I just insured his laptop since it was worth more than $200. And that makes it even harder for them to get since they have to sign for it.

Jenny, you sent blankets? Why? The ones they have are bad? My son never mentioned that.

[Jenny...CBmom "CAN DO"]

He just asked for one so I sent it. I think it cuts down on making his bed LOL! You know, so he can sleep without undoing all the sheets! Too funny. Have a safe trip Carol, can't wait to hear all about it. And Happy Thanksgiving, don't think that will be a problem :)

[Carol F.]

LOL Now I get it! That makes perfect sense. I will have to ask my son about that. But if I know my son, he will sleep on the floor before remaking the bed, LOL But my son does like soft blankets so I may get him one if he wants one.
You have a good Thanksgiving too, Jenny. Only 1 1/2 week for you!!! How exciting!

[Carol F.]

Well, am back from Port Hueneme, CA after having a great Thanksgiving with my son!
It was so so wonderful to get a great big hug from him as he walked thru the gate on base!
I will tell you all about it but don’t want to bore you guys. LOL

But after getting rental car in LA, got to drive all along the coast up to Port H. in the pouring down rain! Sure didn’t expect that in CA. Actually, the weather wasn’t like I expected at all. Had to wear long pants and long sleeve/jacket most of the time the whole trip. Being on the coast, I forgot how much cooler it could be.
But it was sunny most of the time after morning fog!

It was so so nice to be able to spend time with my son and his good buddies. Got to hang out with up to 5 of his good buddies. Two of them are his very good friends so it was great to know he has somebody to hang out with and to talk with while being at “A” school there.

I ended up staying at the Navy Lodge on base. It was a very nice, clean, convenient place to stay. My son could just walk down from his barrack each day or I could pick him up.

Once we got off base, my son said it is still felt real weird to be like a “civi” in civi clothes and just walking around town. He says it is hard to get used to since he is so used to being ordered around all day long and nite on base.

We had Thanksgiving dinner real late at a restaurant that we finally found that was open. The kids loved having a turkey dinner.
We ate out a lot since he wanted to get off the base. The choices of food around the base wasn’t that great so we had to go into Ventura or Santa Barbara/Santa Monica.

Went to Santa Barbara 2x and walked around town, pier, and the beach. My son has a high school girl space friend who now lived in SB so we hung out with her at her house watching the civil war football game of OSU & O of U after going to a sports bar first to watch it.
One of my son’s buddies was from Colorado and has never seen the ocean. So we spent time there on the beach! Watching his face being so surprised of the water and sand was the best thing ever! He loved it!
Drove to Santa Monica one day, walked around the pier and downtown too. Weather in Santa Monica wasn’t the best, cool and windy but we all still enjoyed.

The buddies loved to shop so finally I had to be a mom and say “I think that is enough money spending, so let’s move on”. LOL These kids haven’t been to stores really since boot camp so it was hard for them to control their $$$. But they kept saying, “Such good deals so...” Fortunately, my son didn’t spend much money at all besides a pair of sunglasses. But tho other boys...........it was like shopping with girls! LOL

Went to the Seabee Museum on base and had a ball looking at things there and listening to the boys tell me all about the Seabees. We drove around the base and my son would tell me where his classrooms were, where they muster/march, where they did PT, ate, laundry, and etc.

One word of advice to those who do visit their sailors on base. Make sure you get a parking pass which was no problem after my son came to the office to get it for me. But they didn’t tell me that I needed a special letter to be able to buy gas or things inside the NEX. My son had to be there all the time to purchase things for me. Also you can’t use a credit card even if he is with you. Cash only or he pays for it with his credit card. I had gone over to the NEX just to look around while waiting for him to get up Fri/Sat. morning but couldn’t buy anything myself. Next time, I will get that letter.

On Sunday, my son came over to the NL and he studied for a few hours while I would ask him questions while filling out an online job application for being a police officer for him. He needs a job when he gets done with “A” school the end of Jan since he is a Reserve. We got to talk a lot about his life, the Navy, and his future. He is kind of concerned about his future still. Really wished he had signed up to be active. He loves being in the Navy with the structure.

My last day on Mon. was kind of fun. Got to watch them march back from their classes for lunch. Took my son some lunch so we ate outside of his barracks on a picnic table while the other kids would walk by and be so jealous of the Quiznos sandwiches that he was eating, LOL
After lunch, I got to watch them march back toward their classes and that was so much fun to see them all marching together. Also, they had to drink from a water bottle before they started marching and all had to drink a certain amt. It was interesting the rules they have there!

So all in all, I had a great time with my son. It was so good to see him, the base, and all what he does for the Navy! It was an eye opener for sure.
So if you guys need any questions answered, I will try to answer them!

[Jenny...CBmom "CAN DO"]

ok Carol here is my report: i just got back from Port H. to see my son graduate CM school last Friday. the good areas are beautiful! we stayed at the Navy Lodge, can't beat the price and very nice rooms. Arrived Thursday afternoon had dinner with my son, then we watched them muster at 9:30 pm. the graduating class got to march around the other students to the Cadence of their choice, which was Sponge Bob Square Pants! too funny! it was cold and foggy that night. the next morning we watched them all muster again at 6:30 am, the graduating class were in their Cami uniforms and looked very nice! All the others marched off to school as they watched and then they marched off as a class to practice for grad while we went to Dennys for breakfast. at 8am we went to the Seabee Museum, it was freezing in there! but we got to look around, it's quite large and they have a cool little gift shop for everything Seabee. Graduating class was 17 boys 1 girl and started at 930 am and lasted about 1/2 hr. first they recited the sailors creed and then their CO gave a nice speech and so did the Senior Chief (guest). They received their diploma from the SC, the CO "capped" them with their cami hat and another SC (i think) gave them their Seabee pin. After that they all sang the Seabee song. It was nice and they were very nice to us and were happy we came to be with them.

Next they all went back to their rooms and changed, most into their "civis"! a few in their dress blues cuz they wanted to wear them on the plane home. Then their school mates who did not grad came back for lunch, again they muster and march back to school, this time the grad class was waiting for them ahead to take pictures. they had to square things up and get their walking papers and were officially free to go about 1 pm. Then they all said their goodbyes.

It was much different this time then PIR. The people on the base were very nice and as long as we had our ID's we could pretty much go anywhere. only thing was to buy stuff at the NEX my son had to be there with his ID. We were allowed to watch them, take pics and videos of them, see their rooms etc. and all the guys and gals were so nice, polite and respectful.

I will tell you this......after grad when they were filming the class going back to school they were all pretty quiet. they were happy to be done but at the same time already missing being apart of the group. The goodbyes were rough. my son listens to the cadences he videoed everyday and is already wanting to get back on base. He came home and went out with his friends one night and said it was stupid. while everyone at home just kept doing the same thing for the last 6 months his life changed DRAMATICALLY! They didn't understand each other. On the flip side, he is home a lot! :)

So....if you can go it's worth it!

[Carol F.]

If any one you guys can go to Port Hueneme, it is worth it. Just seeing the base, your sailor, and the area.
As Jenny tells all about her experience with graduation, I am so glad she did.