Daughter heading to Italy

[Deb]

HI Everyone!
I can imagine how each of you felt when you got the news that your son was going to England. Well...my daughter called last night to let me know she just got her orders...and she's going to Sicily for 3 years! I guess I should be excited for her...but she's leaving behind a young daughter (she was a teen mom) and I'm sick for her. I just expected she'd end up in the US somewhere that we could drive or fly to. The adjustment is going to be quite a bit with foreign language, currency and customs to get used to. It's going to be expenseve to ship stuff to her and call her...I'm just so overwhelmed I can barely think straight. Any words of wisdom ??
Deb

[Ellen]

Deb --
I know how you feel! I knew that my son, Jim, wanted to go to England, but I figured he'd end up in the Washington, D.C. area because there are so many intelligence agencies there. He's 19 and has been gone since November. We have Skype, which is a free overseas phone service that you use through your computer. Just google it and you can check it out. It also does video calling, but we don't use that as much because it slows the calls down and drops the calls sometimes, too. Hope that helps with your fears about not being able to talk to her because we talk almost every day. Also, the military people who are stationed overseas have APO addresses. This means that the sender pays the same rate as they would if they were mailing something in America. You can also request a free military pack from the Post Office and they will send all the supplies you need to your home. Check on their web site or use the search box on this site. Another Navy Mom told me about it. If I send Jim a package, I use the flat rate priority mail boxes and it costs the same flat rate as here in the US. Apparently the packages all go to a military processing center here and the military gets them to our sailors from there.
I know it's still hard to have your daughter so far away. Sometimes I miss Jim so much it hurts...it kind of comes in waves. Hang in there! Ellen

[Deb]

Thanks for your reply Ellen. It did help to hear about Skype, I'll definately be looking into that. And the tip about the post office military pack will be a great help...that was one of my first concerns....and I'm sure I'm going to be having many! Thanks again...it helps so much knowing someone else is out there going through the same thing. Boot camp worries were nothing compared to having your child living in another country for several years!

Deb

[teri]

Hi deb, I just joined this group but the comment are so real i feel your pain and fears. Our son has been over in england for 12 months and has atleast another 12 to go. At first it was more than i could handle and there were so many questions about living in another country. But it has been grat we can talk to her whenever he is at base and home. He calls from his own room. He paid to have a phone in his room and that has been a gift. Mail has been really easy to at christmas we just made sure everything fit into those APO box at the PO. It only cost around 1095 to mail. My biggest fear happened in july. My brother in lwa died suddenly and the Navy got him home asap his cheif was willing to give him the money to get home upfront and allow him to pay him back later. His concern was to get his sailors home. They also allowed him to take 7 days to visist. So far Im very impressed with the Navy. Any other questions just ask. God blessings Teri