USS McFAUL (DDG 74)

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Comment by Jeant (B's Mom) 5 hours ago

Just got back from Norfolk, visiting my sailor. Got a tour of the ship. Was very cold, at least for me, I'm from the MS gulf coast. Ran into snow on the way home. Hope everyone is well.

Comment by Jeant (B's Mom) on November 1, 2009 at 12:00pm

Does anyone know of a reputable auto relocation company? We contracted one to pick my son's vehicle up on Saturday(it didn't happen) Of Course, they quickly charged us for it. This had been in the works for a month. He leaves on Monday for 3 weeks. When we checked this company out, they seemed to have good reviews, but since then we found out otherwise.

Comment by Mom in The O.C. on November 1, 2009 at 10:56am

Update for those of us who mail: I mailed our son a package on October 19th - Insured, with Tracking option. It took it 10 DAYS to go from Irvine, CA to the distribution center in New Jersey, and THEN on the October 29th the distribution center sent it on to the ship/destination. Unbelievable. Of course, he still doesn't have the package as of this date, 11/1. (It was for Halloween, so it'll make a big impact now. Not) So be sure you keep this in mind when mailing to your sailor when in port. I sure hope it takes less time for their mail to get to them when they are deployed. Good grief.

Comment by Mom in The O.C. on October 25, 2009 at 10:41pm

Here is a note I found on one of Navy for Moms blogs that I think may be helpful for all of us to know.

"Deployments are much harder than boot camp. After they deploy you probably won't hear from your sailor for 2 or 3 weeks. They are really busy when they first get underway. If this is your son's first deployment, he will most likely have to crank (he'll be loaned out to the supply division). Cranking varies for each ship. My son had to crank for a long time because his ship is undermanned. When they have a port call most sailors will have time to either call home or Skype with you. When they are not in port sometimes all communication is stopped due to various security reasons. Our ombudsman will send an email out to everyone when communiations are down. Depending on your sailors schedule and how much work/sleep he gets, he may have time to drop you an email from the ship. Attachments and pictures can not be sent to a navy.mil email address, only text. Make sure you have your sailor's navy.mil email address before he deploys. When he's in port he can check his private email account, but sometime's they don't go into port for a month or two.
My son is currently on a 6 week cruise to the North Sea. He left the 3rd week of September and I still haven't heard from him. The good news is when they are deployed they get their mail/packages in about a week. Much quicker than when they are in home port. The mail will get a little slower around Christmas, so allow more time then." Good stuff, huh?

Comment by Re(A's Mom) on October 21, 2009 at 11:55pm

ljiron enjoy your time with them. Wishing you safe travels!

Comment by ljiron on October 21, 2009 at 10:56pm

I will be visiting in Norfolk this next week. My daughter-in-law is to be stationed on the ship. She has some additional training to do first before she is actually on the ship. can't wait to see her and my son, who is on the USS Harry S Truman. Looking to have a good time with them all.

Comment by Donna on October 5, 2009 at 9:28am

Praying for a safe trip. Everyone keep in touch.

Comment by LuAnn P on September 27, 2009 at 9:21am

Hi Ladies,
I have been reading through all your posts. I'm excited to see other names on hrere!! for so long it was just me and ReA's Mom). We travel to Europe alot and always use the debit card, the banks get the best rate of exchange. That was what we recommended our son do when he depoys. Mike is driving his car home this coming Friday and flying back Saturday night. I guess putting the car in longterm parking costs a small fortune, it was cheaper to just leave it here and minimize the insurance on it. Just a tip for anyone else who has a car.

Comment by Jeant (B's Mom) on September 21, 2009 at 7:00pm

Thanks! That helps--I guess what I was thinking about was cash(foreign $$) Not thinking about credit cards.

Comment by Re(A's Mom) on September 21, 2009 at 9:36am

Ok so I am guessing that maybe they use their debit cards or credit cards while on deployment. It would make sense I guess to let the card companies figure out the monetary conversions for each different country or whatever. If you watch the video in the discussions above, (the take a video tour of a Navy destroyer) they do have an atm on the ships, where they can get cash.

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