Roll Call: Name your sailor's sub!

[Kaye S.]

Submarine moms are special:

 --- All of us have boys, "SAILORS!"

 --- Who serve on "boats,"

 --- With whereabouts unknown, and

 --- We only get sporadic, short emails while they're out!

 

Tell us where your sailor serves...

[JoLene(Will's mom)]

My son, Will, is on the USS Hartford. Would love to hear from other Hartford parents. The past month has been tough and continues to be, for me.

[Diane A ( Chad's Mom)]

Holly,,
I live in Kings Bay (Kingsland)... he will be in good hands...

[Diane A ( Chad's Mom)]

My son has served on the W. Virginia, the Atlanta and the Rhode Island... has been a submariner for 19 yrs.

[Trina]

My son, Justin, left on Memorial Day (yesterday) to meet his sub. in Okanawa(?). He is assigned to the USS Charlotte, he is an E2., and his job is MM2. I'm really new , this is his first assignment,(and mine), I miss him soo much and words cannot express the way I feel right now. Will it get any easier? He is my only son, I have 2 daughthers who support him also but have no intrest in the military carrer. I want to see him in Sept., for his 21st birthday, in Hawaii, but I was laid off from my job in January, no work in sight, is there any financial help out there for military moms? I need a hug from everyone out there because I'm crying like a baby. PROUD Michhigan mom....

[Diane A ( Chad's Mom)]

I do know how you feel.. my twin sons went into the Navy together back in 1990... not fun.. the one has made the Navy a career and was a submariner for 19 yrs and is now assigned to the USS Nimitz, a carrier.. He bacame an officer last year and that is where they sent him.. I don't know of any financial assistance for parents of Navy members. we just have to grit our teeth and bear it.. I promise it does get better with time.. it's still hard to see them go but that is just part of military life..
hang in there

[Paulette,Rob's Mom]

Hopeing all had a very nice and safe holiday weekend. We received a very nice surprise on Friday Evening, My Sailor came home for the weekend. It was really a nice surprise. I think he grew another 2 inches. Any taller and I don't know if he'll fit into a sub evan if itis a boomer. It was very nice to see him.
Diane can you help me, we are hopeing to get to Kings Bay in July for his grad from C school and need a recommendation for a hotel close to base.
Trina go to the Michigan moms page and join if you haven't already we are getting quite a large group. Also are planning to meet in Frankenmuth on June 27th. See you there.

[Diane A ( Chad's Mom)]

yes, there are a lot of nice hotels in the area.. but the one that is the closest is Cumberland-Kings Bay Lodges.. the number is 912-882-8900.. they have kitchenettes in them. We have used them before we moved here .. not real fancy but clean and nice.. they also have an outdoor pool and only about 3 miles to the base.. otherwise.. there are Holiday Inns.. Country Inn Suites.. etc...lots of them...
they are all closer to the freeway which is about 7 miles to the base. Let me know if I can help in any other way.. we moved to Kingsland to be closer to my son while he was stationed here but as luck would have it, he became an officer and was sent to San Diego a year ago but his wife and 5 kids stayed here until he is through with his sea duty on the carrier.. which will be in 2010... you just never know... have a great time in KingsBay.. it is a very nice base.. very pretty ... again, let me know if there is anything else you need.
Diane

[bwersal]

My daughter & I were in Kings Bay back in April. We stayed on base at the TVQ (Transit Visitors Quarters) Also known as Gate Way. it was very reasonable & clean with a kitchenette.

[vidgal]

My son Lowell is on the USSN Charlotte I'll email him and have him keep a quiet eye on Justin if it makes you feel any better. I know exactly how you feel it kills me that i cant get in touch with him anytime i want to. Give me a yell back and we can cry on each others shoulders

[BunkerQB]

Trina,
How about calling your the executives with local companies in your area in Michigan. Contact travel agents, local Rotary clubs, Chamber of Commerce. Ask them if they would donate their airline miles to you. Contact each airline to see if they would honor these miles (and donated miles with other airlines). Ask the local newspaper to put an ad out for you asking for donation of unused airline miles. Hey, it's for a good cause. Ask for a discount. There was a program several years ago with Continental Airlines to accept donated airline miles for army service members to use to fly home. The program seems to have gone away but I would make a personal appeal.
Best of luck.
B

[bwersal]

My son is on the USS Rhode Island, Gold Crew. He only has a couple more time to deploy before he will go to Japan for a few years. I will miss him alot more then but will maybe have a chance to go visit him there.

[Angelkoz999]

My son Nick is on the USS Louisiana out of Bangor WA on the blue crew, I think. We don't talk much about it when we get to talk.It usually makes me cry. I know nothing about ranks or honors he has received or anything. I don't get to attend any ceremonies or see him when he gets these awards and it makes me very depressed when I realize how much of his life I am missing. And he is missing so much of his family's life--nephew's birth, brother's graduation. I get confused because the Navy seems to use initials for everything and I can't remember what they stand for. Is there some kind of manual or site to help explain some of these things? Sometimes it seems like he is learning a whole new language. The time difference (Central vs West Coast) and his/my work schedule make it hard for us to have time to talk and I find the time he spends in the sub and unable to communicate unbearable. I'm claustrophobic and love sun and sky so can't imagine a life where you can't see it for weeks at a time can be in any way tolerable. How can he go out on a submarine for three months and come back to port and OWE the Navy more money than he earned? Him being in the NAVY is costing us more than if he was in college and I see him getting NO education like we were promised and I don't get to see him holidays, spring break or summers. Can't afford to have the family go up to WA to see my son, and it costs over $500 a trip to get him home, so visits have been few and far too short.I try any way I can to communicate through pictures and email and letters and packages, but feel him drifting away and losing his family and christian values. He has no car (bought one from a Navy "buddy" at A school but it quit running 2 weeks after he bought it and he still had four years to pay on it) so he can't get to church. He is constantly telling us how he has no money because he loaned another "buddy" money and he hasn't paid him back, or he loaned a "buddy" money to buy a TV and then the guy got transferred and he didn't get paid back, or a bunch of "buddies" went out and he got stuck paying the bill. His older sister worries about him almost as much as I do, and his younger siblings miss him terribly. He's halfway through his 6 year commitment and I feel I've aged 20.Each day is harder, not easier. I did not want him to join and even sat in the recruiters office begging and crying and pleading for the recruiter to stop calling and talking to my son. I still write the recruiter to tell him I have not changed my mind, it is not better, hoping he will not ignore another mother if one ever feels the way I do. This September starts the downhill slide of his six years as it will be the end of the first three and I hope I can start to see the light at the end of a very long tunnel. Is there ways to get mail and packages to my son when he is on the sub? He was underway both at Christmas and on his birthday and it was horrible not to be able to get something to him except an email. Need to find some way to cope with this and get through the next 3 years. Is there any other mothers frustrated and upset their child is so far away and unaccessable? Any other mother have a hard time with not being able to share their son's BD? Or that their son will not be there for the big party for his parent's 25th wedding anniversary or his Mom's 50th BD or the family reunion, etc? Does any other mother wish with all her heart she could turn back the clock to the day before the day her son came home from an outing with friends and said, "Hey Mom, I went to the Navy recruiting office with Tony today..."? I want to "support" him and I am "proud" of him, he signed on the dotted line and even though almost everything the recruiter told him were clever lies and twisting of the truth, he is honoring his commitment and making the best of things. He is trying to achieve all he can even though it won't be near what the recruiter told him he could. He has grown and matured and learned a few hard lessons along the way. I've learned a box of extra soft tissues is well worth the money, I know how to email, put pictures on Facebook, and ALWAYS carry my cell phone. I know the best time of day to mail a package at the post office. And I know EXACTLY how many days till my son can get discharged and come HOME!