This site is for mothers of kids in the U.S. Navy and for Moms who have questions about Navy life for their kids.
FIRST TIME HERE?
FOLLOW THESE STEPS TO GET STARTED:
Choose your Username. For the privacy and safety of you and/or your sailor, NO LAST NAMES ARE ALLOWED, even if your last name differs from that of your sailor (please make sure your URL address does not include your last name either). Also, please do not include your email address in your user name. Go to "Settings" above to set your Username. While there, complete your Profile so you can post and share photos and videos of your Sailor and share stories with other moms!
Make sure to read our Community Guidelines and this Navy Operations Security (OPSEC) checklist - loose lips sink ships!
Join groups! Browse for groups for your PIR date, your sailor's occupational specialty, "A" school, assigned ship, homeport city, your own city or state, and a myriad of other interests. Jump in and introduce yourself! Start making friends that can last a lifetime.
Link to Navy Speak - Navy Terms & Acronyms: Navy Speak
All Hands Magazine's full length documentary "Making a Sailor": This video follows four recruits through Boot Camp in the spring of 2018 who were assigned to DIV 229, an integrated division, which had PIR on 05/25/2018.
Boot Camp: Making a Sailor (Full Length Documentary - 2018)
Boot Camp: Behind the Scenes at RTC
...and visit Navy.com - America's Navy and Navy.mil also Navy Live - The Official Blog of the Navy to learn more.
OPSEC - Navy Operations Security
Always keep Navy Operations Security in mind. In the Navy, it's essential to remember that "loose lips sink ships." OPSEC is everyone's responsibility.
DON'T post critical information including future destinations or ports of call; future operations, exercises or missions; deployment or homecoming dates.
DO be smart, use your head, always think OPSEC when using texts, email, phone, and social media, and watch this video: "Importance of Navy OPSEC."
Follow this link for OPSEC Guidelines:
Events
**UPDATE as of 11/10/2022 PIR vaccination is no longer required.
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR UP TO DATE INFO:
RESUMING LIVE PIR - 8/13/2021
Please note! Changes to this guide happened in October 2017. Tickets are now issued for all guests, and all guests must have a ticket to enter base. A separate parking pass is no longer needed to drive on to base for parking.
Please see changes to attending PIR in the PAGES column. The PAGES are located under the member icons on the right side.
Format Downloads:
- Graduation Info
- PDF – 2.7 MB
- PNG – 2.3 MB
- JPG – 3.4 MB
- Printable PDF – 2.0 MB
Latest Activity
Navy Speak
Click here to learn common Navy terms and acronyms! (Hint: When you can speak an entire sentence using only acronyms and one verb, you're truly a Navy mom.)
N4M Merchandise
Shirts, caps, mugs and more can be found at CafePress.
Please note: Profits generated in the production of this merchandise are not being awarded to the Navy or any of its suppliers. Any profit made is retained by CafePress.
Navy.com Para Familias
Visite esta página para explorar en su idioma las oportunidades de educación y carreras para sus hijos en el Navy. Navy.com
Badge
It's suddenly here!
My son is scheduled to leave for MEPS Tuesday June 17th and then on to BC on the 18th. He has been waiting a year, you would think I would be ready but all of a sudden I am falling apart! He is 21 and had been away at college, so its not the first time we'll be separated, but this seems different - so much more permanent...as a single mom, he and I are so close and I can't imagine not being able to call or text him on a whim. And as a NUKE he will be so far away for A school and beyond (we live in the SF Bay Area). Anyways I have been lurking here for so long, but now it is just seems to be overwhelming to think that he will be gone a week from today...
He is so excited and ready, but I am not!!!
I have learned so much from reading the posts here, and now it just seems soooo real - thanks for listening!
Views: 202
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Cybermama Ship 09, Div 160 on
-
I know how you feel. Mine graduated from college last year and left for BC in March. He is in Nuke school now. We must realize that these "kids" are actually adults making their own way in the world. But it is hard letting go even when he was actually further away when he was in college. They must grow up.
-
-
Permalink Reply by poodlelover on
-
Thanks Cybermama and TMansmom - I know he is making the right decision and he is going to do great but I feel like this is an "ending" for us and a "beginning" for him, which is how I know it is supposed to be, and logically I understand that its time for him to live his own life, but I am feeling soooo lost!
-
-
Permalink Reply by Forever proud on
-
Poodlelover try looking at it this way - rearrange your way of thinking of it as an ending for you and instead totally focus on it being a wonderful beginning for him. Concentrate on the love, pride and excitement you have for his new life. It takes practice, but while my son was in boot camp every time i felt myself starting to "feel sorry for myself" i made a conscious effort to redirect. I bought the blue candle and would light it when i needed to feel a connection with him. There is a poem/prayer that gets posted on the main Boot Camp Moms page from time to time. I found it very comforting and i think its time it was posted again. Look for it over there. God Bless you and your child. Hooyah!
-
-
Permalink Reply by CATHARINE on
-
We just got the 10 second call saying he is there! Then, I found that prayer. Wow! That was powerful. Thanks to all.
-
-
-
Thank you I just printed that prayer - and what is the blue candle?
-
-
-
A friend gave me a blue candle to burn anytime I am missing or thinking about
my
SR....but especially during Battle Stations. I will need a lot of blue candles, haha. Correct me, veteran moms, if I am wrong. -
-
Permalink Reply by DramaSoul on
-
poodlelover....my son was one of those who was in DEP for 8 months and was 22 when he left for BC. He had had a year-and-a-half of college, worked for a little while while sharing an apartment with a buddy from high school. He had traveled the world with his father's Bluegrass band and when he left for BC, I was a total puddle. It is much different. And the man that he is today (he's 25) is an amazing human being. Do not let anyone tell you it's like going off to college!! It isn't. The thing that has gotten me through is N4M! And the SF Bay Area has a GREAT N4M group! I live in Oregon but I went down there last year for a Meet and Greet and had a wonderful time.
No matter when he does it....you aren't ready...believe me. The good thing for me was that I got to go to the aiport and wait with him before he left. I asked him if that was okay and he said "Yes". I got a gate pass to go sit with him. The airlines are great about that when it comes to military families. I have always gone that route whenever he has been home and then leaves again.
Navy Hugs to YOU!
-
-
-
Thank you DramaSoul29 -" I kept thinking that I was "ready" and it has just hit me so hard, the last day or so. I appreciate your sharing that your son had been away before he left for BC - all of my friends keep saying that its just like he's going away to college again, BUT it feels so different to me. It's nice to hear someone validate that its okay to feel like this. I thought maybe it was just me....it feels better just to know that someone else has experienced this - and now look at where you and your son are - I can tell how proud you are of him!!!
-
-
-
It is soooo different than college!!! My son is a Corpsman (with a Marine unit) and currently stationed stateside (not for long). I was always very close with him and it's been hard these last 2 1/2 years so I do light my blue candle when I miss him. I have gone through a few of them!! Be sure to write upbeat letters to him once you get his address. My son said that's what kept them going. There are restrictions so follow the guidelines about what to send. Do not send anything other than white paper and envelopes. I sent a long letter on my rainbow stationery (printed on my printer because my handwriting is not easy to read anymore) in a white envelope. Because the letter was so fat, he had to open it in front of the RDC (Recruit Division Commander) and he was teased about it. He said he didn't mind. He told the RDC, "It's from my mother, RDC. What can you do?" He got a laugh out of that. I was horrified when I found out.
You will survive this, I promise you. When you go to PIR (and definitely go if it's at all possible) you won't believe what happens in just 8 weeks. I still get choked up thinking about seeing the doors roll open and my son's division marching in (dress blues 'cause it was Winter). Most of all, you need to know that we are here...your Navy Mom sisters. I didn't realize that when my son joined the Navy, I did too. We know what it's like. Feel free to vent here and cry...just keep the letters positive. Those recruits are going through lots of changes. They get torn down to get built up. The motto is once they master something they are obligated to help someone who has not mastered it yet. It's not about what they can do as individuals, it's about how they can work together as a team and it starts in boot camp. People who do not have a child in the military have no clue what this is about...I didn't and I have a nephew who is an officer in the Army. It's very special to be a Navy Mom. And it's hard and wonderful at the same time. I am very proud of my son! He loves taking care of his Marines (that was a fun time...he had to explain to me how he joined the Navy to be in the Marines!). He has become this confident, focused man who is in the best physical and mental shape of his life. Every time I see him I just sort of stand in awe. Funny though, no matter how much of a tough man he is, he called me the other day because he was SIQ (sick in quarters) with strep throat, waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. Yep, still needs his mom when he's sick!
Oh, one more thing. When your son goes to BC, he will be sending everything he had on back in a box. Even though I knew it was coming, I still cried like a baby when I opened it and then I laughed because he had scribbled on note in his pocket "sorry about the dirty underwear. love you mom." Yeah. Good one! And...if you are in the Bay Area, contact the SF group. Bunker QB is the admin and I just love her! Also once your son is in a division, find that group on N4M and also check out the RTC Facebook page. Okay, I have rambled on long enough. Take care, poodlelover!
-
© 2024 Created by Navy for Moms Admin.
Powered by
