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Comment by Melissa on August 21, 2016 at 10:55pm

Congratulations to your son Grace - mine wanted a Guam assignment, but when he graduated there were only San Diego places available.  I hear the water there is fabulous for diving.  Hope he has a great time.

Congratulations to you also bats37 - I hope you are able to go to Great Lakes for PIR, it is quite a ceremony.  He should leave for Pensacola shortly after PIR, and he could be on hold there for a bit, it just really depends on the needs of the Navy at the time he arrives.  While waiting to class up, he should continue studying and training - swimming, running, lifting - the classes in Pensacola are designed to weed out those that are not absolutely focused on Air Rescue.  My son always said it was more mental than physical, but the physical counts a lot.  Tell him to keep his nose clean, don't know his age, but there is a lot of underage drinking on base, and there have been instances of guys being caught drinking in their dorms, and either being kicked out of the program, or being back burnered for an extended period, so his best bet is just not. 

Living arrangements are dorms on base, if I remember correctly, there is limited leave at first, and quite tight uniform regs they have to follow, but that will loosen up as they move along.  Not sure about the vehicle, as my son didn't have one.  Just tell him to stay strong and work hard and he will do great. 

hsquared60 - thanks for the head's up on the What's App.  I will have my son check it out before he deploys.  It sounds like it will come in handy. 

Comment by bats27 on August 21, 2016 at 10:43am

Hi, Son's PIR 9/2 then onto Pensacola for the next leg of his journey. Any info greatly appreciated as to what to expect in the next few months. His info not always reliable. Living arrangements, training, If they're waiting to class up (hope that's what it's called)what do they do, Can they drive/have vehicle at some point? Thanks 

Comment by Grace on August 19, 2016 at 12:14pm

Our son left for Guam after a nice few weeks of leave at home. He's super excited about the move to Guam, it was his 1st choice after graduating. Seeing him so excited helped with this most recent departure. 

I'm go grateful for all the info from other Moms through this group because it sure helps to understand the processes. 

We haven't heard from him yet but I'm guessing that the process for "moving in" must take lots of time. 

It's my understanding that our son will have to use the phone carrier on the island. Until then we might have to wait until he settles in to hear from him?

Is the What's App app safe while they're on deployment? We will definitely look into it to save money. Our son really really isn't the "write an email" kinda guy so that app and FB might be the only contact we have! 

Any Rescue Swimmer Guam Moms here? 

Comment by TXmom on August 19, 2016 at 11:55am

@ hsquared60 - My son is in HSC-14 and just returned from the same deployment (his first), We got to see him in HI, and he's home right now enjoying all his favorite meals and sleeping :) He'll be back in San Diego next week. I'll have to have him look into the What's App. 

Anyway, to Marianne... we have Verizon as well and got an International plan before he left, but the charges were still huge when he was in port from calling his girlfriend. He paid for the charges, but said it was worth it. We encouraged him to use wifi when in port and Facetime instead of calling, but that rarely happened. When at sea their phones have to be on airplane mode, so we mainly communicated using Facebook Messenger and occasionally email. We sent monthly care packages using USPS Priority Mail. It cost all of $16.00 to ship the large box. The time it took the packages to get to him varied between 2 weeks to a month, so plan ahead for birthday or holiday shipments. Some folks even ship those first packages weeks before they even leave! 

I strongly encourage you to go on Facebook and find out if your son's ship has a support group or friends/family page. They're private and you have to request to join, but the administrators are pros at the deployment ins and outs and have a wealth of information they share. That's where I got most of my information leading up to and during the deployment.

Best of luck to your son!

Comment by hsquared60 on August 19, 2016 at 12:38am

My son just returned from a seven month deployment. Yay! He's thrilled to be back in San Diego, that's for sure. Anyway, while he was on the ship (carrier most of the time), we communicated ia email but he also used Facebook messenger.

He called whenever he was in a port and the charge, if any, was minimal because he downloaded an app called What's App to his phone before they left San Diego. The only time I has additional charges on our bill was when he let some of his buddies use his phone because they didn't download the app.

Regular mail was appreciated as well. Cards, letters, packages, he was happy just getting mail.

One other thing, it usually took my son several days to respond back to my emails and part of that is because their shop (where his squadron would hang out I guess), only had several computers and quite a few people trying to get on them when Internet was available, which wasn't all the time.

Good luck to your son!

Comment by Melissa on August 18, 2016 at 11:27pm

I'm not the best person to answer this as my son has only been out on short stints, but while he has been out I only received emails, not any phone calls - same goes for the people I know who have had kids out on boats. You might check with your specific carrier about overseas charges, I know when my daughter went to Europe for an extended trip, the cost for just minimal time was astounding, something like 3+ dollars a minute.  We opted for her not to take her phone at all, instead she had her laptop and kept us updated with emails and Facebook when the hotels she stayed in had wi-fi available.   

However, I do know he will spend the next three months training, training, training for deployment.  My son is not scheduled for deployment until early 2017, but his Squadron started this summer with training and it is scheduled back to back to back until they leave. My son actually complained (just a little!) about all the flight hours he is logging lately. 

Jodi - glad to hear your son is well.  Please let him know that he and everyone else on board is in the thoughts and prayers of all of us. 

Comment by Marianne on August 18, 2016 at 7:24pm

So as I am facing my son's first deployment I am just wondering what to expect. Will he get to call? How often? Will he get to write, should I send him with envelopes? Is it regular stamps? What about packages? Is there a phone service that is better? We have Verizon but heard that is not always good overseas. He reports to the ship on September but deploys in December, what is he doing the next 3 months?? Sorry I just have so many questions that my son just can't answer. Thanks!

Comment by Jodi-alumni Ship 4 on August 16, 2016 at 3:14pm

Melissa, my son is doing good. For a while I heard from him more that when he was here on US soil lol. But it's been quiet for the past week or so.

Comment by Melissa on August 14, 2016 at 12:21am

It's always hard - even with the ones who are not military, but it does get easier to smile through the tears as they leave, because even if they don't move back near you, they always know where home is.  Hugs to you Marianne, I hope you enjoyed a great time with your son. 

Jodi - how is your son doing?  Has he been able to contact you much? 

Comment by Jodi-alumni Ship 4 on August 12, 2016 at 3:18pm

{{Hugs, Marianne}}. It is hard to watch them go. I can still remember crying as mine boarded the plane, hummm maybe that's why he just wants us to drop off at the door these days, lol. It does get a little better as time goes on but it still hurts. I'm pretty sure mine is never going to move back home when/if he decides to get out when the time comes, sigh.

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