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Comment by aprilo on September 6, 2015 at 12:28pm

My son has arrived in Dam Neck for his A school! Any advise would be great!

Comment by Mary (Chris' mom) on August 22, 2015 at 8:44am

Yay Laura! So sorry Laura. :-( But yay for your sailor! I still wish he had remained with the HI orders so he and Chris would have been close enough to have lunch every once in awhile. Chris is enjoying HI but he would have much preferred Italy.

He and his wife did manage to meet up with of the long time IS contractors and his wife for lunch recently. He knew the contractor from his early days in S Korea. The contractor has been in Hawaii since leaving Korea but he and Chris have kept contact while Chris was in Japan. I love how he works with people and then stays in basic contact with them. His former IS1 and the contractor, and a couple of other ISes gave him a few heads up before they moved to the islands.

Chris, his wife and son will be coming home for leave in a few months. I can't wait. It will be almost a year and a half since their last trip home. Declan was still just crawling. This time he will be a big boy and have to have his own seat on the plane! I'm not sure this time who will get more hugs and squeezes...Chris or Declan. :-D

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Laura, keep folks updated when possible on changes to lodging, good eats, or major construction in the Norfolk/VA Beach area. Thanks and best to your sailor!   

Comment by Laura on August 22, 2015 at 2:05am

Hello all. I haven't been on the page lately. I used to live near Great Lakes and was able to give folks all sorts of travel advice on the main Navy for moms pages, airports, places to stay, boot camp graduation etc. but now things have changed.

I now live near Dam Neck Naval Base. Hubby, a fed employee, had an unexpected job transfer to Norfolk. 

Bad news - We had to leave the place we lived in all of our lives.

Good News - We were able to spend time with our Navy son who is stationed here.

Bad News - The navy son got new orders two months after we got here.

Good News - He is now in Italy. I'm happy for him but sad for me. At least we had got to spend quality time together!

Comment by Goat on August 20, 2015 at 3:08pm

I was just there for my husband's graduation. He'll have to ride on base with you (or someone else with a military ID will) and everyone just shows their regular IDs to the guard. He'll check you in at the school house and you'll get visitor's passes. Phones aren't allowed back there. Then he'll escort you to the auditorium (which is like a little high school theatre room). It lasted about an hour. The room was pretty empty, not too many people brought family, except one girl who had 9 people.

If you're picking him up from base, I would park in the little neighborhood right before the gate. That's what I used to do before we were married (I didn't have an ID).

Comment by Mary (Chris' mom) on August 18, 2015 at 1:57pm

C school graduation is not as formal as PIR by any means. It is a short, nice ceremony without much pomp and circumstance. I don't know how they do it now but my sailor had to meet us at the gate and escort us to the school where the ceremony was held. They just need to let their instructor know that you are coming and how many will be there. The area is small so I am sure that there is a limit on the number they can allow in but I'm guessing since many families do not attend, they may allow up to 4 or 5? It may also depend on how many C schools are graduating that day. You will enjoy it though and your sailor will want to introduce you to some of his/her shipmates. Have fun.

Comment by MomofMCCassie on August 18, 2015 at 12:08pm

Does anyone know any info about C school graduation in Dam Neck? We're headed there in Sept.  All we know is the date/time and we have reservations in VA Beach. How do you get in the gate?  Does your sailor need to meet you or do they leave your name at the gate?  I gather this is different from PIR.

Comment by Mary (Chris' mom) on August 18, 2015 at 6:09am

Congratulations new Moms and welcome aboard! Our group is not as active as it once was but folks do still join and folks with experience do still drop in, sometimes. As your sailors get out into the fleet and become more settled in their careers, you will find sites like this much less tempting to visit. With all the attention on OPSEC recently and our understanding of how many foreign military and terrorist groups operate, fewer moms are at open pages. Other moms here will support you as much as possible but understand that much of the info that the "older" moms have may be outdated. You will survive and adjust...your sailor will survive and adjust.

Anna, I will get with you and Ellen to see if you can walk her through how to reset the admin for this page. My health is declining pretty quickly and I feel transplant is looming in the nearer future. As such, I will only drop in here on a rare occasion. I know with you and the hubby travelling around the country your internet is limited but I think you are about the only original member left here besides me. We really need to get Ellen to set you up as admin. I will try to call her or message her and tell her that she needs to do it. I enjoy seeing all your awesome pics from the travels! Maybe we can all travel to someplace fun like say, Hawaii sometime!

I wish each of you a very blessed day and I hope when your sailor's journey is finished, you can say, you both enjoyed the ride. Safe travels Anna, call me sometime.

Comment by TJR's Proud Mom on August 15, 2015 at 11:25am

I'm just glad he was on hold the first week, because now that classes have started he sounds really busy! He's a great student, having honed his study skills in college, but it sounds like this curriculum is completely different from anything he's used to. Hopefully it won't take very long to get used to this new routine and course load and things will fall into place soon... it's always difficult to be going non-stop all the time! He said he passed his first test and will be spending this weekend studying for the next one. 

Comment by IronGiantsMom on August 13, 2015 at 6:56am

Hello IS Moms ! My son graduated from Boot Camp beginning of July, and has now been in IS School for a month. It's been really interesting hearing the changes in him when he describes his time in the Navy. But be prepared as an IS mom to never really know what's going on or what he's doing! That's just all part of his job. You'll find the freedom to text or call him in the evenings is nice, but they are extremely busy studying (or should be!) so I wait to get a call from him first. I can hear the pride in his voice as he aces another test. They have classes Monday through Friday, and off on weekends unless they are on duty. That gives them a chance to unwind a little bit, go shopping, go to the beach which is really close by, etc. But they'll still be studying all weekend, if they're smart! It is a very competitive field. Each week brings them a few more freedoms. At first they can only spend their free time on base. Then they can go off-base on the weekend but have to return for curfew. At about one month they are able to have their vehicle on base, and can be away from base overnight. I will be visiting my son at the end of this month to bring his car to him, and am so excited! So nice to hear from some of you moms-- we sure love our sailors don't we!

Comment by sandra on August 13, 2015 at 3:19am

hey there TJR, our son started IS school as well. seems our sailors where in ship 13 div 253. so looks as if we're all on this exciting, unknowing journey. so proud.

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