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
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
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Anyone with Sailors/Soldiers/Marines in War Zones and Combat Areas
Information
For parents and loved ones of deployed and deploying military personnel...Aghanistan/Iraq and any and all war zones. Please introduce yourself on the main comment page.
Members: 116
Latest Activity: Jul 14, 2020
Anderson Hall is in San Antonio, on the campus of Fort Sam Houston...the place where future corpsman will learn their trade.
"Doc" Christopher Anderson served with Marine 1/6.
(He also went to Basic and to FMTB with my son. TDM)
Corpsmen on the job in Afghanistan:
Helpful Links:
It provides access to services and resources at the national, state and local levels to support recovery, rehabilitation and community reintegration.
Absentee Voting Link Get info here on registering to vote and absentee voting.
Navy Individual Augmentee Information "IA"
Ombudsman Registry Find your sailor's unit and contact information
Seabee Info Web site Answers to many questions about deployment, etc even if your sailor is not a Seabee.
Fleet and Family Deployment Navy Facebook
Online Program Helps Military Vote Absentee
Guardian Angels for Soldiers Pets Facebook Page
Dogs on Deployment One-Stop Resource page for military members to turn to for advice and direction to all pet-related needs. They also are looking for fosters for pets whose owners are being deployed.
****Red Cross and Help for the Military, Emergency Notificaton Link to the Red Cross Military Assistance page, on the left is a list of links to important sites, including the phone numbers if you need to notify your deployed loved one of a family emergency. This note: Beginning June 13, 2011, at 8:00 a.m. EDT, all military members and their
families can use one number- 877-272-7337 (U.S. Toll Free) to send an urgent
message to a service member. The change means that all military members and
their families can use this single number to initiate an emergency communication, regardless of where they live.
Coaching Into Care works with family members or friends who become aware of their Veteran’s post-deployment difficulties—and supports their efforts to find help for the Veteran.
This is a national clinical service providing information and help to Veterans and the loved ones who are concerned about them.
Defense Center of Excellence information and help for TBI and PTS for active military, vets and their families.
After Deployment... This web site is VERY useful to service members, family and loved ones after the return of a loved one from deployment.
VAWatchdog.org Very useful links for our vets and their families.
Secondary PTSD Resource Link For families and loved ones of a soldier/sailor/Marine/airman with PTSD.
Facebook Support for OPSEC An online resource for OPSEC regs and questions concerning safety in social media web sites.
Graphic Novel Helps Corpsmen Cope with Combat-related Stress
Links to those sending packages to our deployed sailors/soldiers/marines/airmen:
Molly's Adopt A Sailor Group Join the group, or just read for ideas on what to send to your deployed kid.
Jacob's Program Another group of volunteers sending packages to our deployed folks.
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To all who drop by! WELCOME! please post below so we can get to know you. If you send a message around to 'all members' , we CANNOT respond. So, please introduce yourself below, and remember to not share dates or specfic movements by any military unit on the board! Thank you!! and again WELCOME!!
Discussion Forum
Son in Spin Boldak
Started by rysony. Last reply by rysony Mar 14, 2012. 40 Replies 0 Likes
Care Packages - lists of items, how to order priority boxes and how to fill out customs forms
Started by Marcy ~ Corpsman Mom. Last reply by millon4 Oct 2, 2012. 29 Replies 1 Like
Sailors in Afghanistan with boots on the ground
Started by Ruth, Gun's Mom. Last reply by TexasDocMom Sep 18, 2010. 18 Replies 0 Likes
RSS
Comment Wall
Comment
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Comment by mikes mom on April 16, 2011 at 11:03am
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WOw, great idea... My son always called me on my cell... With this deployment he calls his wife and I just always tell her let him know I love him : ) I sure miss his voice tho...
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Comment by TexasDocMom on April 16, 2011 at 11:01am
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Chief, the connection was better on the house phone for us, maybe that's why. Can you forward your calls from the house to your cell when you're not home or indoors?
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P Bear - We have all gone through and have felt what you are right now.. I have know idea how many times I came here and someone had to hold me up.. I can still cry on a dime and my son right now is on a ship with his Marines.. All I can tell you is that everyone of us have walked in your shoes and we all know what your feeling : )
I have to say what a precous son you have and reading your story truly put a smile on my face as well as tears... God Bless Him
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I agree with Susan, it's better to cry and get it out. Cry in the shower...always worked for me. I learned it when my nephew was in ICU with a brain injury from a car accident, my son was about 10 and I didn't want to cry all day around the house. When I would drive down to Corpus Christi to visit him, I held strong all the way there, and as much as I could down there (altho there were some miracle times I just had to cry, some sad times like that as well). But on the way home, I'd get to about Skidmore, where a rest place was...pull over and cry my eyes out. Then I'd wipe my eyes, blow my nose, drive to the Dairy Queen and get a soda, wash my face and drive home. I KNOW those women in that DQ just thought I was crazy as a loon...this happened at least once a week for almost a year. They never asked tho, they must have thought I was leaving an horrible husband or something. Crying is cleansing. It'll keep your blood pressure down.
Today I looked at the photos of the return of the Marine 3/5 that my friends son is with...and yep, I cried....done for the day!
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Amen to that rysony !!! : )
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Comment by rysony on April 15, 2011 at 11:23pm
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Texas Mom have had several Vets Marines tell me if it had not been for a Navy Corpsmen saving their life they would not be here today!!!
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Texas Mom! You always brighten my day, morning, evening!! Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts. I had to move forward or just have a breakdown. I decided against the breakdown. I am gonna check out Sasha's legacy!!
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P-Bears Mom - Wow, Sweetie what a touching story..Thank you so much fro sharing it with all of us.. I have been with this group and many others within N4Ms for 1 1/2 years now and your story WOW... I don't even know what to say... Our sons and daughters decided this is what they wanted to do.. I have three that made the decision to join the military... like much trouble said Don't Beat yourself up.. Please remember we are all here for you : )
God Bless..
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"Sasha's Legacy was formed in order to assist the Battle Buddies of those soldiers who are unable to adopt them themselves, but want to keep them safe and protected from the harsh and brutal living conditions for animals in Afghanistan. These dogs and cats help our troops get through their toughest and lowest days while enduring the realities of war themselves. In return, our soldiers want to protect them from harm. Although not every soldier is in a position to adopt their battle buddy once they return home, they nonetheless go to great lengths to get their companions to the shelter to guarantee that these special animals aren't abused or killed once they depart. Because the shelter is limited in space and resources, The Puppy Rescue Mission helps to find wonderful permanent homes and to raise the funds needed to get them there. This is our way of thanking them for their service to our troops and their soldiers are very relieved to know that their battle buddy gets the "happily ever after" they so rightly deserve. We have named this effort after Sasha, who bravely gave her life while protecting our troops from a suicide bomber on a military base in Afghanistan. Along with Target and Rufus, they helped to save the lives of 50 soldiers. In honor of Sasha who sacrificed her life that day in order to save those whom she loved, we have established Sasha's Legacy to ensure that the strays of Afghanistan are protected in return."
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Susan! you have me crying first thing in the morning, and my kid is safe and sound in San Antonio (working very hard, but SAFE). I did that same thing...pretty much. I had to take his uniform over to East Austin to this one place where the recruiter told him to take it ....and when I laid it out on the table, about 4 people came from the back to acknowledge me. Only one spoke English, but the others made their thoughts clear. One patted my hand, one my shoulder, and just like all Mexicans do to babies to bless them, one woman patted my cheek. I'm from a south Texas town, that went right through me and the tears just welled up. She hugged me so sweetly, "poor mama" she said over and over in Spanish.
MT...I am a family historian, and my dad's age has always been elusive. But this photo is on a book case he made, on a shelf about 6ft high. Zach looks just like his grgrandfather (and my uncle as well)...and I looked at Zach and then that photo. At 14, Zach's face was the same size and shape as Dad's in that photo! Zach is now almost 17, and his face and head is larger now, looks like Dad but older than that photo now. Dad had to be a baby when he enlisted. That is the photo he sent my grandmother on her birthday just about 85 years ago in April. When my son did PIR, the first words he said to me were "this is the same uniform my grandfather wore when he did PIR". (I think he is less enthralled with that uniform now, and prefers cammies.)
How are you this morning P Bear? Listen to these ladies, you'll develop that look...the one when someone who just doesn't get it says "oh, he'll be just fine...I miss my son too, he's in college." ...You'll lose that feeling of immediately wanting to pick up a 2x4 and smash them, and realize that without kids like ours, her kid would not be safely "in college". And when your kid walks into a room from now on, his buddies and those college kids will look at him and know they are in the room with someone who is a little special, who has a confidence they might never know...and as my son says, "can kill them in a heartbeat..." if they wanted..which of course they don't, but it sure makes those college kids show some respect!
Rysony...I don't know how you sleep at night, I sure hope you are....thinking of you, my friend, your son and his buddies and those good dogs are in my heart. Glad you are taking care of YOU!! and I know he is as well.
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