Comment

Comment by Andy'sMom on March 14, 2018 at 12:56pm

Thanks for all the great advice!  I think I will start looking a little closer to base!  

Comment by CTNavyMom on March 14, 2018 at 9:57am

Hi.  Our son graduated OCS in September 2017 and is currently in Pensacola, awaiting IFS.  (He's been there since end of November, and anxious to start!)  As far as traffic in Newport, depending on the season (summer is full of tourist traffic), it can be it or miss.  We found the worst traffic at the gate when ALL of us family members were coming through the gate at around the same time.  Be sure to allow lots of extra time for that and for parking.  If you go out to lunch after graduation, be sure to make a reservation, and again allow extra time to find the needle-in-the-haystack parking spots.  Best of luck to you and your LO, its an incredible journey.  Be sure to bring tissues to graduation, its so emotional to see all that your LO has accomplished!

Comment by jsefamily on March 14, 2018 at 1:23am

As for those indulgent Candio boxes, our son requested two—one with chocolate and one with not chocolate items. One of his friends ate so much sugar he had to have his blood sugar re-tested in a physical. Yikes! I think in the end most of it was shared and much was left for the staff.

Comment by jsefamily on March 14, 2018 at 1:19am

Many things have changed, that’s clear. The point I was making was confirmation that family and friends will be on and off base quite a bit.

Comment by M's mom on March 13, 2018 at 11:26pm

jsefamily:   My son graduated OCS in Class 16-12 (September 2012.)  Many things have changed at OCS since then, so I have to defer to Moms of more recent grads as to how things are done now.  My son's class could receive Candio boxes at week ten with food and homemade cookies, etc., but I hear that food items are prohibited now.  Just as well. ---After 10 weeks of sugar deprivation, (no desserts, no sweet snacks allowed) my son said he and his classmates gorged on the goodies and made themselves sick!  He said it was worth it though.  haha

Comment by jsefamily on March 13, 2018 at 9:41pm

Andy'sMom, since over 99% of us don't live there, knowledge of the construction and traffic there is limited to the few days we were each there.  But as M's mom mentioned, you will probably be on and off the base several times.  I don't know for which class M's mom attended OCS graduation, but her events were very similar to ours with 01-15 (October 2014).

Comment by Eaglemom01 on March 13, 2018 at 9:12pm

Andy'sMom,

We were there in October for 01-18 graduation and we stayed off the main drag in Middleton less than 3 miles from base.  It took us nearly 20 minutes every time we went on or off base due to construction on the big bridge and in town.  I am from TX where things move quickly and that is not the case on the east coast at all.  We drove so we could sight see  in the area and things listed as 10 miles took much longer than we were used to since the speed limits are not like here and the roads were not always in stellar condition. Hope that helps somewhat.

Comment by M's mom on March 13, 2018 at 9:05pm

Andy'sMom,

We stayed at a hotel in Middletown, RI which is close to the base, and I'm glad we did, because we made several trips on/off the base while in Newport.  We arrived on Wednesday of graduation week and met up with our son at the base and he was able to go out to dinner with us, then he had to return that night.  Thursday evening was the Hi Moms reception at a downtown Newport hotel, and we picked up our son on the base before heading to that.  (He had flown to OCS and did not have his own car there.)  Early Friday morning at about 0500, his class had a Graduation Run around the base which the families were invited to, and then we had breakfast with him in the chow hall.  (This was five years ago; I'm not sure this is still done now.)  After breakfast, we headed back to our hotel to change for graduation, which I believe was held about 10:00 a.m. then.     My point is, we made several trips to & from the base while we were there, so I was glad that we stayed only about a mile away in Middletown!

Comment by M's mom on March 13, 2018 at 8:49pm

Welcome MBmom!

We may have answered many of your questions already if you read back on these posts as far back as you can.  Is your LO (loved one) reporting to OCS soon, or already there?

Comment by MBmom on March 13, 2018 at 6:47pm

Hello,

i’m glad to have found this site as we prepare for the next stage of the adventure. I hope that the information will be a valuable resource. 

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 24
• 25
• 26
• 27
• 28
• …
• 241
• Next ›
• Page