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Comment by PaulaH on March 31, 2016 at 6:56am

My daughter is in 11-16 as well.  I've estimated a friday graduation 5/27.  Is that correct? I'd like to start making reservations since Memorial day weekend, but would like to confirm dates like NucelarOPSMom as well?  I can't find anything officially.

Comment by bkat3 on March 30, 2016 at 6:25pm

I found the Facebook groups for each OCS class to be a wealth of information.  I think there is a friends and family group you can ask to join.  Search for 'Family & Friends Of Navy  OCS  11-16'

Comment by NuclearOPSMom on March 30, 2016 at 4:25pm

Is there a site where you can get details and schedules for OCS graduation in Newport - my son is in Class 11-16?

Comment by Anna on March 23, 2016 at 1:48pm

Now, about the RV questions!  

Quilter,

I hope you get that stop at the quilt show!!  Tell hubby - compromise!!!  I actually have my sewing machine with me!!  It's amazing how much stuff you can store in the "basement" of a 5th wheel!!!!  

M's mom,

Our sailor son is in Hawaii right now but will be transferring to WA after his upcoming deployment.  He leaves in a few days for Scicily and will be gone for 6 months!!

As for the mail, we use our oldest son's address as our home of record.  We have PA licenses, and our vehicles are registered there.  He collects our mail, which isn't much because even our bills we have as online statements.  But when we do get something important like tax papers and such, we just pick a place where we're going to, call ahead and ask if we can receive mail there and get the mailing address to use.  Very important to call ahead because we've encountered a few places that won't accept mail if you aren't there yet!!!  We usually pick 3 to 4 days out and son sends mail Priority and we usually meet up with our mail when we get there!!!  One time, in West Yellowstone,  our mail didn't come in before the morning we were packing up to leave.  I called the local post office and they checked and our mail was there so we drove to the PO and picked it up rather than having the carrier take it out on the route.  We would have had to wait till mid afternoon until he would show up with it!!!  The hubby also recently found a place in Lake City, Florida that will establish an address for you, collect all your mail and send it out to you wherever you request.  It costs about $200. a year, plus you pay for the postage.  We are going to try that this coming year as son is temporarily moving for his job.  We will get Florida licenses and registrations, etc.  Will let you ladies know how this works out if you want!!!

Other than that, for those of you starting out with RVs, we love it, but we learned to really secure everything inside when traveling.  We even had to add childproof locks on our kitchen cabinets cause with all the bouncing our trailer does, the doors kept popping open.  Drawers too.  We've heard, that when traveling down the road, the trailer bouncing is equivalent to a 4 or 5 point earthquake!!!  Even check the refrigerator to make sure jars or bottles won't bounce around and make a mess.  Once you park and set up, always open each and every door slowly to catch stuff that is poised and ready to fall out!!!!  

And I'm always up for visiting Navy Moms across the country when we travel.  I met up with 7 Mom Friends during last spring and summer travels!!!  

Sorry for the book - - - - - - 

Comment by Anna on March 23, 2016 at 1:31pm

Wow, I've been away from my computer for a couple days and all kinds of sharing going on here!!!  So happy to get caught up with all you wonderful moms.  

Congratulations Mammaboom on your LO's upcoming graduation.  I hope you enjoy your visit to Newport and all the graduation activities.

One comment I wanted to make on the candio box.  We decorated and sent two to our daughter.  One box was mostly a diorama of Florida where she was going for flight training.  We glued in a large map of FL, shark, fish, flipflop stickers and even glued sand around the state map!!  We went to Hallmark and got a small recordable music box and recorded Anchors Away on it.  We didn't put much in that box because it would mess up the decorations.  We even had little plastic palm trees that would pop up when she opened it!!  She still has that box and gets a chuckle everytime she sees it!!!  Our other box had some goodies and some of those microwavable cups that she would end up having for dinner on some of those crazy days when she couldn't get to the galley for any meals.  Wouldn't even bother using a microwave just opened and wolfed it down.  Not so much on the sweets either, granola bars, crackers, and individual drink mixes to make in her water bottle!!

Also, I wanted to mention, my enlisted daughter worked with personnel records when she was in, and would process pay records for both officer and enlisted.  She recommends that your LOs save all receipts when traveling from one place to another, even if stopping off at home to pick up items they want with them, and submitting everything for reimbursement.  The personnel department will go through it and determine what gets reimbursed.  Some things you think wouldn't count would!!!  

Comment by M's mom on March 19, 2016 at 8:23pm

Mammaboom:   I will echo the others that luggage would be a good gift for an OCS grad.  They will have several sets of uniforms, and boots, and hats, and there is no way they can fit all of that into the sea bag they are issued.  We bought our son a nice, large, folding garment bag, and took that with us to graduation along with two other empty duffle bags that we stuffed in our suitcases.  Many of the families hit the local Walmart for cheap luggage after graduation when they see how much stuff the new Ensign has to pack!

My son told us not to bother to get him a sword as it would just hang on the wall gathering dust.  We did give him a wooden "Ensign Box" to hold his pins, insignias, medals, etc.  I ordered it online from The Good Wood Store, and had it engraved with his name and OCS graduation date.  He seemed to really like it, and still uses it today.  They only wear the ribbons of the medals unless they're in full dress, so a box gives them a safe place to store the actual medals and other pins when they strip a uniform to take it to the cleaners.

After graduation, my son had 7 days travel time to report to NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach for Intel School.  He was able to get a ticket on the same flight home as ours the day after graduation.  (He had to pay for it--not the Navy.)   Once home, he figured out what he needed to take with him for six months of school, loaded his pickup truck, and drove from Indiana to Virginia Beach.  He may have been reimbursed for that mileage but I don't know. 

Once your son gets his orders, he will know how much time he has to report to his next duty station, but some of them don't get their orders until graduation day or after, in which case, they have to stay in Newport until they do.  Some of them get sent home to work in recruiting for a few months if it's going to be awhile before their class starts.  I know it's hard to plan, but hopefully your son's orders will come in the next week or so, so he knows before graduation how much home time he will have!   I know some of them in my son's class didn't get to go home, but had to leave the next day for their next assignment!  

Comment by JediGrey on March 19, 2016 at 7:07pm

Mammaboom, congrats on making it through OCS. I made my son an "Ensign box" for all his insignia. I inset an Ensign "Coin" in the top, and we bought him a couple of Navy coins that we thought were appropro for the occasion, including a coin from the VietNam era which is when and where his dad served. We also bought him his flight home right after graduation. He only had 3 days home as he had to report immediately to his next base. Loading his (very little car-a Pontiac Solstice) we realized he could barely fit his toothbrush and a change of underwear in there, so most of his stuff went into our suv and he and his dad tag teamed it to Pensacola. Since then we also bought him his Officer's Sword. Sadly that is still at our home. We are going to take it to him when he graduates the next phase of training.

Comment by topdog1p on March 19, 2016 at 6:36pm

Mammaboom first congrats on your son's graduation from OCS. My son got a nice garment bag and a duffle bag from the navy exchange to load all his stuff in so buying one there might be an idea too maybe have him pick it out. We were fortunate to have our son fly home with us after OCS. We moved it a family vacation in Boston since being from the west coast none of us had been there.That was our present as he really did not what anything except for all of us to be together.(mom, dad and sister). My LO is a nuke so he reported to charlerston SC after spending 3 months in OHARP.( working at the recruiting at home area) he paid for his transportation home and back to charleston. He moved his belonging and was reimbursed by the navy for lodging and mileage and fuel. He had a choice to move it himself or havethe navy move it since he bought a new truck he choose to move it himself. Enjoy OCS and Hi Mom's and do forget to get up early and go watch their last PT.

  

Comment by Mammaboom on March 19, 2016 at 3:48pm

My son graduates in 3 weeks from OCS. I'm just wondering what are some good graduation gifts? Is a garment bag or a box to hold his medals good gifts?  How do they pack all their dress uniforms? Also, if he has to report somewhere right after he graduates, how many days do the typically give them? Does he have to pay for a plane ticket home to pack or is that payed for as moving expenses? Sorry, for all the questions! Thank you for any advice you have!

Comment by topdog1p on March 19, 2016 at 12:38pm

GalleyMom my son was in class 16-15 your must have been 1 or 2 class ahead of your LO.  One other thing i would add about the candio box mine was flying out after graduation with limited spacce so i did not put a lots of $$ in decorating the box as i knew it would be hitting the recycle. bin. My kid is not a big sweet eater so it was filled with local beef jerky and peanuts and his favorite and cookies. Their class had a delay in receiving their boxes so much of the homemade goodiies were no longer any good by the time they got them. now off to go look at toy hauler.

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