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Comment by zStratMom on February 19, 2012 at 1:52pm

IF YOUR SAILOR will be DEPARTING for A SCHOOL at a DIFFERENT LOCATION:

Start asking your sailor at about two weeks BEFORE PIR to pay attention if they are given their orders and travel vouchers. Sometimes, they have them before Battlestations and can give you info on the “I'm a Sailor!” call--a HUGE help for planning. SPECIFICALLY what you want them to look for: The DAY/DATE of their flight (Fri? Sat? Sun?), the CARRIER (American, Delta, AirTran, etc) and the TIME or FLIGHT #. If your sailor doesn't know this, you'll just need to bring their belongings and be prepared to bring them back home with you. My son did not get his orders until after battlestations, so we were unsure if we would be able to transfer his belongings.

Typically, the Navy will transport whole groups to the airport (and they spend HOURS there, waiting for their flights!!). In our case, my son's flight was Saturday, from MIDWAY (note - you can look up the airport, if you have the info from the orders that I suggested in paragraph 1; they might be O'HARE). A large group of sailors transported via bus to Midway, arriving about 7 am. YOU WANT TO PLAN TO CONNECT at the point where they are waiting for check in (OPTIMAL); you CAN connect later, but it's easiest if you can meet them first at this point.

The USO had a gentleman that coordinated their check-in in groups. While waiting for check in, we transferred all his belongings. NOTE: They have with them: a seabag, a garment bag and their black backpack. I had packed for my son: a "roll-aboard" sized suitcase that unzips to expand the size to fill in more stuff (then it becomes "checked" baggage) and a computer bag. WHILE he was waiting for check in, we transferred his orders and check in vouchers to his computer bag, emptied his water bottle, repacked his back pack into the suitcase. NOTE 2: In the suitcase, I actually had a second seabag, in case he had to transfer all his belongings into it and only check Navy issued stuff. THAT WAS NOT NECESSARY, the airline wasn't even concerned). Ultimately, he checked: Seabag, Suitcase (with back pack inside), Garment bag; and only carried on his computer bag. AFTER ALL THE SAILORS have checked in, the USO coordinator put all the family in the line and we got our gate passes so we could go into the terminals and spend time with our Sailors. YEAH! The USO at Midway was much smaller than O'Hare, so we took our Sailor for "brunch" and bought him a new book for the flight, visited, etc. Then we left to catch our flights from O'hare. GREAT TIMES, folks, take advantage of these.

Comment by zStratMom on February 19, 2012 at 1:45pm

HOW TO GET **PERSONAL BELONGINGS** to your SAILOR.

I will post two entries. ONE for Sailors who attend A SCHOOL @ Great Lakes and a SECOND entry for Sailors who will TRAVEL to A SCHOOL. This just came up in another group, so I thought it might be helpful for you. I have had TWO Sailors go through in the past year, and the info reflects my experiences in and lessons learned!

Comment by 0309mom on February 19, 2012 at 1:38pm

Thank you everyone, I love these questionares and I am going to start sending one here and there with the hopes he will send at least one back.  I am telling you if he was here with me I would be giving him the lecture of his life telling him that at some point during the week he has a couple of minutes to write his mom because he knows how she worries about him. 

I also saw something about us meeting at the Sundance Saloon on Thursday, count me in.  His best friend could not get on the same flight as us so he is coming in at midnight and I have to go get him.  It will be a good way to help me stay awake.  See, this is a perfect example of the things I do for my son and he can't even write his mother. 

Comment by diannep on February 19, 2012 at 9:05am

ddd-Presidents Day should be pretty much weekend schedule.  They get some rest!

Comment by Lala Ribbon Queen PIR Ribbons on February 19, 2012 at 8:03am

I just added a questionnaire to the discussions above. This is one I made for my daughter so you may have to tweak it a little if you have a son :-) You can copy and paste it and print it out. It is a little bit funny and it has a really good paragraph of encouragement for battle stations. You can print extra copies and they can share it with their friends and then they can send it on to their own families. They can all use the encouragement right? I hope you like it.

Comment by AmyaodRN on February 19, 2012 at 12:00am

Yay for phone calls. My SR had mentioned they had been trying to earn one for marlin spike last week, but unfortunately did not. 082 is his brother division, so that's a good sign. Finally finished hell week, that's good.
All 4 flags! Wow that's great!

Comment by Anna Aviation Mom on February 18, 2012 at 11:53pm

I ment ddd

Comment by Anna Aviation Mom on February 18, 2012 at 11:52pm

DDR my daughter is in the same ship and div. As yours! :)

Comment by ddd - Ship 11 Div 082 on February 18, 2012 at 11:47pm

Yes!!, received a phone call tonight! Div 82 - reward for winning all 4 flags this week - finished Hell Week. Up next, firefighting.  They're all wondering what they will be doing on President's Day.

Comment by Anna Aviation Mom on February 18, 2012 at 11:43pm

Sorry div 082 they went threw hell week as well. But they did so well they were rewarded.

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