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Comment by Jill on March 7, 2012 at 10:43pm

I'm glad I'm here too, my son tells me it's going to be 6 weeks for him as well, but he didn't mention anything about which phase he's in.  I presume phase 1, since I just got the call this evening.  (??)  
I am reading all of your past posts to try and get caught up, feel a bit like a fish out of water starting over again.  
So what's the hardest thing about RCU, and what can I do to help him best?
 

Comment by Barbydahlzz ALUM 09/075 USS JPJ on March 7, 2012 at 10:14pm

oh Jill.... sooooo sorry about the injury. and soooo happy you found this forum...IT HELPED A TON..  My son spent 6 weeks in RCU for stress fractures of both his heel bones...  did she happen to mention what phase she is in?? Oh man, i just looked at the list of upcoming grad.. just a week away... I was two weeks away..  normally how RCU runs... you heal for a little while... then start to do some physical therapy... go to the doc at least once a week.. move into phase 3 mean MORE physical therapy and some CORE training... more doc visits..then all of a sudden PHASE 4 woohoo... where you are almost FFD... fit for duty...  In phase 4 your SR will start to run.. and she'll run a pfa... well at least for my son, if he could pass the medical pfa, he would be ffd..  and back to training... your daughter was just about to do battlestations...so she will have the opportunity to do BS with a division once she's FFD... and take test 3 .. if she just didn't already..  after BS... she most likely will be put into THU (temp hold unit) waiting to ship to her A school... Talk with PATRICKS MOM...  she just went up to see her Sailor before he left for A school.;.. I hope that this helps you understand what she's about to go thru...my son wrote A LOT while in RCU.. send LOTS OF MAIL.. tell her to keep her head up.. and this is just a small hurdle to get over ...   stress fractures are very common.  and yes IT SUCKS.. but she WILL over come this .!!!!    hugs to you and sending hugs to your SR

Comment by Jill on March 7, 2012 at 9:58pm

Hello all, my SR has just been moved to this division, just got the phone call this evening.  Stress fracture in his hip.  So... not sure what comes next.  Fill me in on your recruits, hoping to make some new friends here.  We came from 03/090.  

Comment by Navy2011Mom on March 5, 2012 at 6:01pm

Karen, thank you so much for taking the time to let us know all about your trip.  I feel like we've actually been with you during the time you spent with your son in Great Lakes.  I can really picture it!  What an incredible joy you've given me (and I'm sure everyone here) with the details.  While many of us are still waiting for that day of our own with our SRs, it is thrilling to know that just a "normal" day with your son could be so very special after such a long time of not seeing him.  I can hardly wait to see my son and possibly go to some of the places you've mentioned here.  Patrick is really a sailor!  You have EVERY REASON to be as proud of him as you are.  I'm proud of him too and appreciate the sacrifice he's already made to get where he has.  They say that 8 weeks of boot camp is tough, and we all know that our children have had it even rougher with their lengthy delays and various injuries.  I think that we should be even more proud of the accomplishment in actually becoming a sailor since these kids have chosen to stick with it and finish through everything they've endured.  It really does show strength of character and commitment!!!

Thank you, again, for sharing your trip with us...

-Janet

Comment by SharonW on March 5, 2012 at 4:32pm

Karen,

Wow, what an adventure you had during your time with Patrick.  Thank you for the update on my son.  I appreciate it.

Great restaurant recommendations  and I love it that he paid at times!  I, too, could get used to that.

How wonderful for you to see and hear people thank your son for his service.  OMG, I'm getting teary eyed just typing that sentence.  Thank heavens for waterproof mascara and tissues.

Thank you for sharing the special time you had with Patrick with us.  It is a blessing to be able to share in each others' joy as well as challenging times.

Does he have any idea when he'll get his orders and ship out to Groton?  What do they do while they are in THU?

Welcome back and thanks again for the 'novel'.  It was a great read, Sharon 

Comment by Patrick's Mom on March 5, 2012 at 3:29pm

Hi ladies, I'm home and trying to get back to normal after a very memorable trip.

Peejay, I can't tell you how thrilled I was to learn from Patrick that your son was granted his special liberty to see you.  Believe me, I was praying for you!!!  Wasn't it just incredible to see him after all these months?!  So very happy for you!!!

Sharon, Patrick said to tell you your son is doing fine, "chillin and workin hard"!

Navy2011Mom, I was told your son is also doing very well.  His spirits are good in spite of his extra time there.

I just wrote a book on Boot Camp Moms about the rest of my trip.  For those of you who appreciate a novel, here it is:

Anyway...last I posted was Friday morning, so for those interested, I'll tell you about the rest of my amazing weekend with my boy!  I was scheduled to pick him up for liberty on Friday afternoon at 4 PM.  He calls me around 2 and says I'm on liberty already Mom, come get me.  Well, guess where I am?  About a half hour away running around!  Soooo, I hurry back to Navy Lodge, freshen up, and get dressed up.  This was the night I was taking him out for a very special graduation dinner, and he was wearing his dress blues.  I ended up picking him up about an hour or so early, and we did a little running around, and went into Libertyville (very cute little town).  Handsome doesn't even begin to describe how he looked when I saw him!!!  He's 6' 4" tall, and was about 230 pounds when arriving at boot.  Now he's probably around 210 (he's a bit distressed over the weight loss, as he worked very hard to put it on), but looked absolutely gorgeous in his dress uniform!!!  We ate a place I would HIGHLY recommend if you're looking for a very special place to take your sailor.  It was not cheap (about $100 with tip for the two of us), but well worth it to celebrate his perseverence and amazing accomplishment of becoming a United States Navy Sailor!  Can you tell this Mom is just a little bit proud of her son?!!!  Patrick had filet mignon and a lobster tail, and I had a glass of wine and filet mignon.  We both had dessert with coffee/tea - carrot cake for Patrick and a turtle brownie with vanilla ice cream for me.  When we finished dinner, Patrick said "Mom, that was the best carrot cake I've ever had, in fact that was one of the best dinners I've EVER had!"  Mind you he's been at boot camp for just over 3 months, but I agreed - it was a lovely place and superb dinner.  The name of the place was Jimmy's Char House, and if you're interested, send me a message and I'll be happy to give you the address.   When you walk in there's a real fireplace right at the entrance that we took pictures by - very pretty, and I love a real fire!  I dropped him off at the base and we made plans to go into Chicago on the train the next morning.  I was to pick him up at 7:45 AM.

Of course I was there at 7:45 the next morning, but he was not.  Turns out they had some kind of work to do that morning which he participated in because he didn't know he didn't have to, since it was his graduation liberty weekend.  Because of this, he hadn't had a chance to eat breakfast, so worried about how late he was going to be to meet me, so he wanted to go out to breakfast before getting on the train.  We went to a cute little diner type place called Emily's Pancake House which was very close to the base.  We had a delicious breakfast, and Patrick even paid the bill!!!  Now THAT was a first!  I could get used to this!!!  LOL  We went to the train station and were waiting for the train to come, and he looks at me and says "Mom, I don't really want to go downtown".  What he wanted to do was have a "normal" day, going to the mall, out to lunch, etc.  Soooo, although I was a bit disappointed, I told him this was HIS day, and we'd do whatever he wanted.  So we did what we've done many times together before - shopped!  No, I don't have a daughter, but so glad I have a son that likes to shop!  Our first stop was one of his favorite stores, Dick's Sporting Goods.  The kid is a workout fanatic, so he wanted some new shorts to work out in.  He also LOVES shoes!  Isn't that funny?!  He told me he just bought a new pair of workout shoes last week, but then he saw another pair he liked even better.  I asked him if he'd worn the others, and he said he had, so he couldn't take them back, but I told him if he really wanted these, I'd buy them for him for a graduation present, which I did.  We then went to Gurnee Mills Mall (a huge mall with some 200 stores).  We walked, and walked, ate lunch at a little Japanese place at the food court, and then went to a movie.  (There's a theatre right there next to the mall).  We went to see Act of Valor (starring real life Navy Seals).  It was very good (and I don't like blood and shooting), but it was an excellent story, and seemed so appropriate a choice with Patrick just graduating.  After the movie was over, we really weren't hungry for dinner yet, so we went to Panera Bread, and got a couple of hot drinks and sat by the fireplace and talked.  Eventually Patrick got hungry so we had a light dinner there, and by then it was time to take him back to the base again!

Yesterday morning I picked him up at 9:00 (he loved the opportunity to sleep in for the first time in 3 months!), and took him to a GREAT place for breakfast:  Wildberrys.  Another one I would HIGHLY recommend you go to.  If you go on a weekend though, plan on a minimum of a 1/2 hour wait.  It's a really cute place, and the food was great.  We had a very nice, (he bought breakfast AGAIN, despite my objection), extended breakfast as I didn't have to get him back and leave for the airport until around 11:30.  Of course the time to drive back to the base came too soon, but at this point I think my son was on Mom overload, so it was time to go, and he had the rest of the day's liberty to himself, which I think he really appreciated and I'm sure enjoyed.

One thing I have to warn you about, as it will probably happen to you too.  There were several times during my trip that people stopped us and thanked Patrick for serving.  Each and every time (and it's happening again even as I type this), I got choked up, and teary eyed.  This drove my son crazy!  He's like Mom!!!  I told him I can't explain it (and he knows how emotional I've ALWAYS been), I just couldn't help it.  The pride you feel is unlike anything I've ever felt before.

It was a wonderful trip, and I feel very blessed to have had this time one on one with my son.  Who knows when/if I'll ever have that much of it at one time again?!  It's most definitely a time in our lives and a trip I'll always treasure.  As it turns out, I'm glad he chose not to go into downtown, as it was such an enjoyable day doing like he said, "normal" things he hasn't had a chance to do in months.  It was ALL good!

He now awaits his orders for Groton.  The nice thing is, that's a doable weekend trip for us to drive (about 7 hours or so), so once he gets settled there, my husband and I will make a trip, and his dad, stepmom and sister plan to make one soon too.

One VERY nice thing now that he's graduated and in THU, is he has his cell phone and is allowed to use it after 3:30 PM every day, so we can now call him daily if we want to.  THAT feels like a dream come true after 3 months of never knowing when/if we were going to hear from him!

Thank you all for sharing in my joy over his graduation from boot and my trip to see him.  You've all been so incredibly supportive, and such a gift to me.  I wish thank you could fully express how grateful I feel!  NAVY MOMS ARE TRULY THE BEST!!!

Karen

Comment by Navy2011Mom on March 5, 2012 at 2:54pm

Congratulations to all of you that had the chance to see your SRs over the weekend.  It's so great to read your posts and know that the rest of us will be there with our SRs sometime soon (hopefully.)  I'm so happy for all of you.   

Received a phone call (finally) from our SR on Saturday -- YIPEE!!!  Just hearing his voice brings an entirely different level of relief in knowing he's okay than I get with reading his letters.  Can't wait to see what the next few weeks bring for everyone here.  Hoping for speedy recoveries for all our SRs.

Comment by Barbydahlzz ALUM 09/075 USS JPJ on March 4, 2012 at 9:30pm

yea... thats what my sr did....  soooo happy he's moving along!!!!

Comment by SharonW on March 4, 2012 at 8:00pm

Barbydahlzz,

He seems to think he'll return to a division since he was week 3 day 5 when he went to RCU.  

Comment by Barbydahlzz ALUM 09/075 USS JPJ on March 4, 2012 at 5:16pm

Oh Congrats Sharon on phase 4 won't be long. Will Ur SR go into a div or on to A school ?

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