Comment

Comment by Rebecca on May 25, 2009 at 7:29pm

Sandy,
Where is your sailor located at? Also, most ships have their ombudsmans information posted at the top of the POW= (Plan of the week.) You can either ask your son for that information or, if you know his command and base name, we can get you in the right direction of where to locate that information.

Comment by Rebecca on May 25, 2009 at 3:23pm

Backbone of liberty; fighting to keep us free,
Sacrifice homeland safety; battles fought abroad.
First Veterans; founding fathers,
Gave to us our freedom’s liberty.

‘Twas not the preacher, campus organizer,
Who fought for religions free . . . free assembly.
Veterans fought for your assembly, worship free.

It was not the lawyer, politician,
Who gave your right to vote . . . trials fair.
Veterans fought for your voice, equal treatment.

Nor was it the poet, reporter,
That fought for free press . . . free speech.
Veterans fight for unbiased news, talk. . . fear free.

Saluting the flag under which he serves,
Veteran’s foundation sacrifice.
Freedom mortared by brave blood spilt . . .
Maintains our liberty rights.

Comment by Rebecca on May 25, 2009 at 2:27pm

Melissa,
When the command does not have the current or correct information for the Ombudsman on their website, you can always contact the Fleet and Family Service Center on that base, for that Ombudsman. You just ask for the Ombudsman Corrdinator, and she/he will be able to that family in touch with the correct Ombudsman and FRG's.

Comment by Melissa (Tucson) on May 25, 2009 at 2:05pm

Meg: Thank you for a great group. You have given out so much valuable information. I'd like to add my two cents about what my experiences have been with my Sailor and with this site. I joined N4M when there was about 100 members. Out of that small group my son was the first to finish his schools and report to his first duty station (Norfolk) for 3 weeks before flying via military transport to the Persian Gulf to catch up with his ship. Keep in mind we didn't have the huge support system on this site yet. The first thing I did was find my son's ship website and email the webmaster with my personal info and request a login and password. Once that was completed, I found the ombudsman and FRG president's email address and asked to be added to their email lists. No problems there either. My son's ship website has no current information on it (last update was 2006 b/c some Navy wives used profanity and the CO gave the order that all future all communication would be from the CO, XO & CMC to the ombudsman who in turn would send out a monthly newsletter while the ship is deployed. So far I'm a happy camper.
Then I start the "Destroyer Moms" group; the "USS Ramage" group and join the Norfolk Family & Friends group. The most often question asked in those groups is "how do I contact my son". I have spent hours and hours surfing the web for information to pass along to Navy Moms who don't know every ship has a website. Every ship has an ombudsman (which very few of the Sailors on that ship know who it is) and the FRG group sends out very intresting info. After helping a lot of Navy Moms connect with their ombudsman, etc. and tried referring Moms to this group. It hasn't worked as well as I had hoped so I started some discussions in my groups to answer those 'everyday' questions.
Do you have a "tried and true" method for locating ombudsman? Or is every command different (as I suspect)? I've checked out quite a few of the destroyer's ship websites and they are all different. Sometimes the webmaster doesn't even respond to the Moms request for a user name and password. I even wrote a "template" for moms to use in requsting info. What am I missing? Thanks for all you do and all your help.

On a side note: I read your postings about post deployment before my son's homecoming in April. It was so insightful! When Sailor son walked off that ship, I told him, whatever you want to do is fine with me. So he went to a restaurant with some of his shipmates (who would have thought?) and then came back to the hotel and just "chilled". I thank you again for posting such invaluable info! You are a blessing and a God send.

Comment by Navymom24055 on May 25, 2009 at 1:21pm

I just want to say I think it's great what your doing..I wished I had joined when my son was starting off..3 years ago..But this is a awesome web site..And I am a proud member now..My Ombudsman..Helped me alot..Still get emails..And he's deployed..So once again Thanks...

Comment by Rebecca on May 25, 2009 at 12:54pm

Sandy,
An Ombudsman is a liason between the command, whether it be shore or ship, for the families and sailors there. We are a resource of information, to help our families and sailors. Every command should have a Ombudsman, but its not always the case, but a good majority have them. Your sailor is told who their Ombudsman is, because the Navy wants to make sure that the families have someone they can call for emergencies and non emergenices. If your sailor doesn't know who is Ombudsman is, he can ask his command, if a family memeber is trying to seek that information, you can go and ask here or ask the Fleet and Family Service Center of that base. An Ombudsman is available 24/7 for emergencies via phone or email. A lot of us will have set hours for non emergent phone calls, but otherwise we are available 24/7.

Comment by Mary (Chris' mom) on May 23, 2009 at 6:05pm

Rebecca,
Thank you so very much for your quick response, and answers. I will tell him to be sure to find out for me when he arrives. (Not that it is the kind of thing he puts at the top of his list). I'm sure he will be more interested in where he can go get food and drinkable water. :) Thanks again to all of you.
Mary

Comment by Rebecca on May 23, 2009 at 5:53pm

Susan,

You are very welcome and its my honor to help my fellow navy families.

Comment by Rebecca on May 23, 2009 at 5:52pm

Mary,
Your sons sponsor should give him the Ombudsman information. In case of an emergency, the quickest way to get a message to your son is through the Ombudsman and the Red Cross. You can call both and they will both make sure that a message is given to the command and your son. The Red Cross will send an offical message (in case of death, illness, etc....) to the ship and this helps the command determine whether or not Emergency leave is warranted.
Once you find out what command your son is with and you haven't found out who the Ombudsman is, we can help you get that information.

Comment by Susan mom to Niko on May 23, 2009 at 5:31pm

Rebecca... thank you for your awesome support, compassion, energy and most all of all can do attitude! I am so comforted knowing that there are support people as yourself should any of us ever need it!

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