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Comment by Kim8 on November 10, 2020 at 11:54am

Sarah, one other thing regarding letters is that we're finding that it's taking about a week for letters to get there & we live in Ohio so factor that into the timeline. My son says the same that mail call is the best time of the day so send lots of them! 

Comment by Ging_83 on November 10, 2020 at 10:47am

yes, my son took a shaker type water bottle to mix it in.  I'm pretty sure he had a small pad of paper and pen.  They will stay pretty busy during ROM with some online courses, but if he likes crosswords, Sudoku, etc., he can take those...or even a book to read.  Don't worry about overthinking things, I'm pretty sure I won that category LOL!  My son (and others) were even able to order items from Amazon Prime while in ROM.  Just make sure that you start sending him letters as soon as he is out of ROM, those mean the world to them when everything gets 'crazy'!  When my son got to Candio phase and was able to video chat, he showed me the inside lid of his desk and it was covered by all of the pictures I had sent. 

Comment by Sarah on November 9, 2020 at 6:24pm

Thanks Ging_83!  My son has been making fun of me for over thinking things, but....did your son take a water bottle to mix his protein shakes in?  I was also wondering if he should take a notebook and pen, do you know anything about that? I don’t remember seeing that on any list, but thought it would be useful for studying.

Comment by Ging_83 on November 9, 2020 at 1:56pm

I saw the Kim answered about the same way I would have.  I know my son also took a big jug/container of "Muscle Milk" protein powder, he had to mix it with water, but it done the job! My son also took beef jerky, quite a few protein snack bars, a jar of peanut butter and a big container of mixed nuts (an a lot of other stuff too).  He did have a few items left over at the end, but one person in their class tested positive, so everyone donated "leftovers" to the group that had to stay behind.  

Comment by Sarah on November 7, 2020 at 8:27pm

Kim8,  My son and I both thank you very much for sharing your experience, it is much appreciated and extremely helpful!

Comment by Kim8 on November 7, 2020 at 7:48pm

Sarah, you're very welcome. I was surprised how stressful the week prior to leaving was with trying to make decisions & then pack. My son handled a lot of his clothing himself so I'll do my best to remember. I believe he took 4 shirts & 4 shorts, 1 zip up hoodie & 1 track pant. He bought his own white socks for OCS so he used those for ROM too & he brought his own good Brooks running shoes & has continued to use those instead of the issued ones which I believe are New Balance. The weather is changing so your son may want to adjust accordingly. They can do laundry. My son & his suite-mates did all their laundry together to make it easy. During ROM, they did get issued their PT gear but my son saved that for the official start of OCS so it would stay nicer looking.

If you're wondering, my son took a full sized suitcase & a backpack & he said that most of his class was did the same. His class had a private FB group & then they used a messaging app so they could all communicate prior to & during ROM...this was very helpful. This same FB group may be for family & friends also or there could be a separate one; these have been great to be a part of so you may want to search FB for "Navy OCS class _ _-21"(whatever his class number is) to see if his class has one. 

Comment by Sarah on November 7, 2020 at 6:23pm

Thank you so much, Kim8, that is very helpful!  Do you mind telling me what kind of clothes your son packed for ROM?  We are guessing our son just needs comfortable exercise clothes, and should try to keep the packing to a minimal.  Does that sound about right? He leaves next week and we are suddenly realizing how little we know!

Comment by Kim8 on November 7, 2020 at 6:06pm

Hi Sarah,

Sure thing! My son took the following for snacks for ROM. (Bear in mind that he has trouble gaining/maintaining weight.) :)  He took trail mix (2 gallon sized ziploc containers full!) :), protein bars, those individual tuna fish packets, he took both mayo & ranch dressing, pretzels, individual snack containers of peanut butter, granola bars, those crackers packets that have cheese or peanut butter inside the crackers, Cheez-it crackers & Cliff bars.Also, he packed everything, including his clothing, in ziplock baggies w/the nice slide closure, mostly gallon sized. He said this was really helpful, even once there, to keep everything neat. Hope this helps! 

Comment by Sarah on November 7, 2020 at 3:33pm

Can you tell me what kind of snacks your son took for ROM?

Comment by M's mom on October 29, 2020 at 3:40pm

Moms,

I was browsing greeting cards in CVS Pharmacy today and saw some I don't think I've ever seen before --Veteran's Day cards!  Most were generic "Thank you for your service" messages, but some were specific to the branches, so I bought one for my son with a Navy theme and ships on it, and will send it to him for Nov 11th.

Whenever I see someone in a military uniform, I always thank them for their service, but I realized that maybe I don't thank my son and tell him how proud I am often enough.

So remember your sailors on Veteran's Day!

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