NAS Jacksonville

Hi TamiNavyMom, we're heading to Jax last week of Sept for our son's graduation.  I'm looking at renting a condo on Amelia Island and just hanging out with our son at the beach.  Want to get all the time in we can visiting before he heads off to his first duty station.  We were able to go this summer and spent several days in St. Augustine.  That was nice also.

ibmom,

 Its hard to believe that he's graduating already!  Mine won't graduate until mid Nov.

I've got to get to sleep, but I'll PM you tomorrow.  BZ to your boy!

ibmom, you cant go wrong with Amelia island, I stayed there in March. I loved it there!!

Yes Tami he's aircrew, AWO acoustic on P3s.  I am booking on VRBO.com.  We have used them several times.  Got some good places in P'cola using it. 

Renee, I know, time has flown too quickly.  Pretty sure he's going to soon be along way from home.  Your son is AWF??  Sorry can't remember.  I should make notes.

Hey omama, how's Whidbey for your son and new DL?  We should hear where our boy will be heading soon now.

ibmom, he loves Whidbey! He told me everyone is nice and fun to work with. let me know where you son goes!! My son is heading on deployment for 8 months in November, this will be the hardest part for my DL. Then he will go to JAX after he returns from deployment for 5 months to train on the P-8 so it will be a long road for them to be away from each other. I hope they let him be home a few months before they send him to JAX. This first time will be the hardest, they are still newly weds and aren't ready for a break from each other.  lol :)

Hi everyone, I didn't realize it's been so long since I've checked in here.  I had a busy summer, 2 trips to Jacksonville, my son re-enlisted,  got married then they came out here to visit.  He'll be deploying in Nov. so that's next on the roller coaster ride.

Congrats to those graduating! 

omama good to hear your son is enjoying his new home. That's great that he will train on the P-8.  Our son has been told he will most likely be going to a squadron that will deploy by end of year also.  He's looking forward to it, I'm not.  I'm sending you a PM.

Hi JAX mommas!  My AWV will grad Pcola 9/16 and is very excited about JAX-and so am I!

spomss, 

Welcome to JAX!  If you are not familiar with the area, there is something to do for everyone .  (Except that I cannot bring myself to cheer for their football team. LOL)

Unlike RTC and A school when you felt every second of the ticking clock,  C school has flown by for us and our AWV. 

R.

thanks so much-I have spent some time today reading!  Not a Jags fan either-but when in Rome...

funny-you said 'flown by'...he is so excited for that first flight!

spomss, 

I bet you get a call right after that first flight!  We no longer get a call after every flight, but we'll get one when something interesting or funny happens. (That he is allowed to share.)    

R.

Hi spomss, group 3 for us????

you betcha!!  Hi Jodi :)

Hello All! My husband and I will be PCSing to Jacksonville next month! I was excited to finally know where we are going until I started doing research. I am unsure as to where we need to look for a place to live. There HAS to be nice neighborhoods somewhere!! We have a 5th grader that has been in excellent schools and we do not want that to change. (private school is an option) Can anyone please give me information about the safest/nicest places to live and the school districts? Any kind of links would work as well! Thanks so much!

Andersons_wife,

Although word of mouth is the best, asking a real estate agent about schools and neighborhoods whether you are house or apt shopping is an option.  You can also go to www.greatschools.org/florida/jacksonville   to do some investigating on your own.  :)

andersons wife, my son's friend and his wife are staying at the Atlantica  Apartments on Mayport Rd in Atlantic Beach. She says its a nice place and they do allow pets if you have any. My son stays with them sometimes and it seems like they have met a great group of young people there to associate with.  Hope that helps.

Renee,

Thank you for the link! I will be contacting an agent today!

Jodi,

I will look into those! Thanks for the info!

Anderson's wife are you going to NAS JAX or Mayport? My son is at NAS JAX. And we also live in the Jax area. We live in Middleburg which is about a 30-40-min drive to NAS JAX. The schools in Clay county are really good. You also may want to look at Fleming Island as a place to live also good schools. You may want to stay away from the Duval Co. schools as they are always having problems. We found our first house on Militarybyowner.com . There you can find houses and apts for rent or sale by military people. I do know of a good real estate agent if you want one of those. Let me know and I can give you her info. They also do rentals. 

Navymom3,

We are going to NAS Jax. I have read all good things about Fleming Island! Would you mind sending me the agents info? I have looked on militarybyowner and was able to find a lot of places but not knowing the areas of Jacksonville make it rather hard to choose.

Anderson's wife.

If there are any you want me to drive by I can on my days off. Her name is Jane Fairall her number is 904-891-7529. Her email is jfairall@bellsouth.net. She is the mom of an old boss. She was able to make sure the person we were going to rent from actually owned the house we were going to rent. 

Navymom3,

You are too kind! Thank you so much. We researched over the weekend and found a few places in Fleming Island. I am calling about those today! Fingers crossed one of them will be our new home! If not, I will be contacting Jane! Thanks again!!

Andersons wife,

If you need anything else let me know. 

Anyone else's sailor reporting shut downs at JAX due to the gov't stale mate?

My son said that most of the instructors are PO's so nothing shut down like I heard about Pensacola. However he said he has to do more watches, not sure why that is though.

Tee,

Yes.  My son has indicated there are issues because of  absent civilian support staff.  I hope they are back to work today as I heard mention this weekend that all essential support are to report back to work.

There seems to be some effect of the shutdown about which aircraft are going up.  ie My son's final in-flight exam will be done in an aircraft he's been in twice in 10 months (the actual aircraft is the same, but equipment, how it operates, and placement within the aircraft of that equipment is widely different).  He is more than stressed and studying the manual for this variation every waking second.  He is also concerned it will effect his place in his class as he and a buddy have been vying for the number one spot since day one.  I'm sure he will do just fine, but I hate that he is more stressed now than ever.

On a bright note, it was very cool that celebrity chefs from the Food Network came in last week to cook and serve food at chow hall prices.  My kid was in foodie-heaven.

My son was taken off his next flight because he was not "essential" personnel.  So he's pretty down about that!

flgirl. that would be hard, especially if he was excited about it.

My son has had so many long flights he is ready for a break, but he is getting ready to deploy and its necessary.

I hope you son will get more opportunities soon!

Yes, he was excited.  It would be his first long flight.  But he's over it!  Just ready to get back at it and get those wings!  lol!  It amazes me how the Navy has inspired my son! 

Hi everyone, 

I've asked these questions in a more round about way in a forum but it didn't get much attention. Also, our plans have changed a lot so I would like to ask you lovely ladies and gents for some advice! My fiance will be PCSing to NAS Jax at the very end of November this year. He will come home (to Mississippi) to get married and then return to Jax. I won't be able to go back with him because I have college. I will, however, be going down for the summer. My questions are once he returns to Jax after we're married will he still be eligible to live in the unaccompanied barracks on base? If so, will he receive BAH while living there? Someone tried to explain Geo-bachelors to me but they weren't sure if NAS had geo-bachelor housing or if that would even apply to him. If none of the above apply, does that mean he will HAVE to rent a place off base? If so, that's okay. What are the better places to live for a new couple with no children? We're just really trying to figure out our finances before we decided to spend money on a place to live when I won't live there for 6 months haha. Any kind of advice or assistance would be so greatly appreciated. 

adhouskat, I just sent you a friend request. I meant to send a message too but hit the wrong button haha. Do you know yet where he will be stationed at JAX? I can't answer questions about base housing but my son is down there until Feb and has friends down there renting. They really like the apartment complex they are staying in.

Jodi,

He will be in the FRC southeast. Which apartment complex are they staying in? We really would like to know some places to look at and also to avoid. I've heard a lot of bad things about some of the areas in Jax. 

Happy Sunday everyone.  FYI I'm an Admin on this group so if anyone has any technical issues, please let me know.  I had major problems with N4Ms last week, I still can't log in on one of rmy browsers.  

Hopefully by now everyone is back up to speed at work and planned training, etc. is moving forward.

Jodi, my son & I had a conversation about the Food Network being at the Galley.  He is not a fan of the Galley at JAX.  He says everytime he thinks, "Maybe I'll try it again, just in case," he's disappointed.  He wondered if anyone would show up for the Chefs and why they chose JAX.  His crowd doesn't eat there, even when they lived in barracks becase their schedule always put meal time when it was closed.  It was a real challenge to eat during those years.  Did your son (oh, I'm so out of the loop, I'm assuming it's your son in the Navy) say if the turnout was good?  I hope so.  I love the Food Network!

adhouscat, I'll ask my son if he knows.  He got married a few months ago and they usually want to get out of the barricks, but I'll ask and see.  He lived in Orange Park for a while, not the best area but it's really close to base and lots of restaurants, stores, etcs close.  It's also really affordable.  He's lived a few places while at JAX so I can ask him for recommendations.

omama, mine too, I wonder if ours are going to the same place?

Tee,

My son's schedule rarely allows for eating on base.  He is also a bit of a foodie...not a good combination.  ;)   He just happened to show up on a rare occasion and enjoy Food Network chef cooking.  He loved it.  For whatever reason, Food Network chefs visit NAS JAX about once a year. 

Within the next week our focus is going to shift across the country to Whidbey.  :)  Perhaps Food Network will make the rounds to other bases, too. 

still waiting to hear if my AWV has started his observer class-was supposed to start 2 weeks ago...

and have not really heard about the food situation...

Maybe that is why my son doesn't eat there. I keep telling him that since he's "paying for it" with his food allowance he should use it but he doesn't. But I guess I can't blame him if it isn't any good or isn't open when he can get there. Hi spomss!!!

hi Jodi :)

really is too bad they dont get a better handle on the food situation-I know the dining halls at the college near me finally realized they eat non stop-they are open until 11pm!!  are all the galleys run by outside contractors??

I don't know spomss, but I do know the quality really depends on where you are.  the galley in Pensacola is known to be a really good one.  While my son was in the barracks at JAX we brainstormed on ways he could eat without going out all the time, it was way too expensive to do that.  Trouble was, there's no room for anything in their rooms and it's very limited what they're allowed to keep.  He made it, but it sure isn't an ideal situation.

I agree with Jim, my son had to keep snacks and meal bars in his room so he wouldn't starve when he was on flights that didn't fit the kitchen hours.

thanks for the info on the food... will send off a snack box!

Donna my son who is also stationed here at NAS JAX works on cars. I will friend you so I can give you my son's info so yours can call him. He drives a matt blue Evo tell your son. If  he is into cars he may know mine. 

Thanks for that spomss, Happy Thanksgiving to you and all the families with loved ones at JAX.

This group has been very quiet lately.  Must be holiday preparations.  I received some beautiful pictures of Christmas light displays from my son & daughter-in-law, never saw a palm tree all decked out like that before!