Nuke School Charleston

My son arrived in Charleston on 6/8 and was at the beach on Saturday with sailors who have the ability to drive.  I'm not sure who he went with, but he was glad to be able to get off of base for a day.

My son just got a roommate this weekend.  He is a sailor from Florida who had PIR on 6/14.  The sailor's parents are originally from our home city of Baton Rouge.  Mom, are you here??? 

Happy 24th Birthday to my Sailor today - I love you bunches Son! :)

When is the Nukes last test before graduation on Friday June 28th. Class 1302-4?

Happy 22nd birthday to my Sailor today, the longest day of the year.  Last year he had his 21st in boot camp, this year power school and next year either Prototype or under the deep blue sea.

MomofDrew - Happy Birthday to your Sailor!

Hey All - the "Inland Empire of socal Navy mom's" group is getting together for lunch on 7/13.  Hopefully we have some California mom's out here who can join us!

hello all!!

welcome to all the newbies!  

Hi All, my son starts Nuke school on Monday and I am driving from Atlanta to see him this weekend.  Having never been in Goose Creek, and being alone for this journey. I am looking for recommendations of what hotels to stay in or more importantly any I should avoid.  I  am not looking for anything in Charlestone, don't want to spend a lot of money, but want to feel safe coming and going after dark.  Any one?

It's kind of fun not being a "newbie" anymore (although I certainly don't qualify as a veteran yet either).  Welcome newcomers to the site.  It's been very helpful to my wife and me.  For questions re phasing up & schedule see the "Your Sailor's Schedule Upon Arrival at Goose Creek" above.

there is a Navy Lodge close by too.  I have stayed at the Wingate over on University dr.  It's nice, safe, and reasonably close.  Always ask for a military discount too.

hello all!!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!!!!  MAY GOD BLESS THE USA!!!

By everyone. My son began a new Naval venture in Pensacola today.

hello all!!

not so blue---good luck to your son!!!

Sorry this has taken me so long, but thank you guys for the hotel recommendations! I hope everyone's doing well.

Hello to everyone, My son's graduation from boot camp is tomorrow am and he is arriving in SC Nuke school Saturday AM, his plane leaves Great Lakes at 1:30am for SC. Seems an odd hour, but hey...Anyway, they do not have school on Saturday and Sunday do they? Does anyone know the schedule? Thank you

Katherine - welcome!  Dan's mom summed it up pretty well as to what goes on when they arrive at GC.  You might want to take a look at the discussion above "Your Sailor's Schedule Upon Arrival at Goose Creek".  It lays out the timing for each of the schools.  Feel free to ask lots of questions - you will find that someone on here can answer them for you!  :)

@coreyswife92 it's Naval Weapons Station Charleston (that's where you'll be living) i'm not sure if they show you the base housing though, not the housing for the students anyway. but let me check real quick and i'll get you a link :)

@Coreyswife92 if you guys are students, this is the housing you'll be in :) it's where we live and it's really not too shabby for student housing!

@CoerysWife92 we're from Tennessee, so it took us like 8ish hours to get there :) i packed while he was in boot camp spme, and then he helped me finish when he got home and we just spent the rest of the week saying goodbye and catching up :)

coreyswife, the housing is pretty nice, but pretty old and what I would consider "retro". My son and his new wife (married June 8th) just moved in and ended up with a 3 bedroom since that was what was available at the time. Nice for us family members to come down and visit!! Its a huge subdivision sort of.

Carri, so what did your son think of prototype?  Mine is finishing up power school in August.  When did he start this whole process?  Sorry to hear about his car.

My son had A school grad on 4/19 and just started Power school on 7/1.  Here's a picture of us at his A school grad.

Carri: "My son just Qualified this past week.... so he is waiting on orders out into the fleet. (He is ET)"

Congratulations Carri, my son really enjoyed the period of time between passing his oral boards and getting the rest of the ETs in his class qualified.  Apparently one of the "make work" jobs they can volunteer for is to be a kind of tutor for others in their prototype class not yet qualified.  Allows them to reserve study rooms and other resources for group study sessions - not sure how this is helpful - but apparently the tutors have higher priority than students in reserving resources;  and the tutors - not the unqualified students - "get yelled at" if a staff member does not like what they are doing - allowing the students to keep studying without interruption..

Anyway, please let us know where he is headed in the fleet when you find out.

My son is coming home for the first time, it has been 9 months since he left, just 6 more days and he will be here for 10 days. Priceless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  he is doing amazing in his A school. He made E4 Petty officer 3rd class and He made HONORMAN HIGHEST GPA IN HIS CLASS!!!!!!!!!

good morning all!!

penny----that is awesome!!!   i am so happy for you and him!!!   please tell him we are all proud of him!!  enjoy your time!!

Jenny, congratulations to your son.  Making honorman is no small task.  My son was also honorman in his A-school class as well I will tell you that the letter from the CO is pretty impressive.  Please tell him congratulations and Bravo Zulu.  Also, enjoy your time at home with your son.  Mine hasn't been home for more than 1 1/2 years and is currently an instructor for Prototype up in Ballston Spa, NY.

hello all!!

jenny---sorry I put penny!!

Hey all - hope all had a good saturday night.  it is 12:38 sunday morning... just got off work...setting here listening to it rain here in drought country (sw kansas)...I'm missing my sailor boy very much tonight...(i'm usually pretty good about this empty nest thing.  probably cause i have been thinking of him all day...as i drove my new navy blue vw bug in the dodge city days parade...(all decorated up in red, white and blue...)  i'm a blue star mother in the chapter out here...anyway...i'm up and awake..so i will say a prayer for all our boys tonight....Kimbo

Kimbo, 

you and me both... I noticed ur from kansas I'm from wichita. I must be use to the drought because this rain is getting to me too.

MK- my son is in power school - (should graduate in late oct.)  is your sailor in the pipeline now or is he finished w/ school?

He just graduated A School last week and I believe he will start Power School sometime this fall.

Today is mine and hubbies 25th Anniversary! (31 years together!!) We got a nice surprise text (at 3:30am today) from sailor son wishing us Happy Anniversary!

25 Years - Then and Now! (And yes my hubby is wearing shorts!)

what does it mean to have SIQ two days and test scheduled for today. My nuke thinks he is going to be left back????

I think it'll depend on how much of the coursework he missed. Sometimes they'll let them test when they come off SIQ. My brother was washed back one class because of SIQ but he missed a week of coursework. Tell him, if he is washed back, it's not always a bad thing. A little extra time on the material will help with the test.

nssmom - congrats to your daughter and all those graduating power school on Friday!  Will she be staying in GC or heading to NY?

Does anyone know what time Power School graduation ends?  I'm trying to fit in some sightseeing with my sailor....

Gosh, it's been almost 2 years since I was there, but i remember it started at 9 and was over by 11.  So maybe just plan for lunch and then sightseeing in the afternoon.

Haven't been on for a while 'cause we were busy getting our daughter to college in Chicago (a location that causes my son no end of amusement after doing bootcamp in GL this past winter).  Son will be finishing A school at end of September.  I hear they may have a fairly long T-trac before Power School.  Whats everyone else hearing?  Also, what's the deal with the Christmas break shutdown of Goose Creek?  Do the students get additional leave over those holidays?

Congrats to all those celebrating graduations form A or Power school recently.

NavyNucDad - glad you got your daughter situated - we moved our youngest back into the college dorms a couple of weeks ago.  Lucky for us he is only about 30 minutes from home so at least we can see him fairly often!

I'm not sure how long T-trac is taking now - our son finished A school on 4/19 and started Power school on 7/1.  It seems like they have a Power school grad every 2 months - they just had one on 8/23, there is one scheduled in mid October and our son's is set for 12/13/13.  I know when our son was in A school he gave us a couple of different dates that they were "told" they would be starting Power school.  Each time it got pushed out further!

As for Christmas break I know that there is a holiday stand down and they will get some more time off.  I've heard that they split up the time so one might get the week closer to Christmas and another might get the week closer to New Year's.  Hopefully some veteran's on here can clarify.  Our son had PIR on 12/21/12 so he was able to fly straight home with us because GC was on holiday stand down.  He had 10 days leave that he was able to take....he keeps telling us that he will have some time off around Christmas.  I just hope he is getting correct info!  We will be flying out for Power school grad so we will get to see him but it will be nice if he is able to come home too.....

Have a great weekend!

Astadia93 - Welcome! I don't have a lot of info on base housing as my son is single.  I do know that you will live on base in base housing for A school and Power School.  When your hubby gets to Prototype (either in GC or Ballston Spa, NY) that is when you move off base.  My son has some married friends and he said the housing for them is nice.  We were there in April (for his A school grad) and we drove around base and saw the houses - they are nice.  I'm not sure how many bedrooms but I know some had cute screened in porches and nice yards. 

There is another group "Nuke moms" that is a little more active than this group.  Take a look over there and post your question - you might get more responses from some "veteran" mom's and wives.  Also be sure to go through the "discussion forum" at the top of this page (and on nuke moms).  Usually you can find a discussion that will answer some of your questions - but if not don't be afraid to ask!

Good luck to you and your hubby (and keep writing him lots of letters while he is in bootcamp!)!