Moms/Dads/Families with Nukes in Ballston Spa, NY

My son said maybe towards the end of October now for graduation but he does continue to say nothing is for certain yet!  We'll just continue to wait and see....hubby and I are getting pretty good at that, it's just convincing the rest of the extended family (GMA's!) to adopt that approach LOL. 

I sure hope we don't have to head to NY for a graduation in December but with our luck that's when it will be.....oh well, it is what it is!

Happy Monday all!

Every day they remain at a training command means one less Navy day they will have to spend at sea in the fleet.  Or under the sea as the case may be Lol.   

So true William!  That's exactly what we keep telling our son!

Found out my son takes his 50% exam next Wednesday.  Some are taking it this week and others next week....

PT in BS - group taking their 100% this week!  Let's give it up for all those testing this week.  Go NUKES!

Yes MOMofDREW!  Good luck to all those taking their 100% exam this week!

Thanks for the 'Good Luck' wishes, B'sNukeMoM.  100% test is done.  5.5 hours of information dump.  He said dont ask me any questions because I left it all on the exam.  He also said that it wasnt like any test before.  Very subjective.  Results wont be out for several days.  That darn MARF is still down, so it looks like when it's up this group will finish watches, oral boards and go directly to duty stations.  No leave.  We are totally ok with that if he gets Hawaii!

MOMofDREW - Wow - quite the test - hopefully they don't have to wait too long for results.....kind of a bummer that they won't get leave though.  I thought that both Patti and Laura said both their sons got almost a month leave....When will he find out where he's going?

Happy Thursday!

WooHoo Patti - that's great news on your treatment!

50% exam for my son and his class tomorrow! 

Got a text from son yesterday - didn't have the results of the 50% exam yet but he thought he did well.  He said hopefully today they will know.....he's heading to NYC for the 4th.  Should be fun!

Hope everyone has a safe & fun 4th of July!

Borrowed this from the Navy Dads site - it gives a rundown of how prototype works!

http://swordvspen.blogspot.com/2009/01/navy-prototype-rundown-balls...

thanks for sharing prototype info very informative. must read

1proudmama - you are welcome!

Happy RED Friday!

We made it back from our road trip!  Today was back to work and I've been busy playing catch-up....Hope everyone is doing well....

Son is moving up there beginning of August. Anyone know where he can shop for apartment furnishings cheaply? They will need everything. Is there a classified website for fellow sailors besides craigslist. Or any thrift stores up there.

I'm not sure as my son went with a fully furnished house! 

1proudmama - not sure if there is a specific site for the sailors or not.  My son was lucky in that one of his roommates was from PA and the other was from FL and they both brought some furniture. (We are from CA so we couldn't send anything!).  They found a local mattress company that they all bought beds from. Their apt was unfurnished but they managed to get what they needed!  I think he said they did find a couple things on craigslist too.

Going to visit my son and wondering if there is a Navy Lodge or Navy Inn somewhere nearby? Any suggestions on where to stay? Thanks for the help! :D

thanks for replies. Yes he did find housing quiet Harbor I guess some are furnished but they didn't have one of those available. I guess we will hit yard sales and craigslitst. bringing up air mattresses until we get him bed. Going up in 2 weeks. woohoo can't wait. 5Sailor... look at airbnb.com room rentals or whole house.  hopefully you are not going up till after race season which ends labor day. 

Does anyone know if Prototype Graduation (BS) is always on a Friday? Thanks!

Got my RED shirt on!  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend ;-)

Hi all - Happy Wednesday!  Just checking in.....still no news on grad date - but sailor is just over the halfway point for proto.  His little brother flies out tomorrow to visit him and they are both excited to see each other - makes me feel good! Seems like the weather has been nicer in BS lately so that's nice - sailor had said there was a lot of humidity & rain which he isn't thrilled with but it seems to have lessened. He's just not caring too much for the East Coast weather LOL.

1proudmama - you've got to be getting excited - soon you will be heading that way!  I hope you have a wonderful visit.

5sailor1airmanFam - wow!  I looked at your picture - you must be very proud of your military family ;-)

Today they got to go to the horse races at Saratoga Springs.  Tomorrow they will head to the Baseball Hall of Fame. So far they are having a great time together ;-)

B'snukemom great looking boys. My visit was short but sweet. Hoping to get up there this fall again. Will see life gets busy for me in the fall. To all up in Ballston spa area tell sailor to hit farmers market at State Park on Sunday and I believe Tuesday but it might have been Wednesday. Prepared good food and fresh vegetables pastries bread. Told my son close to homemade as your gonna see for awhile. 

1proudmama - yeah I don't think the visits can ever be long enough!  Glad you had a good time though....our college son had a great time with his brother too. I hope we can make it back again at least once more (hopefully for graduation!) - but it's a long way from CA LOL. At this point I'd be happy just to have some info regarding when they might graduate!

My son passed his oral boards today! So happy for him! Finally after over a year in BS he is finally done and can go to the USS George Washington :) Now I am waiting to see if they are having a graduation ceremony or not. so excited!

Wow reneec!  Congrats and Bravo Zulu to your son!  That's awesome ;-)  And I can't believe it's been over a year - I'm sure he's happy to be moving on.

Thank you! yep he and his wife are very excited about going to Japan :)

Congratulations reneec that is great.

PattiP that is weird it is like who cares about the certificates from A school and power school, the only one that matters is prototype.  It is not like you can graduate prototype and get a nuke NEC without first passing the other two schools.  Besides the Navy should have everything electronically in his service record including GPA and class rank already --  the certificate from graduation is more of a souvenir.

thank u mark and pattip !

thank you william!

how exciting reneec. I'm sure he is happy to e moving on. a year at prototype yikes. hope all delays are over. Japan how cool. PattiP Navy sometimes has me tilting my head like my labrador. and saying wth. 

1proudmama - I think there are still some sort of delays going on.  My son got there the first week of January, started proto on 4/14/14, has taken his 50% exam (first week of July) and still doesn't have an official grad date (we've been told a few different tentative dates!).  He stays busy with the crazy shifts they work though....he assures us that as soon as he knows something he'll pass it on to us. In the meantime we don't hold our breath and we don't make any plans! LOL

My name is Trish by the way so everyone doesn't have to type 1proudmama all the time. lol I'm beginning to realize that already he has only been there a few short weeks and have gotten 2 new start dates already. I just hope they don't start him on crazy schedule and it lasting a year that would be tough. Rather be on hold and start and be done with it in 6 months. Those long day/nights are tough.

The schedule is definitely crazy.  My son just finished 7 days straight of 11am - 11pm.  He got off Monday night at 11pm, was off Tuesday and starts back up today at 7pm - 7am for 7 days straight.  When we spoke with him last night at 8pm (11pm his time - luckily we are in CA so there's the 3 hour time difference) he was staying up all night and then going to sleep today from about 11-5pm.  They do this to adjust their sleep cycle at the end of each shift. He'll work this shift for the next 7 days then he's off Wed,Thurs,Fri & starts back 7 days on Saturday at 2pm.  They continue this cycle of 7 days straight (12 hour shifts) and the 3 different shifts keep rotating.  About once every 4th week (I think) they get a 4 day weekend. So depending on which shift you are on you sometimes only get about 1 1/2 days off between & sometimes it's almost 3 days.  Pretty crazy.  We talk to him once a week and I always try to get his schedule so we don't bother him with texts if he's sleeping.  He tells me not to worry about it though that the texting won't wake him LOL!

Happy Monday!

Yes crazy nuke schedule. I don't know how they do it. My son did start class, but only goes Friday thru Sunday. He actually put in to come home Monday thru Thursday while his classroom is getting renovated. He said might as well while he can doesn't know how long it will last. 

Oh I hope his chit gets approved for his home visit!  Tell him to definitely to take advantage of the lighter schedule while he can. Once they start "on-crew" it gets pretty crazy!

Been kind of quiet here - hope everyone is well.  Had a quick conversation with our sailor yesterday and he is now "plant limited" so he is happy to have reduced hours for a bit!  Still no word on when he will finish up though......

will try and be more regular. Computer virus ready to throw my computer out the window. Ian did make it home. Short but sweet visit. I hope your son finishes up soon. Atleast if you all had a concrete date it would seem more real and you could have countdown. My son started Tuesday thru Friday this week for class and then next week Monday thu Friday. How long do they just sit and study for? Is it the whole 6 months or does it switch to more hands on stuff later 

1proudmama - I added the discussion above "A Sailors Perspective of Prototype from 2009".  From what my son tells me this gives a fairly good description of prototype. I believe the first half of proto is more book study/learning - getting your check outs.  Then the 2nd half time is spent in the actual plant - hands on - getting your check outs!

OK looks like my computer is finally working after a dear friend spent 4 hours working on it. crossing fingers. Thanks BNukesmom insightful reading. My husband did same program up in NY 30 years ago. So I do have his perspective too but that was a long time ago and I didn't know if anything has changed. He said not much. Son seems to be doing ok got a couple check outs probably just to teach him procedure of it all. He says the days are long, Sleeps, shops for food and prepares meals for upcoming week on days off. He likes the cooler weather enjoys the snow over the heat. Will see if that lasts through the winter.

Happy Monday!

1proudmama - pretty cool that your hubby did the same program.  Gives you a little more insight on what to expect (hmmm is that a good thing or a bad thing LOL!).

The schedule can be very tiring.  Sometimes we talk to our sailor and he sounds soooo tired & other times he ok.  Just depends on where he is in the rotation....He's finishing up his 4 days off right now so a group of them took the train into NYC on Thursday night and are coming back today.  They were having a great time based on texts & pictures he sent us!  Was a little chilly/rainy (I guess that's the norm for right now) but they weren't letting that stop them.  He said they found a cool bar to watch the Packers game in yesterday so that was a highlight! And the Packers won so even better!!!!

Hope everyone has a good week!

Yes having my husbands perspective is good and I'm learning why he has so many little quirks. Hubby works at a Nuke plant and they are in their outage now so 6 12 hour days schedule. I told my son see it never ends. Not really when not in outage he works 4 10s. He was an ET and qualified as a nuke operator but chose instrument technician. And is now a procedure writer. It they do choose operator that crazy shift they are in now never ends. Have several friends in neighborhood whose hubbies are operators I don't know how they do it. Switching from days to nights and rotating shifts are bad enough when you are young Glad you son is getting out there and exploring all that NY has to offer. Hoping as son gets to know more people on his schedule that he will do the same.