Corpsmen Moms and Dads

Hello Everyone, seems like forever since I've been with you all.  Once again I have been cut off from all of you, stupid baracuda software at work blocks you.  I am in Asilomar on the coast, today is my hubby's 55th birthday.  We are traveling with our dogs for the first time ever and they are doing quite well.  I miss you all so much.  They have a beautiful wine and cheese gathering in the evenings and there is a computer with free internet access, so I hopped on as quick as I could.  Gotta get back to hubby, love you all,   HUGS!!!!!  Miss you will be on again as soon as possible. Bug is doing well......more HUGS!!!!!

Good morning everyone....i was able to get online in our room on my nook. Not very good at this yet hope itworks. Marsha thats a beautiful thing you all did for laura. Thanks forcoffee betty and the warm greeting. Hi lorelai...carol..ruthella and all the rest of my "old" friends love you all and miss you! Wheni get wifi i will be back. Hugs!

Yay.....it worked kinda anyway! Love you all!

Marsha-   I am so sorry that you had to say goodbye to Marsha, but what a beautiful way to do it!   My thoughts and prayers are with you!

Carol-  So cool that the boy is coming home!   I am hoping mine will get home in about three or four months.  I have not seen the Cub since last August.  It has been a long haul. 

Hi, Ruthella!   How is everything?

Hi, BugsMom-  I am getting a new IPAD.  I hope that I can figure it out!

Hi,Betty!   The coffee smells great!

Hello, Lorelei and MikesMom-   Happy Monday!

It is a bummer that we are losing so many disco stars like Donna Summer and Robin Gibbs.   I loved disco and even took disco dance lessons!

Mary

Thanks Mariann!  Hope we see you here more :)

So sorry that your corpsmen have gone from deployed to unexciting work. I know one corpsman who really enjoys his hospital work and the ship deployments, and all that both experiences bring.  Hope your corpsmen can be as fortunate with their next assignments.  Perhaps this is a good time to take advantage of a college class or two?  (Not that classes sound exciting, but you do get a change of environment and people)

The Navy has announced some changes to their uniform components & regulations, for anyone interested - definitely some improvements including a side zipper on the dress blue blouse, and a hidden zipper on the dress blue pants - no more struggling with those 13 buttons!! :)  Won't be rolled out for a while though...New uniform components, regulations

Why of COURSE I was awake! I was just busy serving coffee across the country and California comes last.  Sorry to be late hon, here ya go! 

What, no grits?  

Your morning watching sailboats sounds lovely.  Can't wait for the big earthquake to hit CA so I can see them from my deck, too :)  Presumably you'll surf right up to my door bearing coffee of course!

Sending good thoughts to M today.  Bet he runs into people he knows from A school, Camp Lejeune, etc soon.  

For which part? :)  Hey I'm keeping your room ready for you!

Sounds good to me Betty!  I've been enjoying ripe tomatoes (from MY garden!!) and lots of avocados.  Avocados are down to 44 cents, yay!  Read the other day you can mash them up, add a dash of lemon juice and freeze in freezer bags, definitely going to do that - if I can stop eating them, that is :)

Yahoo!!!!  My cub is advancing to HM3 (FMF)!  We've got a Petty Officer in our family now!

Congratulations Sir Vette. My cub missed the cut this time, I think mom and dad are more disappointed than he is.

Got a fb message from my niece, they are lining up in Chicago for her boyfriends PIR! I bet they have something special planned for today's graduates. How cool would it be to graduate boot Memorial Day weekend.

Thanks John!  Your cub will pick it up soon!  I sometimes think it's tougher on us parents.  It should be a great PIR weekend!

 Congrats Vette, good news!

Serving up Trader Joe's croissants with raspberry jam and cinnamon swirl coffee this morning.   It's only 68 degrees at 9 am in Scottsdale, going up to 86 today - WTH?  Not complaining though, just enjoying it! 

On this Memorial Day... let's remember to follow the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution, which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, all Americans "voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence."

Thinking of ya, Carol!  

This comes from a corpsman friend of my son's.  OK, I'll go hide now :)

the Redneck Medical Dictionary

Artery - The study of paintings

Bacteria - Back door to cafeteria

Barium - What doctors do when patients die

Benign - What you be, after you be eight

Caesarean section - A neighborhood in Rome

Cat scan - Searching for Kitty

Cauterize - Made eye contact with her

Colic - A sheep dog

Coma - A punctuation mark

Dilate - To live long

Enema - Not a friend

Fester - Quicker than someone else

Fibula - A small lie

Impotent - Distinguished, well known

Labor Pain - Getting hurt at work

Medical Staff - A Doctor's cane

Morbid - A higher offer

Nitrates - Pay rate for working at night

Node - I knew it

Outpatient - A person who has fainted

Pelvis - Second cousin to Elvis

Post Operative - A letter carrier

Recovery Room - Place to do upholstery

Rectum - Nearly killed him

Secretion - Hiding something

Seizure - Roman Emperor

Tablet - A small table

Terminal Illness - sick at the airport

Tumor - One plus one more

Urine - Opposite of you're out

Those are pretty funny Marcy!!!!  Of course, some of them are just normal talk!!!!!  LOL

Thank you, Marcy, for the funny definitions!    I loved them!

On a sadder note, I was so sorry to hear about the passing of one of our Navy Corpsman, HN Eric D. Warren of Shawnee, Oklahoma.   I will continue to pray for all of our corpsmen and families every week.   The cost of freedom appears to fall heavily on our military and their families.  God Bless our military and their families! 

Hi everyone.....am at my folks and they have wifi. So sad to read of the loss of one of our guys. Will pray for his family. Hoping to see my little one tomorrow.....so much has changed since i have been onwith you all. I miss you all so much, think of you often....love you all. HUGS.....

What, no coffee??  :)  

One more thing...I struggle with what to say when tragic news comes about one of our corpsmen.  My heart just breaks for their loved ones.

I hope that our corpsmen who are able will attend their Corpsman Ball coming up mid-month (they're held all over).  The ceremonies are such a moving tribute to their own.  This is the 114th birthday - the official inception of the Hospital Corps was on June 17, 1898.  Truly an event not to miss. 

Re funeral costs, Ch 25 "Decedent Affairs" in the NAVEDTRA Hospital Corpsman manual discusses in depth arrangements, payments and reimbursement.  Talk about sobering reading.  

I'll bet it's as you say Kathy, "well-meaning friends" jumped the gun without knowing the details of what the military provides.  Ah well...

I was talking to my son about funeral expenses this evening and he reminded me that there are times when the immediate family would not be receiving any death benefits to be used to toward secondary burial expenses.  Never can tell when a sailor has recently divorced and not changed his "page 2" to change beneficiaries. I am sure there are other situations that have come up and the family has had to foot the bill for the additional funeral costs.   

Secondary Expenses are expenses not covered by military contracts with funeral homes:

Secondary expenses are expenses incurred in connection with the funeral and burial of remains. Secondary expenses include:

Primary services of funeral director and staff

Funeral service, visitation, graveside service

Limousine

Single grave plot

Vault

Honorarium

Opening and closing the grave

Flowers

Obituary notices

Memory folders

Prayer cards

Cemetery equipment, tent and chairs

Soloist

Organist

Wow, my son is very talkative tonight.  Said I should post this website to navy4moms so you can tell your corpsman to use it as a study aid:

http://battalionaidstation.com/

Hugs back Carol :)  And same to Ruthella and Bugster!  Docsmom, my son uses that website too - good tip!

Wow Lorelai, congratulations to him, what an honor and accomplishment!   Yikes, geez, Xanax, hug.  You've gotta be so proud of him!

Just an FYI, the Facebook app Airtime was launched today - https://www.airtime.com 

The NY Times says, "Their start-up lets people use webcams to connect with their Facebook friends or random strangers. Users can search for chat partners based on their interests, shared social connections and location. Once connected, they can talk, type messages or even watch YouTube videos together."  Napster Founders Unveil a Video Chat Service

However since it IS Facebook after all, it requires access to your basic info, email address, profile info, and "may post on your behalf, including videos you watched, people you met and more."

Well, it hit me like a ton of bricks last night.......how much I miss you Girls & Guys!!!  Think about each of you ALL THE TIME.  Will need to spend one evening reading back all that I have missed.  Anyone have a condensed version???  LOL!!  I have been working too hard and traveling for work too much.  My poor old boy ain't what it use to be.  But, I trudge along.  Hugs & kisses to you all!  Am leaving the office and heading home.  Will visit more shortly.

Anna, where the heck have you been?!?  Let's see...Kevin Costner left his wife for me, Marsha's been picked for the next Bachelorette, Carol won the pole-dancing nationals - again, and Vette and John are starring in something called Magic Mike.  Does that help?

Carol, what a GREAT pic!!!

Carol, I thought so too but after a few weeks if I heard one more story that started "When I was on ER..." I was going to SCREAM!!

Marianne, look out, we LOVE us a party on here!!!

Hi everyone,

My son Anitoli is in the sandbox right now and in a very remote place. His group of Marines and Corpsman have not gotten much mail from home so if anyone would like to send  Animal Co  4  a word of encouragement it would go a long way to brighten their day. 

Absolutely!! Send Greg & Angela or me a PM to get Tony's address.  Greg, I have a box going out to Tony  :)  Any special requests?

He said they all share beef jerky and notes to let them know they are not forgotten. His group has been separated the entire deployment living with 12 Marines in the boonies and another 12 plus a Corpsman,  a half mile away sucking sand. They all feel like the lost boys about now so words of praise and encouragement are welcome news....Thanks Marcy!

Thanks everyone

gcnavymom, have a great trip & we would love to see pics of her graduation!

I've met a great mom in another group - marine_navymom - and she's sending packages out to Jack, Tony and Ronald (my son's former roommate).  Are Navy moms wonderful or what?!

Here are the lost boys of Animal. Thanks for the support. We FB chatted tonight and we told him the N4M Corpsman girls were stepping up! He said he would pass the word around and all will share in the bounty.Thanks again

Is that "our" guy, front row right?  Going by height :)

Yep, Tony is front row right.