The Cyber Sisterhood

Good afternoon Ladies~
WooHoo, Nick and Nichelle!!!!!! Congratulations!!!
Hope everyone is having a good day. Have to run..1/2 way caught up on posts.lol.

I don't know who is responsible for the package I received at work today, but thank you!

1) how did you know where to send it and 2) how did you know my last name?

Holding time does count towards service time and towards time in rank. In that year he would have moved from E-1 to E-2, or from E-2 to E-3. If he was already an E-3 he would have completed his six months as an E-3 and would be eligible to take the E-4 exam.

They can take on-line college classes while in holding, but it depends on the sailor. Some just don't have the gumption to do something for themselves like that, they just sit around and wait.

As for what they do, sailors in holding for a long time are assigned odd jobs around the base, stand watch, etc. Frankly, some get very bored and have difficulties with the lack of progress.

Some people think the Navy use it as a test, to see if recruits can keep "ship-shape" even when stuck in boredomland. I doubt that's true, but I'm sure the Navy does watch sailors who are unlucky enough to be stuck in holding for a long time. If they fall apart it would reflect on their reviews and probably get them assigned to one of the less preferred duty stations when they finally do graduate, or even dropped from school and sent to the fleet undesignated.

My brother's best friend got to Phase III, moved off base with his new girlfriend, and ended up an alcoholic. When he popped positive on a whiz quiz the Navy tossed him out with a dishonorable discharge. That discharge means he will *never* be able to get student grants and loans and will reflect on his work record forever. If he ever has an employer do a simple background check, it will always be there.

So it's important for family and friends to support sailors in holding to make sure they don't just give up.

Anything less than a month in holding is considered very fast movement into A school. Chris will have spent one week in holding, which is more than he wishes he had. He spent 10 days in indoc/CORE, finished on a Friday, and got his clearance on Tuesday. However, in his school they start classes every Monday, it was too late for him to join the class, so he had to wait a week. But since he knows exactly when he starts, that's not bad.

We're having armageddon-level rain here. OMG, it is coming down in buckets. It was so bad it woke us up last night. At 5 am it was coming down at a rate of 3 inches per hour!

I dreamt of Chris last night. In the dream we and a lot of other parents were taking a tour of Chris' ship and we were given uniforms to try on (somehow mine was had mini skirt). Before we could take them off there was a surprise inspection and we ended up in it. The inspecting officer freaked out because we were all fat and old.

Arwen, once again I have to thank you for giving me a strong and hearty laugh!!

I bet you've laughed all day about that, but I bet during it, you were really confused...like what's going on here!! Mini-skirts and we were all fat and old which upset the inspecting officer!! I'm still laughing!

I had a dream last night also...about our son who is presently in Army basic training. It was extremely brief. It was as though he was standing in the room and all he said was, "They've changed my date to leave, I'm not going for a month and a half." Then in my dream I said, "Oh, that's GOOD news."

That's all that happened in the dream. It seemed almost shockingly real the way he was standing there. It woke me up and I felt disappointed when I realized that it was a dream.

Thank you for sharing that dream with us, Arwen.

Lol!! Goodness...could you just imagine!?!

I love this group:)

Ladies, I've changed our group name and picture, hopefully we can stay together longer if we have some kind of group identity beyond our sailors' boot camp experience.

If you would like something different, let me know. And my apologies if I confused anyone.

To everyone, definitely ship their civilian clothes before they can wear them. Chris phased-up last Thursday. We shipped his clothes Friday, and they still aren't there. He refuses to go off base because he would have to change into his peanut butters, and he doesn't want to do that. He also wants to go to the beach with a group and swim. I told him he should just go to the NEX and buy a swimsuit and t-shirt, but he is saving every penny for his computer. I've never known him to be so frugal!

That dream I had gave me an idea. There are always a few guys who end up out of the Navy at every command, every school. I'm having Chris watch for one who is getting out, to buy his/her digis and send them to me. I'm going to cut the stuff apart and use the good fabric to make a "girly" skirt outfit for my daughter.. It should be cute!

I just posted (on my page) a bunch of photos my mom sent me this morning. Some are from my own PIR, some are from when I came home after A-school, and it includes my engagement portrait. I also added some pictures of hubby from when he was in the Navy.

LOL Fonda Sue, now you know how I felt in those early days. It's almost comical, except that you know those other moms are in real emotional distress. If you need any help there in supporting those new moms, let me know.

Sandra and Eileen-I'm so sorry you're being kept in the dark. How nerve-wracking!!!
Although, like you said, it seems that no news is good news. When something bad happens, you tend to hear about it pretty quickly. I sure hope you'll both hear some good news from your kids ASAP!
Until then, keep chanting this, "No news is good news, No news is good news..." ; -)

Arwen-I love the new name!!
Now I need to go back and find the post about your dream...

Oh Sandra, I just read that you heard from Nichelle and it was not good news. I'm so sorry!!!
This is so frustrating for both of you, and for all of us who are eager to see Nichelle become a sailor. I'd want heads to roll too, if my child were in this situation. Unfortunately, even with all of us Navy Moms behind you, we aren't powerful enough to scare the U.S. Navy. Ergh!
I know it's lame, but if we try really hard we can find a little bit of a silver lining: at least she's safe and her heals are getting stronger every day, and she will become a sailor!
Hugs, Debbie

Eileen, I hope all this drama does not put a damper on your joy in seeing your son reach his WELL-DESERVED goal. Congratulations to you both!

ROFL, that sounds like Chris. He NEVER volunteers information. I have to ask him everything point-blank. And if I don't ask it just right, I don't get the information I was looking for.

Gaia help me when the Navy is finished training him for information secrecy.

Chris is really into engineering and mechanics, he's constantly coming up with all kinds of ideas about "extreme machines" and extreme buildings. I always figured he'd eventually go to engineering school and build something amazing.

So one day we were on our way to firefighter training (he was a volunteer firefighter) and he started talking about the concept of a submersible aircraft carrier.

Here's the conversation that followed:

Me: Been done
Chris: No, I mean a real one, that can actually launch planes
Me: Yeah, a real one, the Japanese did it in WWII
Chris: No, I mean one that they can actually launch real planes with pilots, not remote control things
Me: Yeah, the Japanese did that in WWII and had two submersible carriers that had pilots and planes and everything
Chris: No, I mean one you can actually use in a war and all that, not just an experimental thing
Me: Yeah, and they bombed Brookings (the small Oregon town where we currently live)
Chris: !?!?!?! (looks at me as if I had two heads)
Me: Yeah, and the pilot came back and presented Brookings with his 400 year old family Samurai sword in apology
Chris: Yeah, right...

(a few minutes later, walking into the firefighter meeting, to the other firefighters)

Chris: (looking for a laugh) My mom says Japan bombed Brookings using an submersible aircraft carrier
Fellow firefighters: Yeah, and....?
Chris: !?!?!?!

A jury summons just came for SEAN. Of course, I can't get a PERSON on the phone and none of their automated options fit the situation. Ergh!!
I finally just called any local courthouse number I could find to get a human being and, after a few trials and errors, I got the the Jury Supervisor. It turns out she is a nice Navy Mom who totally helped me out! She let me sign it as his mother and fill out U.S. Navy Active Duty as occupation and put his base as current address. I love Navy Moms!!! Hooyah! ;^)

ROFL!! Bah, ha, ha...Arwen- it sounds like the Navy put him into the right field!
My son is the same way.

Sandra-That's awesome news!!! So happy for you and Nichelle!!
3/26 is right around the corner. Better make some reservations fast. :)

Ha, ha, ha...Arwen- I finally went back far enough to find your dream. Mini skirts, oh my! I love it! lol

http://www.patriotspoint.org

Our Nuke sailors in class #1024 toured Patriot's Point today.
Check it out. It's very cool!

Hey, I got back today from Pensacola and it was a great trip. It was a really great trip and I feel more spoiled then anything. I can't believe he could be done with his school in less then 7 weeks. He hits phase 3 next Wednesday.

Slimsam- Sam is at NAS Pensacola right? There is a navy lodge right on the base. I stayed there all last week and it was nice and right on the beach.

Sandra- I am so happy that Nichelle has a final date and that everything is finally falling into place.

Sandra, hurray for Nichelle! Excited much? I've never seen such a lack of punctuation, LOL. Somehow I have a feeling that if you had been speaking (orally) you wouldn't have taken a breath, either.

I can't wait to see a picture of you, Eileen, Nick and Sandra TOGETHER. I believe it will happen!

Yes, today was his A-school indoc (which is different from the base indoc) but it was just one day. I think it was all about school rules (about an hour), procedures (about an hour) and security protocols (about 4 hours, LOL).

Beverly, did your daughter tell you about the death at ksu? It was all over the news tonight and let me tell you Shawn is really upset. All day instead of everyone talking about what they did over spring break, it was all about the death. It shut the biggest parking deck we have down for most of the morning. We should know tomorrow what exactly happened but right now everyone is saying it was either murder or suicide. That is the one thing that Shawn is upset about because that is the one deck I park in and on Tuesday nights I don't get back to my car until it's dark. I guess I can always call him while I walk back to it.

Okay, that was supposed to be "I can't wait to see a picture of you, Eileen, Nick and Nichelle TOGETHER. I believe it will happen! " but I figure you figured that out.

I really need to attach my brain to my fingers.

Slimsam, I sent you some info and if you need more or better directions feel free to ask!

So I have some great news! Apparently if Shawn keeps going at the rate he is then he will graduate a whole month ahead of what we were told. I told him to slow down a bit since if he finishes within 35 working days with a 95 avg then he will get a promotion. Right now he said his avg is a 91 so all he has to do is work hard and everything will fall into place.

Arwen, I feel left out "For moms, wives and girlfriends who survived PIR February 19, 2010 - Including Ship 14 Div 095-100, Ship 7 Div 101-102 and Ship 6 Div 913" I braved it by signing up AND I did wear my Yellow Scarf LOL Oh don’t forget Robert too!

How did Shawn get so far ahead of Chris so fast? Didn't they get to Corry together? Chris just had his first *real* day of class today.

Shawn's first actual day of class was last Tuesday.

Happy St. Patrick's Day all! For each petal on the shamrock, This brings a wish your way, Good health, good luck & happiness, For today and every day! - Irish Blessing

Today sucked. And I have to continue following the story in the morning.

Okay, an update on the situation with the missing child (see my post below). The Coast Guard brought in special night-flying helicopters last night (they roared over my house multiple times), but they didn't find her. The National Guard and deputies and SAR teams from six counties are now on-scene.

A cougar has been seen in the area, they're bringing in a state trapper. They plan to track the cougar and capture it to make sure it was not responsible. (it will be released again after the search is over if it did not take the girl)

In about an hour I'll be heading up there to see what more I can find out.

Wow, Arwen, that is so awful! Ditto SlimSam's post for me. Poor baby girl! I sure hope they find her!

Sean is a submarine volunteer trying to decide which type of sub to request. I have a million questions, of course. I found a new group that answered a lot of my questions about submarines. If your sailor is subvol, you should check it out. It's "Sub Moms"

They found the missing girl! She was four MILES away from her house, and outside of the search area! A volunteer searcher (not one of the SAR teams) found her. They assigned them to the non-primary areas because they figured the volunteers were unlikely to find anything, so it wouldn't matter if they didn't know what to do if they found her injured.

She's cold, muddy and scratched up, but okay.

Woo hoo! That's awesome Arwen!!
Is she ok? How did she get so far away from home?

Apparently she walked. Kids can really make time.

Wow, Sandra, I'm so sorry you're going through so much trauma right now! Thank God your husband and animals were not hurt! I'd be so upset if my Christmas things burned, or the few things I have from my deceased father. There are so many memories attached to them, but those memories will still live on with you and your children. I pray for your strength and wisdom to help your sister through the death of her husband.
I absolutely think you're doing the right thing not telling Nichelle about this yet. She certainly does deserve some happiness right now and, like you said, cannot do anything about it from bootcamp. I sure hope MacNCheese gets back in time to sleep in his usual spot tonight.

WOW, Sandra..your strength is amazing. You can definitely tell where Nichelle get it! Bless you all. Ya'll are in my prayers.

Arwen~ Do they know if she had been kidnapped or wandered away? Thank goodness she was found.

Yay, Sandra! That's wonderful!
It's going to be a great day!

Arwen, she walked? Day and night? Poor baby must have been so scared that she would never find her way back home!

WOOHOO!! CONGRATULATIONS Nichelle and Sandra!!!!

Work has been the pits all week and I come home on Friday and everything is looking up on here! Sandra, Congratulations to you and Nichelle ! As Sue said WhOOOO Hooooo!!!

Oh my goodness ladies, what have you been up to lately? I go away for a couple of days and we're on the front page again!

Sandra, I'm so happy to hear today was a great day!!! After it pours, the sun comes out again. Enjoy your free time with Nichelle. A relaxing spa day is just the ticket!

Arwen I know what you mean. Congratulations Sandra. Enjoy your time with her and let me know if Nichelle will be going to Pensacola. I know a few girls down there that would love to see her!

So I finally made it to the doctor. It actually isn't an ear infection rather it is what is left of the PIR weekend one. They put me on some meds which at the moment are only increasing everything. Shawn did his dreamsheet Friday which was pretty just stating he wants to be on the west coast with shore duty so lets hope we get Washington state like we want. I asked him and he said he thinks we should have orders in 2-3 weeks since his new estimated graduation date isn't that far away! I hope everyone is doing okay and enjoying their weekend!