The Cyber Sisterhood

Chris called, he said that he "technically graduates" next Friday, but that they have more schooling (continuation of A school, not C school) before they get their orders and can go on leave. He was told to send his blues and whites in to get his "sparks" (the IT insignia) sewn on already! Wow, fast!

Arwen~ That is soo cool!
Pam~ Hang in there girlie:)

Just wanted to stop in and say hi I haven't been on in awhile.
Arwin - I was having a bad morning and read that story about your son getting stuck in the turnstile. I can say that it helped make me laugh..

Pam, I'm sorry to hear that about your dad. I hope he gets better!

Anyone who might need a laugh should google an article about Rep. Hank Johnson and Guam. Apparently he asked if the addition on Marines on Guam was going to capsize it. I'm going to assume that he has never been there since the military has plenty of land and housing for them.

Oh and good news! Shawn said we should be getting our orders any time now but that it will probably be around the 13th since he will be finishing up around that time!

Chris' PIR DVD arrived today, and yesterday I took Sean to the orthopede to check his knee, to see if he's fit for Navy duty. The doc thinks the knee is plenty stable, strong even, and Sean should have no problem getting a waiver. They're going to do the screw removal on the 13th. As soon as the scar from that is relatively healed up, then Chris will start the process of getting himself in the Navy.

I had such a strange day, I had to sit through an interview with a paroled kidnapper and rapist (girls age 8-17). It was an unnerving experience, because he seems like such a normal guy. I'm weirded out that he didn't give me the creeps, he should have set off all my mom alarms, but he didn't. That was scary. I tend to have a very strong "creep sense" and for it to be silent, when he's sitting in front of me talking about his crimes and his new life outside, is just wrong.

Pam~Hope all goes well with your dad. I will be sending good thoughts your way.

Arwen~ I understand...it would be completely unnerving. I am verry big on instincts. Still have not received Ed's DVD.

Sue~Is Zach an MM?

We got our PIR DVD yesterday. Mason watched some of it and everybody was Daddy.

Hi Ladies,
It's been ages since I came on. I've been insanely busy with landscaping projects at my house. I'm going back 6 pages and reading forward.
Sandra- Congratulations! Your girl is finally where she should be, and enjoying the perks of her hard work. I'm so happy for both of you!
Colleen- Whew! You raised your boy well to have such wisdom and patience at such a young age. Well done! :)

Bah, hah, ha....Arwen, I'm so sorry for laughing at your son!....BUT...that is such a funny story!!!
Poor baby! I can't believe the kid of two sailors screwed up military time. ;^)

Colleen and Rosa, Sean and his frined Walt said bootcamp was fun. Can you believe how much we worried about them when they were actually enjoying bootcamp??! :)

Pam, I'm sorry you're worried. I hope everything turns out just fine, like Justin says. I doubt that my son would tell me if something were wrong. Part of it is trying to be adults.
My prayers go out to the missing crew member of that Navy plane!

Sue- Wow, hell week already. BC is almost over the 2nd time. Yay!

Debbie, they have ended the search and declared the missing sailor lost. After three days in the water, the chances of him being found are pretty much zero.

I'm sad for his family and the crew of the USS Eisenhower, and especially his squadron and the survivors from his aircrew. The poor guys who do the maintenance on that plane are probably second-guessing themselves and wracking their brains on what they could have done better to prevent this.

Arwen- I'm with you there. We always think our intuition would warn us, but these guys get away with their crimes because the can fool everyone. Creepy!

Sue- Thanks for the comments on my house. It's been a very busy year and a half!
I'm really happy with the changes, but still have a long wish list. I need to win the lottery so I can just pay crew after crew to finish it all up. Hee,hee...:)
If anyone else wants to see the pics, look for me on FB-Debbie Ellis in San Bernardino CA

It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!!

*breathe*

It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!! It's Snowing!!!!!!!!

Okay, sorry about that, we don't get snow very often. The frequency of falling snow is measured in years.

Hey ladies, do any of your sailors have their verbal orders yet? With his "technical graduation" happening this week, I'm starting to start thinking about his next step, the fleet. I'm dieing to learn about where he's going. Of course he could end up in a place we already know (San Diego), which would drive me even more nuts because it leaves me without a project: learning about it.

Don't forget that verbal orders can always change. We will be getting orders hopefully no later then the13th when Shawn finishes. Shawn found out that we should of had orders this past week. The reason his teacher told him was that they are behind on giving out orders because they are trying to make themselves look good. Apparently the captain is going to the pilot programs "graduation" and it will make them look good if they have orders. A lot of people are upset because a bunch of them are already finished and still don't have orders, when the pilot program will still have more mods to do and will be getting them before then. Normally they get orders at mod 70 but they are finishing at mod 112 without them.

Wednesday morning.

As the very first group to go through the new system, Chris doesn't have a clue what is going to happen after their "technical graduation" this Friday. Supposedly getting their "sparks" isn't going to mean the end of A-school. He's rather confused on the issue. I asked him to get it cleared up a bit.

I wonder if maybe they are "graduating" them on paper before they are done training, so that they orders come through faster?

Okay, and Scott, that's just not fair. Here's the coastal version of snow (at our nearby playground).

Arwen, Shawn was confused about it when I asked him so he asked about that. From what he was told by other people he knows in the program and his teachers, they only have it set up for the "IT" part of their schooling. They still have to the radio part of school which was merged into IT. I could be wrong but this is what Shawn told me when he explained it.

We're talking about the new version? Which class is Shawn in? Chris' class is the very first graduating under the new program.

IT didn't used to exist, it is created from the merge of Radioman, Data Processor, and Cryptologic Technician Communications. There never was an IT without the RM portion of the training.

Yes I am talking about the new version. Shawn was curious and asked about it even though he isn't in it. I think part of it was from wanting out of down there and away from all of the young 18/19 yr olds getting in trouble. From what he was told they will still have more mods to learn. It could also be their "A" certifications that they have to get. Shawn has a yr after he graduate to do them.

Tammy and I went up to my mom's Tuesday night as my brother Ret. CPO and his wife came out from Louisiana to see his grandkids. I awoke from "my room" to the snow. My mom lives near Somerset CA.We sent Brian pictures and he said it was raining in Groton.

Yeah, Chris said that he wasn't done after graduation this Friday, but wasn't sure exactly what they're doing. Right now he's just taking it one day at a time. Whatever they tell him to do the next day, that's what he does.

Hang in there Luv.

Chris confirmed what Shawn said, they do radio school after they "graduate." This makes little sense, unless it's a paperwork thing, graduate them early so they can get the paperwork finished, get their orders, and have them shipping out sooner after they graduate.

They would still have to be in holding for a bit to do things like medical. I don't think anyone knows what they are doing. Shawn has to go to a class on Thursday that covers moving and getting to where we are going. Oh and he did find out today while doing some counseling to be able to come home since we are out of bounds that they request orders on Tuesdays and Thursday. He was a little confused about the fact that apparently all orders go through some where in Tennessee. The teacher he did it with said she would check the list for his name and if he wasn't on it then she was going to add his name to the request list. Also said she would see what she could do about getting us shore duty and Washington State. If we don't get verbal orders this week then we will get paper orders when he finishes this upcoming Tuesday. If he does finish Tuesday then he will graduate that Friday and I am already going to drive and bring him home for that weekend anyways! I'm getting excited.

Well Shawn just called and we have paper orders. He must of done something right because we are moving to Washington DC. It's an Air Force Base and Air Force One flys out of it. I'm so proud of my sailor! I guess we can always try for Washington State some other time.

Wow, DC! That's an expensive place, be glad the Navy pays the rent! My brother-in-law was stationed there and ended up buying a house in Virginia. He's still there, but is retired now. He does the same job in the civilian world that he did in the Navy, but now he earns well into 6-figures.

Oh, and make sure he studies up on Air Force rank structure. They get testy when other services call them by the wrong titles, LOL!

Lol, I will make sure that I let him know that! I'm guessing he did something to impress someone and that's how we got there. From what we can tell not just anyone is sent there. I wanted Washington State not DC. I mean I am happy because it's shore duty but still. I really didn't want to being try to have kids in DC.

Yeah, well, if I'm not mistaken, that's where the President flies in and out of. So he's in a choice place, indeed.

Wait, since Chris is only about a week behind Shawn, that means Chris should have his orders in the next couple of weeks! Yay!

We're hoping for Washington (State) too. Seattle is only about an 8 hour drive from us, the closest place he could be stationed. Even San Diego is a two-day trip, one way!

Yes it is. He must of done something right to get it. He has been keeping track of everyone getting orders and no one has gotten DC until us.

Lucky you. I thought I heard that he should get his orders are his graduation. I guess we can always hope to get Washington State later on.

Yeah, so far the orders I've heard vary from the Expeditionary Security Force to Italy to Virginia, and now DC.

Since I haven't heard any west coast orders, hopefully that means there will be a whole bunch of them in the coming bunch of orders.

A fleet return got Washington State. Apparently a lot get sent to San Diego as well. There are people got to Belgium, Japan, and Bahrain.

We just have to remember that ours can be put on any base. We are a good example since its an Air Force base.

Belgum - NATO. That's one of the places my bro-in-law went.

I don't think it was NATO. It might be but I think Shawn said it was some army or air force base.

Got to go to work now. See ya tonight.

Thanks Mel. It took me all day to get use to the idea...not happy but use to. Then he calls and goes so the chief I talked to made a mistake so if they have Washington State with shore duty open we might take that instead. I just want to get out of here. Either way we are taking shore duty so we can have kids...

I have this fantasy going now... that Chris is told what his orders are tomorrow at graduation, so he can put me out of my misery of uncertainty!

Our IT sailors really are the "go anywhere" guys. One of my co-workers' sons finished Marine basic just before Chris graduated from BC. He's a helo mechanic, and the type of helo he is trained for only has two places to go, either Miramar or South Carolina. That's all the option he gets for his entire career (if he wants one)! Blech.

Thanks, Wow that is a long time! After talking to Shawn last night, I think that even if they come back and go we have Washington State shore then we might stay with DC. Shawn realized it was probably a better place to be if he wants to further his career. He plans on going officer as soon as he can because he has a college degree. I told him that I was fine with whatever he picks.

Last night Chris told me that some of the guys who just got their orders were sent to Great Lakes - not for more schooling, but as their duty station!

That has *got* to suck, they just escaped that place, and now have to go back there for the next few years as their permanent duty station.

As E1s through E-3s they're going to have a headache, constantly being mistaken for students. The worst would be an E-1 assigned to the RTC. The only way to tell the difference between that E-1 and the recruits is the hat! If I were them I would also get the roughout boots that are allowed for sailors on shore duty - no shining required, and it's another thing to separate them visually from the recruits and students.

Japan, cool! and that was fast! Can you believe they've only been out of boot camp for two months??? Not even two months. It seems like forever ago already.

Will he be on a ship or shore duty?

You can say the name of the carrier, and whether it is currently in port or at sea. What you are not allowed to say is its schedule (when does it leave, when does it return, etc) , where it is going, etc.

There are groups for all of the carriers and many of the ship on N4M. You can join moms and wives there and find out more about it. There you can learn more from them about how much exactly can be said, and what needs to be kept quiet.

The general movements of aircraft carriers near land aren't exactly a secret once they are there, they're kinda hard to miss whether they are in port or at sea. It's just a matter of not making it public when and where to expect that carrier to come over the horizon - at least not until the Navy makes it public. Generally when carriers leave for or return from deployments it's a media circus.