The Cyber Sisterhood

Thanks so much! We are beyond excited after having tried for 4 years. I'm so glad to hear that everyone's sailors are doing well. It took awhile for me to get back on here with adjusting to everything.

Sandra - I am so happy for you that both Nichelle and her brother will be in the same place. I'll be great for her to have that support system as well. I'm so glad that we connected on here and I've gotten to know you both!

I just wanted to let everyone know, we, as a PIR group, have had a lasting impact.

If you remember, we were the first group to hold a separate N4M group Meet and Greet at Anastasia's. Well, now it's a regular event. About one in three PIR groups hold a private gathering at Anastasia's, forgoing the Ramada Inn event.

I'm not sure how word spread so fast, but we started something!

No, Chris didn't call on Christmas, but he did call later in the week. It's maddening because the connection from Japan is horrible. We keep getting cut off, and spend a lot of time saying "What? What did you say?"

A cyber baby shower? That sounds fun!

I'm on letter and care package strike. Chris stopped calling and never writes, even though I KNOW he is in port and has tons of time off. I've sent him letters, emails, and packages with goodies and notes. I've sent envelopes, stamps, paper, a filled-in address book... and had no response.

I figure if the family news just STOPS he will get curious and call home to see what he's missing.

The sad part is that I know exactly what he is doing. He now has a laptop, and his Dungeons and Dragons books and dice. I'm quite certain he has gone so deep into those that he doesn't remember anything exists elsewhere.

You know the old joke about the D&D geeks who go down to "mom's basement" with Mountain Dew and cold pizza, and come up a decade later with no clue that any time has passed? Well, that's Chris, and he has a whole ship to use as his basement. Except they give him hot food and make him shower, LOL.

Hey Ladies~ Hope all is well with everyone and their sailors.  I have to say...it has been one long year. Ed left the Nuke program and is on hold. Have to agree with Colleen, congrats to all the sailors still in the program. Wish things were as simple as PIR. lol.

Colleen~ How cool it that!?! Woohoo, Stephanie!! So glad Justin is doing well.

Sending Blessing to all.

Sandra~ Thoughts and prayers going out to his family and friends. It is terribly sad, especially when there are children involved. I agree, sad that it got by everyone.

How tragic, Sandra.  God bless this Sailor and his family.

Well, it was one year ago today that our Sailors had PIR.  Oh my gosh, what a day we will forever remember.  I'm still so proud of them and sometimes look at a PIR video on line and get teary eyed.

I hope you're all doing well.  I read here at N4M quite often but don't always have time to write.  I've noticed that cyber sisterhood gets very quiet  : ( but there's a peep now and then.  I hope you're all doing well.

I often wonder how are dear friend Beverly is doing.  I've always missed her.  And some other moms missing as well.  But Sandra and Arwen stay in touch here very well.

God bless all of you!! Happy Anniversary!!  We'll always remember.  Did the year go fast for y'all or slow?  I thought it was a long year.  It feels as though two years have gone by!

What a horrible way for someone to go - taking their own life.

But. today is a happy day for all of us. Happy Anniversary, everyone!

Chris is still out there, stationed in Japan, but he has only spent a few weeks actually in Japan. He reported and immediately went on a four-month deployment, had three weeks in port, now he's at sea again and will be for about another month. The Navy is pretty good about publicizing what his ship is doing, so I have a decent idea of what he's doing and seeing. I've even found a few official Navy photos of him, out there doing his job.

Happy Anniversary everyone!

Hooyah, we've made it through the first year.

To me, it seems like it's been more than a year. Sean's still in the nuke program at Goose Creek. He's about to graduate from his second school, then he will be on hold for a while waiting for a spot to open up at nuke prototype school. He's really looking forward to having a break from mandatory study hours. The nuke program is insanely hard, and I'm really proud of him for sticking with it! Can't wait to see him graduate from the last school and get an assignment. He really wants to travel. I hope he gets to go to Japan, and Australia, and all those other places Sandra was talking about Nichelle going to. Sounds wonderful! Congratulations to Nichelle! OH, and I'd be just fine with Sean being stationed in nearby San Diego. too. ;^)

In the meantime, I hope he gets to go to Ballston Spas for prototype school. There are a lot of places he wants to see closeby, and I'd love visiting him there. There's talk of moving the school to Virginia, though. That would be a great place, as well! Time will tell. Ha ha...What am I thinking? Navy needs will tell. :)

I just want to say thank you to Arwen and all you who have been a wonderful support system for me and a source of information when my own strong, silent type son is not sharing. You're wonderful women and men who have made a lasting and positive impact on a lot of people in a lot of ways.

Enjoy your sailors,

Debbie

Wow, 1 yr and this time we don't have to say goodbye after 1 day of seeing each other. 

Everything here is busy as busy can be. Both of us are still in school and Shawn was told yesterday that he could graduate with his 2nd degree this fall. Mocha is about to start training classes which is badly needed as the house shows. Shawn takes the 2nd class test next month and on top off that is putting together his officer packet for the fall. So like I said, very busy. I hope everyone is doing okay and enjoys their weekend.

Aww, congrats Joeys mom. I agree with Sandra on wanting pics when the time comes. 

Sandra please driving carefully since the we know the weather lately hasn't been the best no matter where your at.

Anyone else have a sailor taking the 2nd class test this week? I don't know who would be more upset if Shawn didn't get it since if he makes it, and he should, then he gets a new watch. Good luck to anyone taking upcoming tests!

Wait, 2nd class test already? Chris still hasn't made E-3.That will happen in June, and he can take the 3rd class test a year from now.

*sigh*

That's very happy news, Slimsam! 

We're all praying for our Sailors in Japan.  It's hard to believe that a year ago they were just out of Boot Camp and here we are already praying and feeling on edge for many of them.

I see we all came back together in time of crisis.  God bless them all as well as their worried families.

Thanks for the update, Arwen.  God bless them and bring them all home safely.

Did I ever tell you the one about my cousin, my aunt, the first Libya bombings and the birthday card?

Pam and Sandra~ Will be keeping Sam and Nichelle in our thoughts and prayers. At the time...I never thought BC was going to be the EASY part!  

During the first Libya dust-up in 1986, my cousin Roger was stationed on an aircraft carrier that was part of the operation. My aunt Shirley was insanely worried about his safety. She was calling everyone, from senators and congressmen, even tried to call the president, to get her darling baby son out of there. It was, to her, a completely unacceptable situation. She took it a bit too far, to put it mildly. Roger caught heck for her behavior, and she settled down a bit, but still was a bit overboard. In her defense, her daughter's fiancée (and father of her future grandson) was killed by a drunk driver only a few months earlier, so she was under some stress, but still...

In the midst of all of this was Roger's birthday. Aunt Shirley sent him a birthday card - a brand new invention with a cute little computer chip that played "Happy Birthday" when the card was opened.

Meanwhile, the ship was on high security. The card arrived, and when the mail was processed, they found this one envelope was just kinda wrong, somehow. An examination showed *gasp* a computer chip in the envelope. Which, they thought, could only mean one thing - a trigger mechanism.

They blew it up in an anti-bomb container. After the charge (meant to trigger any bomb material) went off, the entire crew on deck heard the pitiful wailing of "Happy Birthday" as the chip died.

Poor Roger never heard the end of it, from the crew AND from Aunt Shirley, for very different reasons.

Very funny story, Arwen.  Laughter is the best medicine.

Hugs for you, Slimsam.

Pam and Sandra,

My prayers are with Sam and Nichelle, all their fellow sailors, and both of you. I can only imagine how hard it is to just keep faith that your kids will be ok. We do have the biggest, most powerful Navy in the world and we have had almost no casualties of war on our ships since World War II. Does that help at all? I wish I could think of something to say that would ease all your fears, but that isn't really possible. You love your kids and you will always worry. We will worry with you. (( Hugs)) Debbie

Pam, so glad to hear that Justin is doing well!

Scott, I hear you on the sun thing. Sean is subvol, so he may be in that situation soon too. Maybe we should add one of those little lights that imitate the rays of the sun to their next care package? ;^)

I hope everyone is doing well.  Our Sailor's birthday is coming up and our son in Iraq will be home around June or July.  I usually don't like the hot summer, but this year I'm looking forward to it.

Maybe we will have a chance to have both of our sons home one weekend and we can have a family BBQ. 

In the meantime, best wishes and prayers to all of our military for their safety and hopefully for many happy homecomings. Prayers to their families too, as it is not always easy, as we know all too well, or are finding out.  Hugs to all.  

My husband was a submariner. How often they can be contacted depends on which type of sub they are assigned.

Boomers (SSBNs aka missile subs) are three months in, switch crews, three months out, with only a short supply and maintenance pause between.  You can almost set your watch by them. It's great for families, because they actually get a regular schedule, and sailors get far more time with their families. While they are at sea for those three months they almost never surface or visit ports. If the sub has to go in for more extensive repairs, families get a LOT of time together.

Fast attack (SSN or hunter-killer) submarines have a far more chaotic schedule. They go on six month deployments (with lots of port visits - I flew to meet Mike in Guam during an extended stop there) every two years. In-between they go out for anything from three days to three months, with little or no warning, and no rhyme or reason that I could ever tell - and because I was active-duty Navy in his squadron, I had contacts who were able to give me information way beyond anything the other wives knew.

However, even while at sea, some contact is maintained. It's called a "family gram," sent along with regular communications. It works like an old telegram, with a limited number of words and "stop" between sentences. It was kinda fun communicating that way, like a puzzle... how much can you say within your word limits? We planned much of our wedding via family grams.

A dear friend that I work with is leaving tonight for the GL for PIR!  I hope they have a safe trip...the weather has not been the greatest this week, and I hope they're not cutting it too close.  They were going to get off work this afternoon, sleep for a few hours and leave Georgia around midnight.  They have PIR of course on Friday morning.

I got some bad news this morning. I will be leaving you, I am no longer a Navy Mom. Chris is going to be separated from the Navy.

He will fly to Washington State next week for discharge processing. He was told he will get a general discharge under honorable conditions. We're hoping they really take their time, because May 16 is his 18-month date, after which he can get his (partial) GI Bill and veteran's rights. If he is discharged before that, he gets nothing.

What happened? Basically he was under some serious stress during mess cranking. One day while working in deep sink (heavy duty pots and pans) he was being verbally harassed by another sailor, and after repeated requests for that sailor to stop, he physically attacked the guy, and landed at least one punch. That's really not his style (he's never hit anyone in his life), so it must have been some pretty extreme circumstances.

He's embarrassed, and more worried about our reaction than anything else. My husband told him that while he should have chosen another route to deal with the harassing shipmate, all he really did was defend himself, and there is no shame in that.

Now it's a matter of wait and see.