Norfolk Sailors - Family & Friends

Katharine - I am glad that your son is finding things to do and enjoying Norfolk. My DIL grew up on the east coast and she loves to go to the beach. There is a lot to see and do in the area if you are able to go see him. Your drive might be long but it is still closer than mine. 

Katharine safe travels as you visit your Sailor. Please share when you get back, I would love to visit in the future and any suggestions would be very much appreciated. I was in Danville Virginia but that was alot more rural I am sure.

Happy 4th of July!

If your sailors have some free time today or tonight, you might share this link with them. My apologies for not getting it posted yesterday - Hampton Roads 4th of July events guide | 2022 | WAVY.com - (compliments of my husband who googles everything!

I hope your sailors are doing well. For those of you on other ships, please don't hesitate to reach out to me privately. I keep doing my best to network and find out more about what life is like for our sailors in the Norfolk/ Newport News/ Hampton Roads area. 

I was recently speaking to a gentleman who helps a lot with our sailors that are struggling mentally, and he reminded me how important it is for our sailors to go speak to a chaplain if they are having issues. He said, often a chaplain, especially on a ship, is more likely to be able to address issues directly with a captain than some of the other personnel. They do not have to see a chaplain for "religious" reasons either. It was also THE piece of advice that a veteran Navy Mom, attending her 3rd PIR, told me when we went to Sarge's Meet n Greet in Great Lakes. 

Good Morning to all of the Norfolk / Newport News & area Families - I hope you are having a good day today.

Were any of your sailors affected by the storms this last weekend. My DIL said that part of the area had lost power and internet for a time and there was a lot of debris. 

Some from our family were able to recently go visit and enjoy time with our sailors. It was a blessing. 

Good Morning to all of the Norfolk / Newport News & area Families - I hope you are having a good day today.

I hope your sailors are getting a chance to take some recreation time and enjoy the beaches and surrounding areas. 

Hello just wondering if anyone ever heard from their Sailors about having to do TAD when they finally get on ship? I saw a posting this morning about a Aviation Structural Mechanic making waffles for breakfast, just seems strange having a mechanic preparing breakfast. Did your Sailors end up working in jobs like this at the beginning?

Northwoodsmom:  I believe it is what they call cranking. They do a rotation working in the galley. Doesn’t matter what your job is supposed to be, they can send you to do that job in the galley. 

my son did a year in security so I’m not sure if that prevents him from cranking or not. His normal job is on the flight deck working with catapults 

Shanny, thank you. I heard some get sent to do laundry as well. So what color shirt does your son have to wear? Catapults seem nerve wracking that close to the jets, my son should be underneath them in one of the hangers but who knows. I thought he would be in Norfolk in September but now it's delayed until November. He said he likes it alot better than Nuke school, not as much math involved.

I was thinking of visiting him out in the dessert but the airline tickets are outrageous in California, so I wait!

Northwoodsmom - I am not certain. Shanny seems to have more heads up than I do. I do believe that on subs, they are trained in various duties because there are not as many and if someone can't fill a position, someone else has to. 

It would probably depend on the sailor's initial rate and what they are assigned to the ship for, then depending on that department's needs, they may or may not be able to allow a sailor to TAD elsewhere. 

My son is currently TAD to another department on the ship, but that was a decision by his chief to help him qualify in a different area, so he would have more experience when leaving the Navy. But that does not mean he is exempt from still standing watches and doing duties in his initial department. 

Northwoodsmom:  he is a green shirt

We had people telling us that it’s the most dangerous job in the Navy but who knows. I’d rather have him in catapults than arresting gears. He covered there for a few weeks once and I heard too many stories about broken lines. Can’t imagine one of those cables snapping and flying back. 

MyKidsMom - Thanks for adding to the discussion above!! I will have to remember that the next time we visit. My kids are on the Norfolk side now, but I would like to see the USS Monitor artifacts. 

Hi Norfolk families, just checking in to say hi and how are you all doing? 

Katharine if you have anything to share on places to visit or eat at, be sure to add to the discussion above. 

This is the one that we were posting to recently. - Norfolk Navy Lodge info, base tours, plus what to see and do in the...

Hello, I heard rumors that the USS Harry Truman will soon need to be refueled and that takes 3 years. I know these are just rumors but has anyone have experience with this process? What do they do with the 5 thousand Sailors while this is going on? Do the Sailors attached to a squadron wing get attached to another ship. I am just curious about the steps and know that the USS George Washington has been going through this now. 

Hi! I have been pretty quiet on here over the last few years as my Sailor went to MS then Germany. He is headed back to Norfolk. Does anyone have suggestions for good apartment complexes to check out? TIA

Reply to Northwoodsmom: My son is not on a carrier but I was interested about the refueling process for a carrier & came across this documentary that the Navy made; there appears to be 5 parts to this. It is 11 yrs old but still may give you an idea of the process & what it means for sailors assigned to the ship.

Thanks Kim, so appreciated!

Proud AG Mama, hopefully Shanny will see this and be able to help, her son just moved into a complex or house recently. I heard the rental there is ridiculous.

Here I am!  Sorry it is a festival day here with fireworks and food trucks and games and all that…. Currently storming. And they are lighting fireworks lol 

I can’t get ahold of my kid for some reason tonight. He may have duty. But his previous apartment was at New Hampton Commons in Hampton, VA. He really liked the apartment itself which was more like a townhouse. Two stories, two bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms. The rent was a lot more reasonable than others in the area. But his roommate was the only one on the lease and the lease renewal was due while they were underway and he forgot to notify the complex. So they ended up having to move. The only complaint he had was it sometimes took forever to get maintenance to fix things. 
he currently lives in Newport News but I don’t know the name of the complex. I was trying to ask but he hasn’t answered. Also townhomes. They have a pool, a gym, outdoor grilling areas. Safe area of Newport. Not the sketchy part. If I hear back from him I’ll post the name. 

Proud AG Mama - the Pinewood Gardens Apartments - Contact Us are on the Norfolk, VA side of things. 

Within walking distance of some grocery stores, however Little Creek RD is very busy, but there are several apartment units so good walking, jogging area, pool & fitness center. 

If more than one person is on the lease, they both have to sign and the same for renewals. 

Northwoodsmom - The BAH helps to offset the housing - Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) (dod.mil) - expenses. 

Proud AG Mama - if you would like more information, send me a friend request. I will do my best to get back with you before tomorrow evening. 

Chipmunk - sorry for the slow response. We go to bed here early. I passed on your info, thank you. My Sailor is familiar with Pinewood from his last time out. He is interested in New Hampton Commons, but a little unsure because of location being on other side of bridge. I greatly appreciate your info.

How do I friend request? Through FB or is that a thing on this site as well?

Proud AG Mama - You are just fine. I should have been in bed a lot earlier last night, but I do not view my N4M on a phone, so that was my earliest opportunity to reply to your question, once I was able to check the site on my computer. 

I saw your friend request on this site, and I accepted, as well as I sent you a private message. 

There are benefits to being on the same side of the bridge as your ship. If it is in the yards, the Hampton side is closer, but if in dock the Norfolk side works best. 

When my son moved on with his roommate in Hampton, their ship was in Newport News at the shipyards. So his drive was 7 minutes on a good day. 10 on a longer day. His drive now to Norfolk is 30 minutes on a good day but has been over an hour on a bad day-car accident in the tunnel 

I came across this site  https://warshipcam.com  when someone had posted a screen shot of a picture from it when my son's ship came into port yesterday. 

It is a Twitter account and I do not have one, but you can see some of the pictures before they make you sign in. I know we do not have any other webcam at Norfolk, so figured I would share this. 

Many families go to Fort Monroe Beach to watch the ships come in. If you are on your private FB pages, some of the families will post their pictures for your sailor's ship as it is coming into port. 

Devonson:  they closed the tunnels and bridges last year for a tropical storm that went through. My son was ordered to the ship before it hit because he lived on the Hampton side of the tunnel. 

Devonson - Here is a twitter update link for Hampton Roads - 511 Hampton Roads (@511hamptonroads) / Twitter 

Hampton Roads Tunnels and Bridges - Travel | Virginia Department of... on this page they have   Call 511 or 866-My-511-Va for the latest on bridge and tunnel status. 

Chipmunk--thank you for the link.  We will be watching closely.

Devonson - You are welcome! I did not have any specific information, but I figured I could at least do some Google searching on my computer while you might not have access to that as easily. 

According to my DIL driving in the area is a mess. I don't know what sort of weather is going on but there have been a lot of accidents (at least what she saw coming home from her classes.) May all stay safe and drive wisely. 

My son said high winds, blinding rain and the ocean is “not happy”.  Stay home if you can and advise your sailors to stay safe and away from that water

How are our Norfolk sailors and families? 

My DIL said it was not fun to be out driving and she was happy to just stay at home, even if it meant studying for her upcoming tests. She did not even want to venture out to go to the gym.

My sailor is at sea right now but I’ve also been wondering how things are in Norfolk.  Looks like lots of residual Ian weather making it unpleasant!

WaterLily - this is what my husband shared with me this morning. He was trying to find information but nothing of significance. He said, Not much of any news. All I could find was, "Historic Flooding Didn't Happen" was about the only headline I could find.

May your son have "Fair Winds and Following Seas!"

Chipmunk - good news!  We were concerned about the projected flooding.  His vehicle is in the long-term base parking and it’s just a paid off car with minimal insurance so we were praying he wouldn’t come back to it flooded out.

WaterLily - I hope that things continue to be mild for all of our sailors that have their cars parked in that area. 

2022 Holiday shipping information - USPS - here is a link to the page with all shipping information. Be sure to scroll down and you will find the dates for military packages and other helpful shipping information as well. 

2022 Holiday Mailing Deadlines (usps.com)

paintpink - I very much understand your concern. It is one thing for us to say, "No news is good news" when the SRs are at GL, and being watched over. It is different when they are out to sea and return from deployment. Have you tried reaching out to him? (that is probably a silly question.) 

I would see about trying to contact the ombudsman for his ship. If you have difficulty doing that, we can try to help you find out if there are some other resources available for checking on him. 

paintpink .... there might be a million details to take care of .... laundry, new/old lease, car troubles (if he has one and it's been sitting for a while), celebrations with friends, goodbyes to friends whose contracts are up, clothes shopping, food shopping, and maybe a girl. Don't worry. You would have heard if he were not fine. 

My sailor is on an underway. He will be coming in to the closes port to us this weekend and has liberty Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, we already booked a weekend getaway in North Carolina and will be 7 hours away from him (and 10 hours from home). His twin sister and older brother are going up to spend the day with him on Saturday. I cannot really complain .... I saw him for a week in September in Norfolk. But I am sad. 

Paintpink, if you’ve attempted to contact him with no response, I would definitely contact his ship’s ombudsman.  They are there to provide a link between fleet & families, so never feel guilty reaching out.

Paintpink, I had to call the ombudsman once because my son had a very long lapse in contact. He too said he didn't realize it was that long since he talked to us. I wouldn't feel bad about calling either. My son was still in school when this happened and he did get chewed out from his commander for not calling home which I felt bad about .  I couldn't sleep and it was affecting me at work so I have no regrets for being a Mom, they need to learn what it feels like on the other side.

Good Morning!! I am just checking in on our Norfolk families. I heard from my DIL that there was a bad rain storm, she got caught in the middle of while driving home. 

I hope those who are able to have their sailors home for one of the holidays, have a wonderful visit and safe travels for the sailors. For those who will be traveling to Norfolk, may you also have safe travels. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I am just checking in on everyone and their sailors. I know there was some national news from the area around and I wanted to just reach out if anyone needed anything. 

i have not heard of anything ?

Hi Chipmunk.  Thanks for checking in.  My sailor is doing well and we are actually here with him now to celebrate Thanksgiving together.  We rented a house in Hampton and packed up the car, bringing the feast to him from Michigan.  It’s the third year we’ve done this and it’s a lot of work but so very worth it. 

The recent news of three more deaths is devastating.  Prayers go out to the families impacted.

WaterLily - That is love!!

Dawn, there was a shooting in Cheasapeake, at a Wal-Mart. I don't have a link to the details at the moment, but I was hopeful that none of our sailors were involved.