HM (Hospital Corps) "A" School in San Antonio

Hello, My son is still in boot camp, but he is heading for Corpsman school soon. I can’t wait to see him at graduation, and then send off the Texas. It is nice to be able to join this community. So, Hi Everyone.

Anita Welcome! I'm not horribly too far from you- just North of Sacramento. It's a wild ride but A school will be so much easier than RTC. 

Hi Anita !

You're just starting out and I'm finally I'm my way out ! I've been a military mom for 18 years .... My Corpsman is finishing his 11th year ... He's retiring  ...  

The experience is amazing  ... Enjoy  all your visits  to every base ... I've met a lot of great people  .... 

Hugs

I have a question for you more experienced moms in the group. Will my son need a computer? He has a lap top at home, but I don’t want him to get distracted from his studies while in A school. Fortunately he isn’t a huge gamer and he already has a year and a half of college under his belt, so he knows what to do to make the grade. However, it is easy to get distracted and sucked into the outside world, particularly when homesick. Does he need that laptop to study or does A school provide all he needs for the 3 months he is there?

Anita

My son took his laptop to A school. He's not a big gamer, and i was worried he might get distracted too. No they don't need it but it was nice for him to have. Your son sounds like he knows when it's time to study he does. They are busy but we were able to facetime and that was a plus.  

Mern, thanks for the insight.

Thanks ladies for the welcome. 

Mern we don’t live far from each other at all. :)

My son got a laptop but it broke and he never needed one. 

Hi All - I am a brand new Navy Mom - 2 weeks into Boot Camp as of today. Wow! I knew it was going to be difficult, but I had no idea how difficult. I didn't realize I could miss my son so much!  I have talked to him 2 times since the midnight "i'm here" call. Once yesterday - he sounded like a recording letting me know that he had passed his baselines and was set to graduate on 7/19. Then today, apparently with bad news that he had a medical issue and was going to be set back. While we were on the phone and excited Petty Officer came in to tell him he was cleared. He has a MD appt tomorrow, but I'm guessing if they cleared him for grad this afternoon, a few hours after having an ultrasound, it was okay and his superiors had been made aware?? Keeping my fingers crossed that I am correct. He will be heading to TX for A School. Couldn't be a prouder Mom!!  Looking forward to getting to know you all and staying sane!!  

Great news for your son.  

Hello.  My son will graduate boot camp soon and is headed to corpsman A school.  Just looking to see what kind of info is available.  I know he has made some friends in his division that are attending as well.

Hello soon to be friends, my Sailor just arrived in San Antonio for A school. I just wanted to check in and say hi. 

Hi, my name is Donita. My daughter Sarah is at boot camp right now. She arrived at boot camp on October 2nd.

Hello my son is now at A school for hospital corpsman. Just thought I would see what kind of information I could find here. Thank you

Hi JMCorpsmanMom, I'm kind new here too. My son has been in A school for just over a month now. He doesn't write or call us much, so I hope that means he's studying. He will get to come home for Christmas - New Years. Take care! 

My son graduated A School this past April.  I sent a few care packages and he really enjoyed that.  I got the largest priority box and you can stuff it and only pay one price.  If it fits — it ships.  We didn’t hear from our son that much.  If we did it was just on the weekends.  

Hi, jillybean and JMCorpsmanMom. Believe me, he's studying - mostly. My son didn't study well for the 1st test. The result kept him studying & off the phone. Also, rules are no phone when walking on base (or in public, if wearing a uniform), the chow lines are long. Free time's a commodity. Someone said boys don't call home as often as girls. True that - you're not alone:)

Hi!  I'm new here.  We have a daughter who is 3 weeks into Boot Camp & staying positive all goes well & she'll graduate the day before Thanksgiving & then heading to A-School..It been quite the road & she's hanging in there.

Hello everyone. Just want to introduce myself. My brother is on the last week of bootcamp. We are hopeful that he will be graduating on November 15th and will be heading to A school in San Antonio I’m assuming the following day. I am very excited to visit TX again because we have several cousins who live there, the nearest is in Austin and the rest are in Houston. I have been reading info here and I’m glad to learn from everyone’s experiences and thoughts. Thank you and have a wonderful weekend. 

VIII-I-MMIX - congrats to your brother.  Our son just graduated A-School in San Anton last week in April 2019.  That is awesome.  Great you have relatives close by too. 

Hi everyone! My daughter graduates boot camp yesterday and just arrived to San Antonio! We are excited for her to start this new journey, she knows she has to study study study :) nice to meet you everyone

Hi everyone!  My son is at A school at Fort Sam.  He graduated boot camp on Nov. 1st.  He is waiting for the class to fill.  I believe he starts classes in a couple of weeks.  

So far my only concern is his eating.  He says the food is not that great and a mile away.  Any ideas on what healthy options he can keep in his room?

Thanks!

Buffmeister- when my son was there we sent him Barilla ready pasta and parmesan cheese- no refrigeration needed, quick and easy for late night study. Other small things that they can microwave like that-I don't think they have a refrigerator in the room. so things like tuna packs or heat and eat things. Not always the "healthiest" but in a pinch it works. 

Buffmeister, we sent a care package with items mainly from Trader Joe's -- beef jerky, protein bars, pretzels, etc., though not food he sure appreciated items he was used to from home.  Congrats to your son.  My son just left that A-School this past April. 

Happy Wednesday to all.  My Sailor is heading to Basic next week.  I'm looking forward to learning from you all.  This is totally new to us!

JaneenPS

SunnyDaze, my son as well, it was not my son's original route either.  He was able to change route in boot camp.  He loved his corpsman school in SA, Texas.  Being a corpsman is such an honorable rank.  Congrats to your son.

Hello everyone, just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Michelle, a newbie Navy mom. My son is about to start A school. I'm so very proud of him. I love that we are able to keep in touch now that BC is done.

Hi all, I'm new to your group, but not new to the Navy. Our girl arrived at SAT/FSH last month but has been in Florida training since Sept of last year. My husband served in the late 80s on ship and the two of them trade stories about how much our Navy has changed :-) 

5PurpleTulips, welcome to the group.  Congrats to your daughter.  When did she have her PIR ?

Haven't been here in a while. My son is reserves so his journey is a bit different. That said He just got his E4 last week! we are so proud of him!  

mern, congrats to your son on his E4.  Currently our son is home for visit.  Friday he heads back to San Diego.  He's a corpsman at the hospital.  

She was in 945, PIR 13SEP19. She just got E3 last week!

Good morning. I am new to this side of things. My son is currently in week 4 of A school in San Antonio. I’m just checking to see if anyone else is at this phase of training, or can share some information about what to expect. He’s in the HM-ATF pipeline, so has a lot more physical training, in addition to the studies at the schoolhouse. 

My sailor was supposed to have first class of A school today. Happy thoughts directed towards San Antonio :)

Hi everyone!  My daughter just graduated 10/15 and is heading to HM "A" school.  Unfortunately she has not left RTC yet, but is anxiously awaiting!!!  Is this normal?  Still there after 4 days?  Any advise is greatly appreciated!  Looking forward to this new adventure!  

My son left boot camp the day after PIR to San Antonio.  But he just checked in and then within a few days flew home for Christmas.  It was perfect timing for him.  He was home for like two weeks. 

HI all - new to this group.  My son is still in BC, but will be headed down in February. I was wondering where I could find info about what types of items he can have with him. Personal items, etc.  And is he allowed to bring those items, or should we ship them to him?  I'm sure I'll get more info after he graduates, but we'd like to plan ahead to help him out with logistics.  

Autumn96 - I would also recommend waiting until he gets to A school. Our son was there February of last year. It seems he had an address fairly fast. We shipped him some civilian clothes (biggest request was "normal" socks and underwear) his lap top and a few other things. He was very specific about what he wanted/needed. Because of Covid restrictions our son was not able to leave base, but found most everything he needed right there.  I think he ended up purchasing a different pair of running shoes. They do have a fair amount of room. Depending on where your son heads to after A school he may or may not want or be able to transport a lot of "stuff". Something to think about. My son had talked up cookies from home at BC so I did send some a couple of different times. We sent his laptop thru UPS. It was quite spendy to ship but it arrived OK and in functioning order so guess it was worth it. There were several Moms at the time who talked about their kids buying a computer at NEX because prices were so much better. Our son had a nice one he used in college and he preferred to have it so we mailed it. Our son really enjoyed A school in San Antonio even if he didn't get to leave base. Hope your son does as well!

Hi!  My son is graduating A school today and we were unable to fly out for it.  Does anyone know if there is a livestream of this event that we can watch?  I have searched but cannot find anything.  It is schedule to begin at 2:00pm CST.  Thank you!

@MamaTilly - Thank you.  He did agree to have one of his friends that is attending take video and pictures for me but I was hoping there was a livestream that he did not know about too.  We opted to fly him home during his break between A and C school instead of going there for just one day. 

owenmom - Our son graduated from A school a year ago. We had hoped to attend, there had been talk of opening it up to guests after all the COVID closures. They decided to keep A school graduation closed after all. They did not have a live feed or video, but thankfully did get to see photos. Enjoy your visit between A and C schools, it will be fun to have a longer visit to catch up and hear all the stories! :)

lnavy101, Welcome to Navy Moms.  My son graduated corpsman school in April 2019.  It seems like just yesterday.  Congratulations to your daughter. 

Hello everyone , our son has just arrived . 
waiting to hear how his is settling in 

do have one question if when his phased up will or can he have his car ? 

Hi, congrats to your son.  My son never had a car in corpsman school.  When we visited I noticed a lot of Uber and Lyft vehicles coming onto the base.