NUKE moms

B'sNukeMom - I am so glad that you had a wonderful time with the family, even if it was a bit chilly!!!

Thanks Chipmunk!  It was great fun, although too short!  Thankfully they're coming to CA in May to celebrate hubby's 65th and Oliver's 2nd birthday.  And we're all going to Disneyland! I can hardly wait ;-D

My sailor is home, asleep in his childhood room, after a day-long trip (flying) across the Pacific. He is officially detached from his ship, going into TPU, then leave then out.

It is a small world, NukeMom-wise. Also returning was Helena2000's sailor who, through this site, we helped transition to the fleet 4 years ago. It was great to see him again. We took them both to check in at TPU then home, respectively.

I can't believe that it has been almost 6 years since we began this journey. This site has been so wonderful and full of useful information.

Canuka and Helena2000 - Welcome to the veteran side of Navy Mom life!! I am so glad that we have been a part of this journey together and I hope you can continue to come share as you are able. My son is happily working as the stay-at-home dad, doing online college with his GI bill and in the reserves now. 

B'sNukeMom - Disneyland will be so much fun!!

A few pictures from our Michigan trip:

Bowling

Watching Pops play in the snow (notice Pops is wearing long pants - it was 12*)

Flint Firebird Hockey game

Fun, Fun, Fun!!! I did laugh, I guess even Pops gets cold and will finally put his pants on!!  (for those of you that don't know - B'sNukeMom's husband, much prefers to wear shorts and warmer weather)

Chipmunk - it was the ONLY time he wore long pants the whole trip and as soon as he came in his shorts were back on.  Even when we went out for other adventures he was in his shorts lol!

For those of you who are new here - hubby wore shorts in our wedding - and he lives in shorts!

B'sNukeMom - He has his idea of comfortable and he is comfortable with it!! 

@B’sNukeMom, I think we married the same man! I’ve already started working on him to not wear shorts to our son’s Bootcamp PIR. Lol

Question for all…if everything goes as planned, my son will be headed out to Nuke A-school after bootcamp - is a laptop recommended for anything beyond personal use? I understand they need to do all of their studying in classrooms so materials don’t leave the site. Wondering how that would work w/a laptop.

Lastly, I know they can buy laptops/tablets via Navy channels for discounts. Is this something he could do when he arrives at A-school? I’m assuming NEX at Great Lakes wouldn’t have any.

He wasn’t going to have us ship his desktop because he didn’t want to be distracted by friends and video-games when he should be studying. 😁 But he’ll likely want something other than his phone to send emails, do his banking etc.

Thanks!

Staci - Welcome to NukeMoms!! We are glad you have joined us. My son actually purchased his laptop once he got to GC. (Goose Creek, SC. - NNPTC). He arrived the weekend before Labor Day Weekend, so he was not in classes and was able to do some research on the computers in the lounge or someplace and called his father (he also did not have a smart phone either), to get suggestions. I think he had to wear his dress whites, but he had been given a free bus pass and so he used it to go into Charleston to the large Best Buy and actually got a better deal on a computer with their Labor Day Sales and his military discount. That was in 2017 and he still uses that laptop for his personal needs and his online schooling. He has been out of the fleet for over a year now. He also ducktaped his box and every time he carried his little laptop, he packed it in the cardboard box!!

Yes, they do all of their studying in a secure location and are not allowed to have any outside electronics, including certain types of watches. 

Staci - My son is in A-School in GC and he bought a new laptop at the NEX as soon as he arrived.  It is only for personal use because as you said studying and assignments are only allowed in the classroom.  Good luck to your son!  My son will be graduating Nuke A school in a few weeks!!  He really likes it there and has made many good friends!!  

My son also bought a laptop first opportunity.  A $2500 gaming laptop top!!  No worries about gaming interfering with studies. If the student isn’t doing well, they have mandatory study hours in the classroom (my son never needed that though). They need their down time to do whatever they enjoy when they have time off. They work hard and it can be very stressful. My son loved it and made very good friends. They were competitive with their grades and happy for each other when one of them was very successful. He graduated from the pipeline in 2022 and I still keep in touch with his two best buddies. My son became a JSI (junior staff instructor) after the pipeline and one buddy is now in  officer candidate school. The other recently got his E 6. All took different paths and all love what they do. 

Thank you all for the feedback about the laptop, it’s super helpful! Much better than us shopping around for him and shipping it. Also good to hear your sailors enjoyed the program. Everything I read online is about how difficult it is. 

@DsMom, I can envision my son buying a gaming laptop too…then never sleeping because he’s studying all day and playing all night. 😁 Jokes aside, he’s actually pretty disciplined when he’s set on a goal. He will definitely need to take advantage of down time doing something he enjoys.

Thanks again all!

Staci - The Nuke Pipeline is difficult, there is no getting around that, so they do all find ways to help them during their down time. 

Hello everyone!! My daughter is currently at boot camp but will be going to Nuke school when she is done. For anyone that already had their kiddo graduate and go off to A school I have a question. Do you know how much liberty she will probably get after graduation before flying out to SC?

AZ_RACCOON, Hi!  Congratulations to your daughter for being chosen for Nuke school!!!  That is such an honor and a credit to your daughter! 

Unfortunately, there is no set time for liberty after graduation.  My understanding is that after graduation on Thursday, they have liberty the rest of that day (until 8 pm) and then they have liberty on Friday (from around 8 am to 8 pm).  After that, it totally varies.  I think Chipmunk's son left at like 1 a.m. on Saturday after graduation.  My son (in 2021) left the following Tuesday.  (He had graduation the day before Thanksgiving, so he had 5 days of Liberty.) 

If possible, I would suggest planning to stay until Sunday, but make sure your travel plans are changeable (hotels, flights, etc.)

Thanks for the reply MomofJoseph.

I think I will just plan on staying at least until Sunday night or perhaps Monday morning on the chance that we may have any extra time with her. I'll be happy for anytime that I can get! 

I am super excited for her to be going on this journey! This is all new to me, I don't have any experience with family in the military. My daughter scored very high on the ASVAB so she chose Nuke school and she was super excited about that. She also wants to be on a submarine, not for me, but I am all for it if that's what she wants. She's also super tiny, only 5 feet tall and 120 lbs, so she won't have any issues maneuvering on a sub.

I am really happy to have found this group! It's nice to know that I can go to people who have some experience with all of this. Thank you!

AZ_Raccoon, welcome! My son was on a sub for his entire sea duty, immediately following Prototype in 2017 until 3 weeks ago. Technically he is still in the Navy, although he is now doing a civilian internship sponsored by the military through a program called SkillBridge. While he joined in fall 2015, I'm sure things have changed. His graduation from Great Lakes was on a Friday; he had liberty until about 8 p.m. Friday night and he left for the airport at about 3 a.m. We got to see him for a total of about another hour between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. Others from his graduation had Friday, time on Saturday, and departed on Sunday. It just depends and even she won't know until after graduation, unless they have changed the process.

He had a number of tests he had to undergo (psychological, physical, etc.) before being accepted as a submariner. Be ready for long silences (more so than with surface ships) during deployments. The submariners have less access to email and certainly no phone access until they surface and pull into port somewhere. 

He gained significant skills and leadership strengths from his time in the Navy, particularly when attached to his sub. His stint on the one sub is a bit of an anomaly due to some unusual situations with the sub and crew.

Fairwinds and following seas! All the best to your Sailor!

AZ_Raccoon, that sounds like a great plan.  Even though my son didn't leave until Tuesday, we left Sunday because Monday was a normal work day for him, and we weren't sure that we would even get to see him then.

My son is also on a sub, but he is 6'2", so he does not fit well!  But he LOVES it!  He graduated from Prototype in Sept 2023 and went to his sub a month later.  He is currently at sea, and Tulip is right about the long silences.  We just broke our record for the most days going without contact last week.  But when we finally heard from him, it was so great to hear how much he loves sub life!!!

Please feel free to ask questions.  We will do our best to answer them, AND it gives us a chance to re-live the memories of BC and Nuke school!

This is great! I am sure that I will have plenty of more questions along the way. Yeah, I figured once she ends up on a sub that there will be long stretches without contact. I know that is a long way out because she is still at RTC, but I am sure it will all move more quickly than I can imagine! I'm glad to hear that your son is loving it!

@val my son just finished Powerschool in February.  They had a week off before starting Prototype.  He chose to stay in SC and get his apartment set up, errands, etc. We were there with him for Powerschool graduation and stayed 2 days.  

I too am new to military life. It's definitely a whirl wind of emotions. My son will be on a sub and is very much looking forward to it. 

Did your sailors get to choose which A school in the nuke program? Or were they assigned to MMN, EMN, or ETN without any choice? Do you do that first, then power school, then prototype? I am trying to figure out how it all splits up.

Val - one never knows how long the hold will be between power school and prototype.  Back when B finished power school (12/18/13) he was sent to NY for prototype.  He didn't leave for NY until 1/13/14 and then he didn't even start prototype until 4/14/14.  I don't believe they are sending anyone to NY at this time but the holds could still be as long, or short or whatever the Navy decides lol!

It's the old "hurry up and wait"!

When my son finished power school in Oct 2023, he was already moved off base. He is kind of a minimalist and didn't have much. I got down there the night before graduation and then we drove down to Universal for 3 days.  I believe he had a couple of weeks before Prototype started.

AZ_RACCOON  My son did not get to choose which of the nuke rates he got, he was assigned just before BS-21 I think. He really wanted ETN or EMN, but got MMN instead. 

My son shipped to RTC in June 2022.  He had some difficulty and was there for 4 months.  (I don't really want to re-live those days lol) PIR was on a Friday, had to be back on base that night and was supposed to leave the next day, but he ended up getting another day of liberty and left on a Sunday. I know that some things have changed in RTC since my son was there.

I won't say that my son LOVES being in the Navy or living on a carrier, but he does LOVE Japan where he will be for quite a while yet.  He rented a house off base and even bought a car.

I don't comment much, but I do read the messages and eventually respond to the private messages.  I found this page to be a fountain of information and experience.  These moms on this site have helped me out and definitely calmed me down more than once.  Welcome to the "family".

~~~~BNMHs ~~~~

AZ_RACCOON - I'm not sure how it works in terms of their rate.  My son was assigned ETN at the recruiter's office, so he knew his rate going into BC.

Val - my son had 12 days between Power school and Prototype.  He had already moved into his house a month before graduating Power School, so he was able to come home during the break (and we only live 4 hours from Charleston).  And yes, Prototype is about 6 months.

AZ_RACOON  my son was told to choose which rate he wanted while at bootcamp. Also was told not to count on it, as Needs of the Navy would be the deciding factor. He did get his first choice, EMN. He found out while at bootcamp camp. 

Val - my son graduated power school in early December and got three weeks off before prototype so he came home. We went for every graduation (prototype, power school and A school). Stayed a week after A school. Brought his best friend. Rented an airbnb. Had a great time exploring Charleston. After power school we just stayed a couple days then flew home with him for a lovely holiday season. After prototype we had planned an east coast family vacation with him and his auntie, uncle, cousin. He ended up being picked up for JSI (junior staff instructor) at prototype and didn’t get the time off. We had fun without him. 

Val - I’m from California too. Found flights in February to be cheapest. Hopper was a good app for locating cheap flights. Booked with hopper a couple times but also would just search the flights on hopper and then book on the airlines website.  

Thanks for all of the information! This is all very helpful!