Moms of IS (Intelligence Specialist) sailors.

kc74 thanks for the info. 

wow lots of comments today im glad to see people whohoo my sailor just graduated Aschool today Cschool also there they get out when they have time bus or shuttles I believe and some have vehicles if family is close enuf

 but usually not a lot of time . .  my sailor has been stressed since he arrived but he got his orders which he is pleased with and is doing much better with school

My son is in C school.  He only has a couple months left. He has also received his orders and is very happy with them which really helped with the stress. A school taught him how to study in the most efficient way.  I think C school has been less stressful in that he knows what he will be doing. He is very excited about graduating and starting his career.

@dogdoc:  đon't. The less said the better.   They work with computers, somewhere. 

I will tell you that my son was first stationed in South Korea and is now finishing his time in Japan. I will tell you this fall where he is going next. Many of those places have several bases (some are Navy, some are joint commands, some are intel based for all branches and/or several nations) so I have learned after a while to not be too specific anymore about the actual base he is at. There are several bases in Japan so saying he is there is no biggie really. Once he and his family are safe at their next assignment I can post more about that one.

Laura, Chris had to wait a few months before he finally got his written orders this time. I tend to think that when they work with squadrons, things that require paperwork takes much longer than average to process. Best of luck to him (I know Chris would still be jealous if he knew there had been an opening soon after for Italy). 

I can tell you some of the places he has done 2-5 day port of call visits..Brisbane, Australia, Guam, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Dubai, Monte Carlo, Hong Kong and others I can't remember. He has also taken vacations to Cambodia and Vietnam. 

The C schools are also at Dam Neck and if I'm not mistaken they are in the same building as the A school. There might be some training times that are not in the building, but that's where the Intel schools are all based.

My daughter has been an IS for 5 years. Has preformed in more then one specialty but was trained in one. She has re-upped and will cross train in a new specialty for her new orders.

JM,

So cool to "see" you still!!!!  Congratulations to your daughter!!!!!  My first Navy daughter got out and is going to college, but now her twin sister is an officer!!! IS son is still in!!!!  How is your son????

Hi Anna. My son is now out. He had a hard time of it, he was an IS also and was given an Honorable discharge after 3 years. Ladies, I'm here to tell you, this isn't an easy rate. We've experience what good the military life can do for you and what is can do to you. It has been good to our daughter but not so good for our son. It isn't for everyone. My best to your children, ladies; I hope they're  blessed as my daughter.

I think our grown children can get into a lot of trouble if to much is shared and the worse is if others outside us can see locations and times.  It's more of a safety issue.My son tells me less and less and that's O.K. because all I really want to know is if he is happy with his choices and the future potential.

JM,

I so understand your comments.  My daughter had bad experiences in the Navy and is out on disability.  My son has learned how to make it work for him and even wanted to help his sister but in the end she decided to get out and go to college.

"Needs of the Navy"...the reason we write in pencil and not pen.

Erase Italy and pencil in Hawaii.  And move it up a few months while you're at it!  Keeps things interesting.

Mary - I guess the Italy openings are a hot ticket and are few and far between.  It's no wonder getting orders assigned are like a bumper car match.

All in all, it's Hawaii and it's finally a shore assignment! 

Laura,

We all understand those last minute changes!!!  Needs of the Navy is right!!  Gotta love these roller coaster rides!

Goat,

It depends on so many things.  Like where your sailor is attached, ship or shore command.  Where they are stationed.  It's impossible to determine ahead of time.  My son started as an AO attached to a squadron and he was deployed many times.  Sometimes still in the states but away from home base other times deployed on a ship in the middle east.  As an IS he's been in Afghanistan and is now on a ship in the Gulf area.  But many times he's just been at a shore command.  One thing to keep in mind - - - it's always the needs of the Navy!!!! 

Goat,

Keep us posted as to what he ends up with!!!!

A school is 5 weeks of general IS information.C School is different. It just depends on which one he chooses before you know how long it will last. And you also don't know how long the wait is for classes to start because they want to start a class full not with just a few people. They also need their full attention to their studies. They can't take study material home, it all has to be done on base. My son waited until after he finished C school before they got married. Hope that helps.

A school has changed then. When my son was there, 5 weeks was about the time they phased up to full privileges His A school (and all IS A schools at that time) was 13 weeks and then the C schools were 5- I think about 9 weeks? I don't remember for sure. Someone correct me if I am wrong. After 6 years my mind is a bit more feeble. :-)

.

My son was going the special forces route, but ended up dropping due to injury and just found out he got IS. Since he's already gained weekend privileges, he will retain those when he gets to VA, correct? Also was wondering if there is a FB group for families of sons/daughters in IS? Feel free to send me a private message with a link if it's not allowed to be posted on the page. Thanks!

JinCincy - sent you a friend request, My son is IS, also in VA.

Hello,

I'm new to the Navy and I really appreciate the feedback I've already received!  My daughter has PIR in a couple of weeks and then off to VA the next day. Just wondering what or what not is provided as far as bedding, sheets, blankets, pillows. Is she required to bring her own? Trying to plan what to send her or if she'll have what she needs to carry her over for a week or two. Any feedback, input is appreciated.

Susanr,
Your daughter will be given bedding and such while she's at A and eventually C school. You might want to caution her about taking too much stuff with her to Dam Neck because as soon as she graduates she has to get all her stuff to her next duty station. Also, I will just let you know that some find A school to be rather intense. It is a lot of studying and the studying can only be done in the classrooms because of security. My son switched to IS after spending 4 years as an AO and even as a fleet returnee and all his experience, he really had to buckle down and pay attention to his studies!! He's married and didn't even have his wife stay in VA with him. She was in Colorado until just before his graduation from C school.

Goat,

CONGRATULATIONS on the upcoming marriage!!!!  So happy that things have worked out so smoothly for both of you!!!!!

I was wondering if someone could give me some information. My daughter has been an IS for almost 6 years, but she will now be cross training to a different IS job between her current job and reporting to her new command. Because she will be moving crosscountry, how does she go about moving everything, getting her daughter across country for us to watch while she is at school and finding a new place to live once she is done with training. It seems very complicated with her going from one coast to the other. . I know the Navy will help move her household goods, but when would that happen, before she reports for school or after. Doesn't seem logical for her to keep her apartment for almost 3 months when there will be no one living in it, since school is more then 3 hours from her current command. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

JM,

As far as her household goods she might want to put her stuff in storage until after her school and then put in for her pcs move once she gets to her next duty station and finds a new place to live.  That's what my son did.  How old is her daughter?  Would she be old enough to fly?  I know airlines can arrange for children to fly on their own but I'm sure there are some limitations.  Not too sure how that works, no experience there!!!!

Kids can fly alone but you generally have to pay for someone from the airline to escort them during the trip. The cost varies greatly by the age of the child and the airline. I don't know what the limits are but they are pretty strict about it all nowadays. My niece was 14 and only got out of having an escort because she was flying with my nephew who was 17 at the time. I agree with Anna, temp storage for now...move her things across country later when she sees what her housing situation will be like and when housing will be available.

Our Granddaughter Chloe is almost 4, so she is too young to fly alone. From the sound of it, it would probably be best to keep some thing for her use while in training, put the rest into storage until she is done with her schooling, then have her household goods and furniture moved across country. We will also need to get some of Chloes' things across country too. Just a lot of back and forth trips is what it sounds like. 

Beautiful picture JM! I don't know how to make moves like this easy especially when you have a little one that can't go with you!!!!  Hope it all goes smoothly!

We thought it best for our daughter to go to training on her own so that she could concentrate on her classes. It just means that we will need to go get the little one before our daughter travels to her class location. Figure out what stays and what goes into storage and do some shuffling.

JM,

Sounds like fun!!!   LOL not!!!  But I know you will make the best of it and everything will come together just fine.  Good luck to your daughter on her new training!!!

Hello there... my Sailor just recently started the IS program so I am as much of a newbie as one can be. Any words of wisdom as we start this next phase of Navy life would be appreciated. Thanks!

TJR's Proud Mom,

Congratulations to your son!!  First of all, don't expect to hear a lot from your son once he gets started with classes.  There is much studying to do if they want to do well in the class.  Those in the top spots in their class get first choices of duty stations so competition can be high!!!  Plus all classwork must be done inside the classroom building because of the security nature of their studies.  This means they can't have their phones in there as well.  My son went through in 2009 after already putting in 4 years and he loves his job.  Just earned his 3rd NAM and preparing to take the Chief's test first of next year!!! 

Good luck to your son!!!

I'm just glad he was on hold the first week, because now that classes have started he sounds really busy! He's a great student, having honed his study skills in college, but it sounds like this curriculum is completely different from anything he's used to. Hopefully it won't take very long to get used to this new routine and course load and things will fall into place soon... it's always difficult to be going non-stop all the time! He said he passed his first test and will be spending this weekend studying for the next one. 

Congratulations new Moms and welcome aboard! Our group is not as active as it once was but folks do still join and folks with experience do still drop in, sometimes. As your sailors get out into the fleet and become more settled in their careers, you will find sites like this much less tempting to visit. With all the attention on OPSEC recently and our understanding of how many foreign military and terrorist groups operate, fewer moms are at open pages. Other moms here will support you as much as possible but understand that much of the info that the "older" moms have may be outdated. You will survive and adjust...your sailor will survive and adjust.

Anna, I will get with you and Ellen to see if you can walk her through how to reset the admin for this page. My health is declining pretty quickly and I feel transplant is looming in the nearer future. As such, I will only drop in here on a rare occasion. I know with you and the hubby travelling around the country your internet is limited but I think you are about the only original member left here besides me. We really need to get Ellen to set you up as admin. I will try to call her or message her and tell her that she needs to do it. I enjoy seeing all your awesome pics from the travels! Maybe we can all travel to someplace fun like say, Hawaii sometime!

I wish each of you a very blessed day and I hope when your sailor's journey is finished, you can say, you both enjoyed the ride. Safe travels Anna, call me sometime.

Does anyone know any info about C school graduation in Dam Neck? We're headed there in Sept.  All we know is the date/time and we have reservations in VA Beach. How do you get in the gate?  Does your sailor need to meet you or do they leave your name at the gate?  I gather this is different from PIR.

C school graduation is not as formal as PIR by any means. It is a short, nice ceremony without much pomp and circumstance. I don't know how they do it now but my sailor had to meet us at the gate and escort us to the school where the ceremony was held. They just need to let their instructor know that you are coming and how many will be there. The area is small so I am sure that there is a limit on the number they can allow in but I'm guessing since many families do not attend, they may allow up to 4 or 5? It may also depend on how many C schools are graduating that day. You will enjoy it though and your sailor will want to introduce you to some of his/her shipmates. Have fun.