AECF - FCs and ETs

Congrats Karla!  Am biting fingernails as son flies home for leave - worrying about all his gear making it with him - but am laughing at myself as he will do just fine around the other side of the world .  My Mom says I will never stop worrying, so I made sure and sent her an email that he landed.  Now to worry til they get here..

Son and all seabags made it here - just relaxing!

So how does one win a NAM? Is it job specific? Who awards it or determines who gets one? Are there a lot issued?

Any sailor can be awarded a NAM, it is for some outstanding performance.  Usually means they went above and beyond in some manner, and are exemplary sailors.  The command puts them up for it, although my memory gets hazy after that.  I'll have to ask my husband, he has a couple.  I've heard the comment they are handed out readily now, but I think what has happened is we know more sailors who earn one because of social media, not because there are more NAMs.  Just an opinion.  

They count for advancement points, so they aren't empty chest candy.

Congrats Maddie Gma - it feels like they have a "profession" after C school!

Hi, I have a question about BAH. Our October to November BAH with dependent was based on Hawaii's zip code (where I reside), and for some reason this month it changed to Great Lakes zip code.  My husband is an E3 currently living in BEQ Great Lakes for A school as an FC.  I am still living in Hawaii. What location should our BAH be based?

I answered in the discussion in the GF group... you may be a victim of regulations (no dependents for E-3 overseas) and the geo-bachelor crackdown.  He must ask PSD, I think you're falling under special circumstances as the zip code used for sailors in training is almost always where the dependent resides.  ALMOST always.

Hello all! I am a Mom who's sailor PIR'd 12-21-2012. My sailor will be flying back to GL on Jan 3rd. He is AECF - FC. Looking forward to chatting with everyone... :)

Welcome MommaJeri

Welcome Jeri:)

Question do our Sailors get liberty on the weekend while in A school at Great Lakes? Reason im asking is i may not be able to make it to graduation next weekend for personal/medical reasons. My husband already knew this but we weren't a 100% sure. If i can't make it up there i would like to come down the following weekend. I was wanting to know if he will be able to hang out with us during the day during the weekend. 

It has been a while since my sailor was at GL but I think they have to class up before they get weekend liberty. So maybe a couple of weeks after PIR. I would wait until your son moves over to the A school side to make any plans.

Okay thank you i will try and figure it out, i hope i can just see my husband next friday but i dont know yet!! So thats why i was hoping if i couldnt go to PIR then i could go the following weekend and he could see us!

goldng8r

tell your hubby to put in his paperwork IMMEDIATELY or live a shore and to get yu approved as his liberty buddy.  unless he is on duty you should be able to sign him out.  you should be able to "keep him" from 8 am - 9 pm.  do you have your id and vehicle stickers yet?  if not, do it.  that way you can actually drive on the base and saves you A LOT of walking.  also, keep in mind that he will have A LOT of rules while on liberty.  follow them, they do have eyes.

enjoy!

OK, now what?? He's done with C School, his ship is out to sea. What is he going to be doing for the next couple months? Can he squeeze in another C school?

depending on how long the ship is out they will more than likely fly him out to it once they reach a port.  otherwise he'll have duty, etc.

He can only get another C school is his ship authorizes it, it would come out of their budget.  Either they'll fly him out to the ship (does he have a passport?)  or he'll be attached to the temporary holding unit.

They're putting him in the temporary holding unit (that sucks). Just wondering what he'll be doing there? Yes, we gave him his passport.

His ship is still out for a couple months or so.

Hold units all do about the same thing: clean, office work, manning a phone, "landscaping" i.e. shoveling snow or raking leaves, just about anything a base might need a warm body to do.  if he's lucky, he'll get assigned to a shop which which has something to do with his rate.  

It does suck, but if he gets down, remind him he's being paid, with a side serving of benefits.  

Hurry up and wait, huh?

The passport could expedite transferring out to the ship.  I know it helped my nephew go to his sub weeks before the guys who were waiting for theirs to be issued.

Well, I just found out he forgot to take his passport. So I don't know if I should send it to him now or wait to see if he needs it? He figured his military ID would suffice?

He was held at (is it TPU?) earlier while waiting for C school and said he hated it, but I was surprised to learn that even the E-5's and E-6's are also standing watch and doing odd jobs while waiting. I would think rank would have it's privileges.

He was telling me about one of his roommates passing through was a Marine. He said the Marine would hit the rack around 2 AM and within a half hour was being called back to duty. Said he did this every night for a month. Was convinced he was a cyborg.

Sometimes the military is sufficient for travel, but if the ship is in a foreign port, a passport makes it easier for the Navy to book civilian travel rather than just using military flights which don't go everywhere.

TPU, THU, there are several acronyms.  Rank usually has privileges, but everyone on hold gets to share in the suckiness.

Marines. heh.  Yeah.

I'm unfamiliar with the pilot schools, but I would assume the ship would direct when he goes back.  Sorry, I just don't know for sure.

Ok I have a really dumb question.  My husband has orders to the USS Wayne E Meyer in San Diego.  But my understanding is there are technically several bases in San Diego and I can't figure out which one he will be at.  I have his orders but all they say is San Diego.  Is it the 32nd Street base??  I am starting to look for housing and want to make sure I find something as close to his "work" as possible.  Especially considering we share a car.  TIA!

Probably 32nd St. However, that is NOT a base which you want to live "close" to.  Not such a great area.  He will be commuting.  Besides, if he is deployed, he won't be needing daily rides.  Look into housing, it isn't "on" base, and it is fairly decent and easy to get into lately.  

Also, SD has good basic public transportation.

I found their FB page, sure looks like 32nd to me!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/USS-WAYNE-E-MEYER-DDG-108/191312000420

Thanks Anti M!  That's what I thought.  I know we don't want to be close exactly but I don't want the commute to be too far either.  I've looked into housing but I think we can find something better and save some of our BAH.  We have a cat so that seriously limits our "base" housing options.

We rented in Birdland, which is above Mission Valley, between Linda Vista and Serra Mesa.  All good choices.  San Diego is a commuting town, and everyone knows how much BAH is.   It can be tough, but it isn't impossible.  We had three cats, so I know there are cat friendly rentals.  Avoid anything near the airport.  Some people like Chula Vista, but I'd skip National City.  

Hi everyone. My son is deployed too. I'm miss him of course but so far I'm ok. He was able to contact me to let me know that he is doing great.

He is a lot happier now that he has solved his sea sickness. I took him to a health-food store while he was home on leave. We found some 100% pure Peppermint oil that contains no spirits- alcohol.  He just puts some under his nose or on his shirt and voila!! No more sea sickness.

Anti M, or Mary,  I have a question. My son emailed me from his ship. I emailed him back on my Barnes and Noble nook HD+. He received that email. I emailed him the next day from my computer and I got a failure notice. He didn't get my email. I have tried from my Iphone, same result. What is going on???

BR549, Godng8r, I am praying with you. This is my son's first deployment. Don't know what to expect.

There's several reasons the email will fail.  The servers might be down, the ship may be in River City, or the incoming filters might be full.  Those emails are all screened, and if the screeners get behind, there can be only a limited number of emails on hold.  Or your email was too large, plus some of the ships can't allow HTML formatting or attachments.  I know sending to my nephew's sub, I have to go plain text or it bounces back.

with the screenings of the emails you have to be careful how you word some things.  a friend of mine was trying to email her about a cat dying and until she reworded it it wouldn't go thru.  strange but i understand not wanting them to learn about a death via email.

while on deployment they are working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.  when my daughter was out she said mostly they sleep on their 12 off.

This is my first time commenting.I appreciate all the good ideas. My son left last Friday, patiently waiting to here something It helps to know I'm not the only one even though that feeling is very strong

Hi everyone...looking for some input please?!  If I understand correctly, all the SR's in the AECF find out at some point in bootcamp whether they will end up an ET or FC correct?  Next question, how long into BC did you find out which of the jobs they had?  Thank you in advance

aww thanks Mary, Proud Mom for your input....I have not had any contact with my SR yet, he is just now starting week 3 of boot...and is in the 900 divisions...so I am asking more for me then him because I have no idea what he knows or doesn't know at this point.  I was just inquiring as to about when they know which direction...ET or FC they will be getting....

My sailor PIRed Oct 5 last year and did learn in later part of boot that he would be training for FC. He had gone in knowing either ET or FC.

On PIR day he moved to the school side and into his new barracks.They had an ATT school before Christmas. So that took about 2 months. When he went back to GL after Christmas stand down (time off) he was ready to start A school.  Then there was another short school he had to take before starting A school. I think it is now time he is starting or just started FC A school During this class 31 weeks I understand he will learn (or chose) his missile he will train on. Once trained on a particular kind of missile that is where he stays for his Navy Career.  Depending on the missile of choice is where his C school assignment will be.  There are 3 C schools for FCs. One in San Diego and 2 in coastal Virginia, one of the Potomac Rv and on near Norfolk. Dahlgren or Dam Neck.

My sailor PIRed 12-21-2012. It was around Week 5 that he got his orders (FC). He is at GL now, waiting to class up & has no idea when that may be.

Hello Ladies, I wanted to ask if anyone knows the requirements for live ashore? I know that he has to fill out the pack and put in the chit but I want to know what are the requirements in order for him to actually be approved? (FYI we been married for almost a year, with a daughter and a baby on the way, and his school is going to be longer then 6 months, also he is E2 if any of that helps)

RebeccaProudWife: thanks, but I meant waiting to start classes for his rate. :)

GoldnG8r: yes, that is what I meant, thanks. :)