USS George Washington Sailors

Heatherrose......what a cute smile he has!!! Never thought I'd be so happy that my baby could be "home" so far away, but isn't it wonderful having them back within an easy phone calls reach?

Mom of 2, got Josh's name on my list earlier. I think I'm up to 13or14 now. I'm gonna do my best to hunt each and every one of them down. The "nukes" might be kinda hard, cause I don't know how much access I'll be allowed in that area. It's definitely gonna be a little trickier with so many of them back in their barracks and housing now, but that's not gonna stop me from trying!!!
steph and anchorsmoms.....they are probably running like crazy, getting lots of pics etc of the homecoming. Hope you both get to talk to them soon!!

Mollie, have a very safe, enjoyable trip. I really look forwarding to hearing about all of your adventures.

God to talk to my sailor this evening on Skype ... WONDERFUL!

YAY anchorsmom!!! Siyonara to all.......will be chatting with you from Japan if I get the chance!!!

LOL StephsMom. Guess I was too excited about talking to sailor to proof my posting.

haha. anchorsmom...i was wondering the same thing...such a strange silence. can't speak for the others, but i've been busy trying to get the last minute things together for the wedding! :) my sailor will be here in less than 5 days!!! and yes, i've been enjoying being able to talk to him on the phone for longer periods of time. :)

on another note, i just found out that my work will NOT approve me taking time off to get married and spend time w/ my sailor...so it looks as though i won't be working there past the weekend. :/ they had the nerve to ask me "how much do you need this job?"... that's what's new w/ me!

Good morning! CFSnowmom, I have only chatted with my g'daughter once on Skype. We keep missing each other. :-( Still it is nice to know she is on land again.

abc, I'm sorry you are having work problems. That's a bummer just before your wedding and Christmas just around the corner. What fun it will be to have your sailor at home!

hey everyone! my sailor hasn't had internet connection back in his "beq room" thingy as it was turned off when he deployed..not sure if that's the situation also w/ some of your sailors. he's had to use calling cards or try to use the internet at friend's houses.

as for my job, my manager is a mean man. :( he knew the situation, but was waiting on the FINAL dates i needed off, which i didn't know until recently. ..it took forever for the navy to finally "officially" approve the leave. anyways, that's that! i'd be leaving that job soon anyway, but i guess they don't need me when the holiday rush hits!

yay for everyone who's sailors got to find internet access, wherever it may be! i wonder how mollie is doing right now! i can't wait to hear her stories and see some pictures... as for me, i see my sailor face to face in t-22 hours!!!!

hi everyone! my sailor is NOW arriving in 19 hours. he had to change his flight to one day later. :/ that's the navy for ya! he had to take some test...but he's done now and ready to head to the airport soon. the wedding is friday, so we are cutting it VERY close! still gotta rent the tux, size the rings, get a marriage license, etc, etc...

mollie should have gotten back, if i'm not mistaken...i wouldn't be surprised if she passed out from all the excitement and jetlag. well, signing off now and i'll try to post some pics soon!

I'm baaaaaaack!!! Drove up our drive way at EXACTLY the same time my plane took off from Narita airport. Talk about time travel!! Exhausted, SOOOOOO much to tell you all. ABC..........drat!!! I was watching for your sailor on the bus from Yokosuka. Only caught a handful of your sailors to take pictures of, will download and post tomorrow, along with the beginning of my stories. WOW, is the best word to sum it all up, that's for sure!!!! MUCH more to come in the next few days ladies. It's good to be home though, but it WAS worth it all, my sailor started to cry and was shaking like a leaf. Happy momma......happy sailorette :-)

Good morning ladies............where do I begin??? I'll definitely have to do this in short increments. SO much to tell you all. First of all, we have VERY GOOD reason to be proud of our sailors!!! The mere fact that they can live on that ship for all those months is mind boggeling. Got to see Kelcie's berthing, which in her words is "sweet". 6 girls sleeping in a space that is litterally the size of our bedroom closet! And how in the world they EVER find their way around in that thing????
Won't post pictures until this afternoon when my hubby gets home, as I'm not real techno savvy, and WON'T risk messing these pictures up. I'm sorry to say that I didn't get pictures of very many of the kids :( I got to base on friday evening, and with it being their first weekend "home", they were LONG gone from the GW. Can't say I blame them, that's for sure. I did try though. Kelcie finally said "Mom, put that @&%$ list away"!! heh heh heh
The Japanese people were VERY gracious and helpful THANK HEAVENS. It was very different, being in a country where you don't speak the language.
Our kids either walk their legs off, or they spend a TON of $ on cabs to get around the base. Unless they are E5 or above, they can't have a car on base, and it's a VERY large base to get around on. I stayed at Navy Lodge, which I highly recommend, rooms are very "basic" but clean and nice, and staff was very nice there. I had a room with a small kitchenette so was able to cook a couple of dinners for Kelcie and her BF, who by the way, is indeed a REALLY great kid. Anyway, the room was only $70.00 a night, and based on what I saw while out in town, that was a really good price, plus you can't beat it for convienence.

Bad week this week guys. My sailor has now officially arrived in yokosuka :(

Also just a quick question.... can sailors on the GW have the Rack Packs? I was just poking around but I want to be sure so I dont shell out the money and he cant have it :P

Thank you guys :)

Hi ladies, got my pic's posted, but they are awaiting approval. Karen, your son's pic is in the group. The other pic's of the kids I got went straight to their moms via email :-) What I learned......when you stay at a Japanese hotel, you insert your room card key in a slot by the inside of the door to enable the lights. You HAVE to leave it in, or the lights go off in about 30 seconds. That one only took me about 6 tries to figure out.:-) It doesn't smell at all like the ocean on base. That seemed so wierd to me!! Their seabirds on base are Hawks!!! If the first few bathroom stall doors you push open are "squat potties" keep pushing, you WILL find a regular toilet!!! They drive on the wrong side of the road. Your dollar is only worth about 80 yen at this point in time. Vending machines offer both cold AND hot drinks. At the restaurants we ate at in Yokosuka, you ordered and paid for your meal at a small vending machine, which then dispensed you a "ticket" that you gave to the waitress. Oh yea......the one picture that is nothing but a blur is Kelcie, when she first saw me. hahaha Her boyfriend is NOT a photographer, but that is the ONLY thing about him that wasn't "top knotch".

LittlePony, my g'daughter can have a rack pack so long as it is put up inside her Navy issue curtain. She loves it.

Mollie, I look forward to seeing the pictures. What was Kelsie's reaction to seeing you there?

Are we the only family that did not hear from their sailor since they arrived at the base? We are getting a little nervous. The last call my sister received from Kelley was the week before the storm when she thought she would be back at base for Halloween. Before that, she was havaing such a hard time adjusting to working nights and not sleeping that she called home several times a week.

We are hoping that now that they are back at base, that she is doing so much better that she doesn't have to calll, but we sure would like to know what is happening with her.

From what I'm reading, it sounds like they are having housing problems? She is a E3 so does that mean they must live on the ship? Only the higher ranks get to live in the barracks?

Do you sailors send emails from their home email address like aol.com? Or must they use a millitary email address? Also, how do you get set up for skype?

Kelley, go to Skype.com and download the free program onto your machine. Register for a name. If you don't have a webcam, you will want to purchase one. Then get Kelley to do the same and you will be all set. It works really well ... sometimes. :-) I find it fun to be able to see my g'daughter.

Well ladies, guess I am even LESS techno savvy than I thought. I thought I could figure out how to add pictures right to these posts, but NO SUCH LUCK. Soooooo, Vicky, go on my personal page and look at my photos's to see Seth. It's a rather dimly lit pic, taken at "George's" in The Honch. Yep, the "country" bar that Kelcie and her friends hang out at. Some of my pictures got "edited" because you could read the sailor's name tag :( But I DO understand, just never thought of that!! The "blur" pic is Kelcie, when she first saw me, hahaha. One shot of the "main drag" in Yokosuka, JUST as you leave the base. Other shots taken on base, you can see the bay, and some of the apartment type housing that is on base for the married (and maybe higher ranking) sailors. A couple of shots of Kelcie and I, as well as one of her, her BF and I. One of a Japanese family dressed in traditional style clothes on the street in Yokosuka, although most by far dress in western attire. Sorry, thought I could upload each pic, and attach a description individually, which I probably could do IF ONLY I was more savvy.

Mollie, when you want to upload a picture to a post, click on the camera icon just above the box for writing your post. That will bring up a little box and give you a couple options, one of which is "Upload an image." Click on choose and you can then click on the picture on your computer. When you have the file with the picture highlighted, click on "Choose." You will be returned to the original box for uploading a picture. Click on Add and wait until the system is through doing its thing. You will see a bunch of writing, not the picture, but when you click on Add Comment the picture will appear.

I have a couple of suggestions. One is to make the picture smaller than the original. I assume you are using a Windows-based machine. I think Windows has a photo editor program and you should be able to use that to accomplish this. It will allow the picture to upload faster, especially for us when we look at pictures. Also, I save the smaller pictures on my desktop to make them easier to find.

abc, I'm thinking about you and your sailor today. I pray the wedding goes smoothly.

Thanks SO much DC. I was messing up on the last step. Once I saw all the writing, I was giving up. Will try it again now.
Vicky.....yep, a country bar in Japan, complete with a Confederate flag that covers the whole back wall. I guess a ton of the bars are "themed" Oh yeah, in that "country bar" I saw, but was certainly NOT brave enough to try "Haba Saki" it looked like a sun tea jar full of saki (I assume), but it had a SNAKE coiled up at the bottom of the jar!!! Kelcie explained to me that the snake venom was supposed to shut down your liver for a bit, so that the alcohol could go straight to your blood stream, without being filtered. Allllllllll righty then!!! I'm such a woosy drinker that I CERTAINLY wasn't gonna be trying any of THAT.

ABC..........less than 24 hours and you will be a married woman!!!!

#1 Rob, (the boyfriend) Kelcie and I just in front of the Navy Lodge. It was very windy that last day before I left.
#2 View of Yokosuka Bay from Navy Lodge. The closest building is "Chili's".
#3 The family we saw in town that was dressed in traditional clothing.

Hi Vicky, I'm with you on the Confederate flag. I kind of have a feeling that the bar owners don't really understand what it really stood for here in the U.S. It is probably one of those cultural nuances that the Japanese would not be aware of. But I know Kelcie and her friends like the country music, beer pong and line dancing there. I would certainly like to think that our sailors would never truly support what that flag truly represented.

Glad you are all hearing from your sailors. I actually heard more frequently when they were out to sea, but then again, I hadn't JUST gotten to see her either :-) We don't have high speed internet where we live, just satelite, so skype isn't the greatest for us :(

Carolina.....if your daughter passed the weigh in part of her PT, she will probably be just fine. Kelcie had the running portion of her PT the morning that I left.
Sherrill.....yep, they do go out again for a MUCH shorter cruise before their final stay in port for the winter.
Sandy, I know that ABC's hubby also got a really sweet deal on American Airlines using his military discount. Don't think that travel sights like Expedia, Travelocity etc offer access to military discounts, but I could be wrong. I'd recommend going straight to the Carriers that service your area, either via phone or website and see who offers the best deal. Sometimes, it's worth a few extra $ if the flight schedule of one carrier works much better than anothers.

Carolina, that sounds like an EXCELLENT price for all the way to N.C. Before Kelcie decided not to come home over the Christmas leave times, I was looking and finding prices over $1600.00 just to California, and that was a couple of months ago.
Claudia, I'm with you though, IF Kelcie had come, I probably would have book a flight, discount or NOT.

To those of you whose sailors are coming home soon on leave ... Great! and I am a bit jealous ... okay a lot jealous. My sailor is still waiting to hear if her leave request for mid-January will be approved. I have my fingers crossed.

To those whose sailors are lax in writing, calling or chatting on Skype ... I'm in the same boat. :-( I keep hoping but no luck much. I hope it is just that she is enjoying her time ashore. I know they all need R&R!

Not long ago the Ombudsman wrote about a surprise for our sailors. It appeared that only those in Japan could participate. I wrote to the public affairs officer and found out that we can all participate if we wish. Check it out!

katlanta, yep, that SHORT time frame is kind of rough, what with losing travel days etc. I know that was part of Kelcie's decision NOT to come home for Christmas, she just felt like she would be on a "dead run" the whole time she was here, trying to see everybody that she needed to see. It's good that you and your ex have a good enough relationship to be able to spend time together with him.
anchorsmom.....I'll look, but I think I might have deleted that email, just thinking that there would be no way for us here at home to participate.

hey hey everyone!!! now officially married! :) looks like i've missed quite a bit...will have to go back and catch up when my sailor leaves :( right now, i am just LOVING having him here w/ me! 2 1/2 weeks together is a dream come true. the wedding went smoothly (for the most part). haha. and i've been busy w/ getting my name changed and other paperwork. i got to visit my 1st naval base ever today! i officially got my military dependant i.d. today and have started the process of getting command sponsored. thanks for your kind words and well wishes everyone! (back a few pages)...i will be back w/ pictures :) good night.

Heathrose, I wrote to LCDR Hecht, and he told me that if I sent him a video that was no more than 30 seconds long, I could participate. I have been playing around with creating one and really 30 seconds is plenty long enough to wish them well. So we can participate if we wish. Wouldn't it be a surprise when the first message from stateside comes across the system? :-)

Congratulations, abc! I am so glad to learn that you are officially a military dependent. That's the first step to moving to Japan.

Katlana, I think it is fantastic that your family can work without drama. That makes live so much more pleasant for everyone, especially your sailor.

Mollie, my sailor's shop really wanted her to take her leave during Christmas/New Year time period but she argues that the time is just too short for traveling to Maine, especially in the winter time. She would definitely have to allow two full days to return and pray for no delays. The odds of a delay coming in are pretty high. So we still have fingers crossed that she will get the longer time period in mid/late January approved. No word yet.

E-mail the video. That will take no time at all. I don't know if there is any other way. I have a MAC and have been playing with Quicktime. I think it is going to work ... hope ... hope!

Sherrill....that is SO cool, that they are close enough to get to see each other regularly now.
DC.....okay, I'm jealous of you tech abilities. I'm with stephsmom on this one :( Hope your grandaughters leave time gets ok'd. It is SO hard to go so long without seeing them. We actually have FOG to deal with during winter travel, and that can also cause flight delays. The shorter leave times are just SUCH a crunch for them.
NanaNonie.....glad that your son realized the futility of a relationship when they could only see each other once a year. Sometimes they DO surprise us!!!

Fantastic news, Sherill. BZ to your son

Sherill.....CONGRATS. I know our kids kind of downplay these things, but to us Moms, it is WONDERFUL!!!
Mama Nonie.....so typical of siblings!! Probably even more so with twins :-) :-) My nephew (Kelcie's cousin) is a JAG officer, and he couldn't wait until they were home on leave at the same time, just so he could torment her with one more thing!!!!

Masue, I hope that your son's fracture was clean and will heal quickly. I am so sorry that this happened to him.

Talking about seniority among family ... my brother retired as a CDR and Navy pilot and shortly after my g'daughter reported to P'cola for A school my brother was in Florida. He showed up to take my g'daughter to dinner one evening and when she came down to the quarter deck, he gave her a big hug. She admonished him that no public display was allowed. My brother looked around and told her he outranked everyone present so he wasn't worried. She was, however.

Mama Nonie, it depends upon how much you want to spend. A Kindle is great if your son likes to read ... not so good if he doesn't. iTunes card is nice. My husband gave me one last year and I really like having the funds to buy things. Are there X-box games he would like? Then my students used to always tell me that money was the "best" present ever. When I complained that it wasn't personal, they would tell me that it was better than something they didn't care about. Somehow, I don't really like that.

Tonya, I saw December 1 as well, however, it will take time from the FPO post office to the GW/Japan. I mailed early this week. I wouldn't wait until December 10. Of course, if you mail early, it will arrive immediately and if you mail later, it will arrive in January. And I bet no matter when it arrives it will be opened.

Sue, find a picture of ski pants on-line, print it out and package it up with the money/check/or statement that $xx will be added to his account. Then he has a "present" to open and knows what you would buy if you could.

Just wondering about sending a package to my son. The post office told me that I needed to complete a customs declaration form. Has anyone else had to do that ??

Daphne, You can be rather general about what is in the box. For example, I put toiletries and that covers female hygiene wash, tampons, toothpaste and whatever. Snacks covers anything that can be eaten and I put Christmas goodies for her gifts. I do put the value of the goods. The APO/FPO box requires the long customs form but the small $4.95 one does not. I was also told that the medium priority box also requires the long form. I keep a handful of the forms on hand. I also have a stack of boxes in my closet.

Masue, what is a round house kick?

hey ladies. abc15 here! you guys may have gotten word by now, but n.korea is at it again... wondering and worrying about what's gonna happen next...and if this might affect holiday leave times...

Yep abc, it's all over the news, but VERY little actual info. We all need to be praying that our kids ( and spouses) remain safe, and out of harms way!!!

hi everyone...i'm having mixed feelings right now because i have my sailor right next to me at the moment, yet don't know when i'll be seeing him next. let's all keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. i don't know about you, but i feel like i'm always crossing my fingers these days... on a happier note, i am now 11 days married and it's been absolutely wonderful! haha. here are a few pictures for y'all...1) me & my sailor 2) me & my 2 nieces 3) our "wedding cake" made by yours truly. :)

i'll be back after the weekend. have a wondeful turkey day everyone!

Hello ladies, have not been on in awhile. ABC, so proud and happy for you, what a Blessed wedding! You look absolutely beautiful, such a fine handsome sailor husband. Everyone I pray for our sailors. I appreciate you all. 2 years this Dec since I have seen my sailor. Miss him. I had hoped for holiday time but looks like the Spring. Please share any updated news.

Did get an email from Kelcie last night. Generic stuff, but it was VERY good to hear from her. We were without power all day Sunday and Monday until about 5:00 pm. It was off again for a few hours yesterday, but I think the storm is done at least for a few days now. DON'T want to be without power for very long with them back out to sea!!!