USS George Washington Sailors

Woke up to a wonderful surprise, my son on skype back at his apartment!

My son just facebooked, love how he expresses things, thought I'd share.  Shutttle to base... " "That feeling you had when you were riding the bus home on the last day of school before summer break just resurfaced."  

Hahaha!!!! That is too funny! So glad they made it back safely.

I got a text... they are back! I hope they will be there for a while this time to give my sailor some time to breath. He arrived in Japan, did a little training and then was off. He says that this year has all happened so fast he needs to sit and think about things to remember... I laughed and told him that was old age, LOL. He's older at 29. Anyway, happy he is through this first experience. I sure miss him.

Hi everyone!  I follow this group, but rarely comment.  Today I just had to share.....early morning wakeup call from our sailor daughter whom we haven't seen for a year and a half.  Not since she left for Japan.   Plans to come home for 2 weeks in Dec over Christmas!!  Can't wait to see her beautiful face again :-)   She sounds SOOOO happy!!     Happy Thanksgiving to all from this grateful momma!!

Saw some pics of my son sharing tales of his travels with his wife at Atsugi. A wonderful! sight to see his smile!! (Now if I could get him to CALL HOME)...you'd think it was an intergalactic call, rather than Skype...

So I got to talk with my son last night for almost 45 minutes. In 2 weeks I will get to hug him. WOOT WOOT!!! I told him he needed to hurry up and come home so I could fatten him up. He looked like he is withering away to nothing. He told me that is because he has been working out. And that he was going to join a gym to workout while he is here just so I couldn't fatten him up. He said there was mold all over their room. And in the fridge and freezer. They had to throw out 2 chairs. So him and his roommate spent the night cleaning. But he took time out to talk to his MOM. LOVE YOU ASA and WELCOME BACK SAFE AND SOUND. AND TO ALL THE SAILORS ON THE GDUB.

If the sailor lives in base housing or on the ship they do not get their BAH. Which is their housing allowance. If they live off base then they get that money in their checks. When overseas they get what is called a COLA.

Luke's Mom- Katlanta sounds pretty close to it. There are many variables to figuring what a sailor is allotted for housing. I find it all very taxing on my little brain. As long as he is happy and not going broke I am ok. :-)

Wow I'm 1 happy Mom today got to speak to my Sailor last night around 9pm est. So excited for him because he was only in Japan for about 3 days in September before they flew him to meet the ship. Now he can experience life in Japan this is his 1st deployment and he will be there for 3 years.

Got to speak with my sailor this morning....he wants me to send his snowboard...anybody have experience with sending a snowboard in the mail?????

momfrom CT- don't try the USPS "if it fits...it ships". lol  UPS would likely be the better bet. You might try a sporting good store in the area that sells snowboards to see if they have a box left over from a display board. If not, you could get a couple of large sheets of cardboard, sandwich the board in between, then wrap heavy shipping tape all around the board. Be sure it is labeled as "fragile". I will see what I can find out from my son on prices to just buy one there. He and his wife are thinking about a trip North for skiing at Christmas. I will see what they are planning to do. Rent skis or purchase. 

Go to fb Navy Advancement Center's page...names are posted there. Congrats to sailors who made it!

Oh scroll down and the rates are listed in alphabetical order

@ Carol - I can only imagine the excitement being there when the ship arrived. What an experience! I would love to see that.

Congrats to all on their advancement news.

Carol, oh it must have been so exciting.  I so want to meet it sometime, maybe next year.

Congratulations to all those who advanced!!!!!!    My sailor didn't and I'm sure he was so disappointed, that is so hard for a mom far away.  I'm new at this, how often do these tests come around.  He advanced last spring to AE3 and he has been in since Dec 2010.

Carol, CONGRATS!!!!!!!! Isn't it wonderful to see those huge ships come in??? So glad you are enjoying your time. Congrats to all the other sailor who made advancement, they all deserve it.

As for how often the opportunity comes around the answer is twice each year. The spring exam is around March with results around May...fall cycle is around Sept or first part of Oct with results right around Thanksgiving. Very often the first advancement (usually to E3 or E4) comes pretty quickly E5 is harder depending on the job. Like in Intelligence, there are not nearly so many in that rate. At the same time it is a HIGHLY competitive rate and the rate for advancement is low. Only about 15 went to E3 during the exam cycle (many though take their PO national exam before they leave school then get their crow during their 1st duty station). My son always passes the exam with flying colors but always gets squeezed out by one or two points. Along with raw score, there are other factors involved (educational achievments, volunteer work, commendations, experiences, etc). They all carry a certain number of points but can only account fo a certain percentage of the overall grade. Very confusing but they have matrixes to figure all of it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you out there. My son got together with some buddies at Atsugi for a dinner. They are happy to be together and back on dry land.

My Sailor called this morning so....thankful that he still finds the time for me. It's the little things that count.

Happy Thanksgiving all my N4M's friends.  I'm thankful for you all.  

What deadline date would you use for mailing Christmas packages?

God bless each and every one of you.  My heart is aching today, not knowing when my son will ever make it home.  It just reminds me that I'm not alone, and I hope all of you are surrounded by loved ones today.  Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and may all your sailors call home.

So those of you with sailors at Atsugi - we ate our Thanksgiving dinner with them in the galley last night. The food was actually quite good, there was a live band playing, the room was festively decorated, and their CMC's (Master Chiefs) were serving them. Some were having their own celebrations outside their barracks using the bbq grills. Everyone we spoke to seemed to be in good spirits.

We are so thankful to be here. It is a wonderful experience and I would encourage you all to try to make the trip if you possibly can! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you - I know how much you are missing your sailors.

Katlanta, so glad John made it there safely and that his g/f was willing to share that prized moment with you (even if all you got was the touch of a button), at least she thought of you when she saw him. :-D

Carol, so glad you have been enjoying your time with yoour sailor. My son and his wife took food to the bachelor's barracks and then went back home and began cooking for their big feast in the large open area of their apartment building downstairs. He seemed happy to be back home for a little while.

Katlanta, doesn't the sparkle in ones eyes, just make your heart sing. :)

My sailor has mentioned he was looking for flights a few weeks ago and then going for leave,  then he texted dil and told her he had flight and getting leave.  But he is saying nothing!  I'm like we need to know do we send packages or not!!!!  hmm! he has been known to surprise me, but I really want his packages where he is at.  How late would you dare send them?  

Love the picture Katlanta!  Yes she does have sparkles in her eyes.

Thanks Kathy for the hug.  Glad to hear your son is coming back soon. Thanksgiving wasn't really that hard, my son missed it last year and it's never really been one of my favorites.  I wish he would have called, but for whatever reason he only sends me facebook messages. Probably too far to walk to a phone and he didn't pay for the call home plan on his cell so he only has internet connection on it. Now Christmas I might be a basket case so girls get ready to hold me up. 

Carol I sent you a message. 

Awesome pictures CArol.  I am so jealous, I hope some day to be able to see the ship come in to port.  That alone would have been a thrill, but a tour too.  Lucky!

Hi Carol, i would appreciate it if you can share your pictures. I miss my son so much, i talked to him yesterday via Facetime. Would appreciate it if i can see how my son's new world looks like. Or can I send you a friend request? Thanks.

Love skype and voxer! just Sayin!

Congratulations to Petty Officer 3rd Class K. Torrez! Less than 1 1/2 years from E1 to E4. Way to go!

My son seems to have adjusted fairly quickly to Japan life. He was out and about this last weekend and posted some neat pictures on his facebook.   He's been trying to adjust to the cold weather.  Not used to it.  He got the Iphone 5 and is using a Vonage app for calling and the Text Me app for texting. I guess it's working out ok so far. He said with Vonage he gets 3,000 minutes to talk a month. He's not moved onto the ship yet but he is very anxious to! He said he got to see the GW coming into port and that was pretty cool. I'm glad he got to see that! Hope all is well with everyine here :)

Hi, I am new to this page so hello to you all. I enjoyed reading all of the encouraging  posts. You all seem like a great group. I have a question that may or may not be able to be answered here. My son is planning on taking Leave in the spring, Does anyone know of a website that has the best travel rates for airfare?? I am trying to help him look up flights but the prices are overwhelming. Any help is greatly appreciated.

My son will be heading for Japan the beginning of January so we have one more Christmas together... wondering if any of you have ideas for Christmas presents?? He will be traveling there with just his seabag and he's having his other stuff sent home to us for the time being. He doesn't know whether he will be living on base or looking for something off base. I know he has to travel light so I am at a loss as to what to get him for Christmas. I guess I can always get him an GC to the NEX which I probably will do but any other ideas would be appreciated.

Julsburd, One thing that was told to me by a Navy Dad whose son was on the G-dub for a while, and now my son agrees....what is called a hobo knife or a boxcar knife. It not only has a small utility knife but a collapsible fork and spoon. My son has eaten canned items at times and glad to have his. Also a small care pkg to start on (don't put into carry on bag though) until he has a chance to get to the commissary, NEX or a store to get some junk food. I have seen where you can get calling cards at the NEX website.

For Christmas I am getting a webcam for my 50" tv, it has Skype built in. If I could afford it, I would buy one for my son and his wife so we could Skype on larger screens.   

We got our son a divers watch for BC graduation. He loves it. Never late for watch. We are thinking about a sling box for Christmas so he can watch American TV, but haven't heard if it's a good idea from him yet.

Vi~ A sling box? I have never heard of it.

Mary,

As I understand it... LOL, it's a gizmo I would send my son to attach to his computer so he could stream TV. We would have a part hooked up to our TV too. My husband tried to explain to me, but I think my eyes glazed over, LOL. I am pretty computer literate, but I don't like talking computer stuff and just want it to work, LOL. Sorry, maybe someone else could explain better than me. I just know I want him to have it.

Hmmm...I'm not sure when they are on ship that their internet connections are good enough for streaming but it sounds interesting. Do you know if they have American cable channels on the bases there? I know my son was able to watch American baseball, football, movies etc when he was in Korea.

So maybe he DOESN'T need it, LOL. We are grasping here for gift ideas. He's been pretty quiet again, so we just wait it out. We've never been gift givers, not the reason for the holidays for us. I guess that's why it's hard this year. It will be very different around here and I'm keeping busy so I don't melt down AGAIN. LOL, love this place to be able to say that out loud.