Girlfriends, Fiances,and Wives of Sailors

Here are the liberty phases for Great Lakes, P-cola is nearly identical.  This will give you a good idea of what his time off will be like.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/training-support-center-tsc-great-la...

At first, he must be in uniform, he cannot drive, and he has to have liberty buddies.  He may request that you be his buddy, by putting in a chit.  He will be able to spend overnights on weekends once he reaches phase three.  Only married sailors may apply for Live Ashore if you are wondering.

Aircrew is a secondary training, do you know what specific rating he will be?  

Get through boot camp first, then worry about A school!  Counting Fridays is a good way to handle that.  

My husband is in Great Lakes now for school. He graduated last Friday. I agree with Anti M about getting through RTC first. It really helped me to take it one stage at a time. A school will be much better. He'll still be busy, but will have time to call you in the evenings. I talk to my husband every day now. They told him that when he hits phase 2 he can request overnight weekends, but I don't know if it's that way everywhere. He will eventually come to live with me, but paperwork has to be processed. Your relationship will be okay. Be supportive. Write him a lot of letters. Don't carry on about how much you miss him and if you're upset, find a good friend to talk to. At least while he's in boot. Even in phase one you can check him out in the evenings and on weekends (not for overnight) but keep in mind once classes start he needs to study a lot! I'm in the process of moving up right now, but only plan to sign him out one or two times a week. Studying needs to be his number one goal so that he can choose good orders! Message me if you have questions or need someone to talk to. 

Correct.  Other training commands allow it, but not P-cola.

That is actually not true. Things are changing over here in P- Cola and it depends on your situation and his rate. My husband's rate is CTT 6y so hes been here for 10 months and still has at least 2 to go but the way they did his orders they were initially unaccompanied. He received a temporary off base chit because I had a high risk pregnancy and was supposed to return to the barracks after holiday stand down BUT while they were in holding for C school they changed all of the orders to have the ACC code of 342 (I think it is?) meaning he now has accompanied orders and lives off base with me, as well as the other gentleman with a family in his class. 

That being said he also had to go through soooo much to get his off base chit approved the first time and when I first moved here he had to get a chit to sign a lease. 

After all the bs we have been through here I would suggest you stay where you are now and save money and just come down for visits. The instructors aren't very helpful and if you need help with anything there isn't a guarantee that he will be able to pull away from school to help. 

The Aircrew rating is AW. 

It is further broken down into AWO (Operator), AWV (Avionics), AWF (Mechanical), AWS (Helicopter), and AWR (Technical Helicopter).  AWO, AWV, and AWF are “dry” aircrewmen. AWS and AWR are “wet” aircrewman.   

The pipeline for “dry” AW's is Naval Air Crew Candidacy School (NACCS), A School, then to the airframe specific training squadron, and finally their ultimate operational squadron.  They also go to SERE school sometime after they graduate NACCS. This can be before or after A School or before they arrive at the final duty station or even after. It all depends on when they fall in the pipeline and when classes are scheduled.  

The pipeline for “wet” AW’s is Naval Air Crew Candidacy School (NACCS), Aviation Rescue Swimmer School (ARSS), A School, then to the airframe specific training squadron, and then to their operational squadron.  They also go to SERE school sometime after they graduate NACCS. This can be before or after A School or before they arrive at the final duty station or even after. It all depends on when they fall in the pipeline and when classes are scheduled.  

Be aware that it can take up to 2 to 3 years of schooling and training to get a fully “winged” aircrewman.  It is a very long pipeline.  NACCS is located in Pensacola and so is ARSS.  I can answer general AW and aircrew questions.  My husband is a current AWVC (Chief Naval Aircrewman). 

I know there is a page for letter ideas, but do any girlfriends/wives have any ideas that aren't listed on there? I'm not very creative and I write letters every day, so I want to change things up a bit haha!

Happy Friday to those counting down weeks!

I got my first phone call today!! Hubs left for RTC Mar. 10, but they were filling out paperwork and his commander(?) saw that our anniversary is tommorow so he let him call me and told him to just pretend that he needed to ask me something for the paperwork.  It was just 2 minutes, but we both needed it. <3

For boot camp graduation, no, he cannot.  They have a curfew.

This has a lot of graduation information:

http://navyformoms.com/group/bootcampmoms/page/liberty-during-pir-w...

To live with a spouse during A school, the school must be at least 20 weeks long (stated seat times, not including hold times).  Not every school will allow it.

A few in P-cola, nuke school, AECF in Great Lakes and SECF in Groton are a few, there are more, but not many.

Don't worry about the call. You never know when they're going to be given the opportunity to call and its usually randomly during the day. 

Also, the fact that he didn't sound good shouldn't worry you :) the first few calls home for them are pretty emotional, the first call my sailor got I missed and he left a voicemail on my phone... all it was was him crying and saying he missed and loved me... lol so don't worry they're just experiencing homesickness and adjusting :) I promise as bootcamp goes on the calls will get happier, especially towards the end :) 

Also, I know with my letters it took a bit for him to get them so don't worry he will get them and when he does he will be so happy :) just hang in there and keep writing! 

Every division has to train an Sr to handle the mail (federal law), that takes a couple weeks and is what holds up their mail early on.  It gets better!

Being shy with information is a good practice, however, some stuff is alright.  First names or nicknames, ratings and school locations, and PIR dates.  Even potential PCS locations such as homeports.

NOT okay: last names, home addresses, personal contact info, ship movement, and deployment dates, and speculation about the readiness or morale of any ship or command.   The reason BattleStation dates in boot camp cannot be posted are because they count as ship's movement, and it is an opportunity for the new sailors and their loved ones to practice OPSEC (operational security).

PERSEC is personal security, and most people here are pretty good about it.  I saw a mom post her full name in a discussion, and another mom responded.  Yeah, don't do that, especially if you use that name on FB or other sites.  Eek. 

For a sailor to take a dependent overseas, a couple things have to happen.  He must be an E-4 or above.  E-3 and below are not authorized to have dependents with them overseas.  There are a few rare cases where they get waivers, but most strictly say no.

Second, the dependent must pass overseas screening and receive command sponsorship.  You cannot just go live in a foreign country, the sponsorship means you get a SOFA visa, and can stay, and the command picks up your travel and moving expenses, and takes responsibility for you while overseas.  They make the sailor extend his overseas tour to make it worthwhile to provide sponsorship.  

So not a matter of just doing paperwork, several things have to fall into place.  

Usually a command tries to accommodate holiday leave requests if possible.  Most of the time they split the dates, with some getting Christmas, some getting New Years.  The new guy usually does not get the most desirable dates, a lot depends on the command and the work tempo.  While most commands try to go to a relaxed holiday routine, none stand down like the school commands do.  He can put in a leave request chit a month or two in advance, but rarely more than that.  He can ask his command when the request window opens.  Stay flexible on the dates, and have him start saving up for a plane ticket.

Hey Elise! Welcome! I had and still have many of the same questions as you, however many of them don't have answers that will be the same for all sailors. My husband is in boot camp right now and will also go to corpsman A-school in Texas. HM A-school is not long enough for the navy to move you to Texas, it's only 14 weeks, and it has to be longer than 20 to qualify. This doesn't prevent you from moving there on your own, however your wife will have to live on base in the barracks and you will not be able to live with her. They have phases of liberty and after a month or so there she shoudl be able to leave base for the whole weekend unless she has watch. HM schooling is very demanding however, and she will likely need to spend all of her free time studying.

As far as FMF and being sent on a ship, those are needs of the navy qeustions. You really won't know until she gets orders. From what I can tell, women tend not to get sent FMF as often, but I believe it does happen. Also, corpsman are frequently in hospitals, but again, there's no way to know now if that will be what happens with her as they do get put on ships as well. Corpsman are everywhere sailors are, so technically, she could go literally anywhere.

I hope that has answered some of your questions - feel free to message me and I can share the information that I have found out from my own research. My husband signed up in August and has been at bootcamp for 16 days (not that I'm counting!), and I'm beginning to let go a bit and just get prepared to hang on for the ride. It will definitely be an adventure!

@Elise... HMs can be stationed almost anywhere, although if she goes through FMF, she would be with the Marines.  As a female, more likely a Marine Airwing.

She could be sent to a ship, clinic, hospital.... there are many possibilities.  HM does not have a sea-shore rotation like other ratings.  They go greenside or blueside instead (and I'd have to google that for you, not an area of expertise).

If you move to TX on your own dime, you may be screwed on the PCS move after she graduates.  I'd suggest long weekend visits once she phases up instead.

@katiegc .... care packages:   clean socks, playing cards, salty snacks, well packed cookies, gym, mints, hard candies, jerky, tuna packets, drink mixes and water bottles, water enhancers.

Chocolate melts.  Nerf footballs pollute the ocean forever. Glass is hard to deal with on a ship, so no "cake in a jar" (a pet peeve of mine).  No confetti or glitter.

Send scented items (soap, deodorant, dryer sheets) in separate packages from food, the scents can transfer into the edibles and it is nasty.

Also, nuts, thumbdrives with pictures or movies, popcorn, small magnetic picture frame for his locker or rack, gummy worms (melty?), boxers, magazines and comics.

MY husband is going to be through with boot camp on may 15 and then will go to nuke school in Charleston. Once he puts in his chit for us to move with him. what do i do next?  Does it take a while to get approved to go with him? Does he get leave in between boot camp and school? the recruiters said he might.thank you in advance this helps my anxiety so much!

The base housing in Charleston can be very nice.

http://www.nwscharlestonhomes.com/

You can call the office and ask which neighborhood is open to the students.