Boot Camp Moms (and loved ones)

MyKidsMom, congratulations on the call. Bravo Zulu to your Sailor. So very happy for you, now communication will be so much easier. God Bless

I just received my I'm a sailor call!  Glorious!  Oh, happy day!  My son's 3rd division is 416.  He was with yours in 415 - mykidsmom

Congratulations Mellie, we have another Sailor, so happy for you, may God protect and Bless him in his new adventures.

Shanny-- there is NOTHING worse than back pain!!! If it’s getting worse and worse you may want to get checked for a ruptured disc.. I hope you feel better. I can’t remember if I shared or not but for your sailor as well as all the other New or soon to be sailors, They will want to get renters insurance!!! This will provide coverage for their belongings in the event they are lost or damaged or stolen. Stuff happens but if they had to replace EVERYTHING including uniforms that quickly gets expensive!! It’s rare for ships or barracks to burn but it can happen and the Navy does not cover that loss. Hurricanes can destroy everything left behind and while they may not think they have much, a laptop, Tv and Gaming system can quickly add up! Better safe than sorry.

LadyBluefire-- Yep!! Got down to 1 over night!! BRRRRRRRRR!!!! Glad I had my heated blanket on the bed last night!

MyKidsMom-& Mellie - WHOOP!! WHOOP!!!!WHOOP!!!! SAILORS in the house!!!! Congratulations!!!! One week to survive to get their phone back and you can resume regular communications!!!! You made it!!!
Mellie-- You especially had longer than most so YEA!!!!!

Congratulations Mellie on your Sailor!

Thank you ladies!  I'm afraid to ask this question.  Will it be a LONG time before I get to see him in person again?  Like another 9 months?  He's headed to A school in Pensacola sometime in the near future.  

BelovedbyHim:  thank you so much for the suggestion!  I can’t believe I didn’t think of it!  I used to be an office manager for an insurance agency. Sent the info to my sailor and told him to call my old boss (he was military as well) to see if he can help or tell him what to ask for and who to contact. I am assuming he would need an address for his duty station?  If he ever gets there that is.  I didn’t do a lot of policies for renters but I am trying to picture the form...  size of building and neighborhood were both important. That much I remember...  

the pain is down the left side and I am pretty sure it’s muscular. Nothing really hurts around the spine. But if it is still this bad tomorrow I will call the doctor. 

SO EXCITED TO SEE WE HAVE A COUPLE OF NEW SAILORS!!!  Congrats MyKidsMom and Mellie!!!! 

Mellie I am so sorry, I wish all of you could of experienced the PIR it was Fabulous! I think until this Covid goes away if ever and when they open it for visits. He may be able to put a chit in for Christmas and come home but then that's if they open up the travel. it is really hard to say the way things are going.

Mellie:  my son is in Pensacola right now for A School. If I lived closer, I could make the trip to see him but I would need to drive and it is about a 15 hour drive. Flying could require me to quarantine for 14 days before seeing him. He said to wait until he gets to his duty station since he isn’t supposed to be there long. They have weekend liberty right now. They can leave base during certain hours. So it is possible. Other than that is up to their commands as far as them getting leave and their COVID issues. 

Hi all!!  I had to pop on and say congratuations!! Mellie especially when I saw the note, I was like YESS!!  Finally, and you haven't even been with us that long but we know how long this has been for your son and you!! 

Bravo Zulu also to MyKidsMom - wow that is one big bumper sticker!! :-)

So we have had freezing rain and sleet here in OK and our trees have not even lost their leaves yet, so keeping an eye and ear out for sights and sounds around my house. I just had to pop on and rejoice. If I missed someone, I only looked at a couple of email messages.

Mellie - It is very hard to tell on the leave chits for the holidays. Maybe one of the moms who has a sailor in Pensacola will chime in. The different commands are all dealing with things differently and so it will be best for him to just wait and see.

Mellie: once they get to A School and phase up they can ask for a chit and get a weekend off. You probably will have to drive though. I got to spend a day and a half with mine. It was a long drive 54 hours total but I really needed to see he was happy and doing well. Don't give up hope, you will find a way, maybe not exactly what you were hoping for but in the Navy we learn to compromise most of the time. Prayers you will see him soon.

Mellie- Congratulations to you and your sailor!! HOOYAH!!
 I bet you are so relieved that he’s finally crossed that Boot camp finish line! So happy for you both! 

Shanny - Hey lady, my son came home with (possibly) the same pain during tennis practice. Sent him to his knees. Anyhow we looked up ways to relieve the pain and this is what I found. I hope this helps. https://youtu.be/Nf3lswVsJ1g But this seriously helped him to actually get off the floor. 

Shanny - these guys are very informative and you could watch the whole thing or you could jump to 4:15 and then 7:00 and get the stretches

Anchors Aweigh❤️⚓️ - a link to a beautiful Performance of Anchors Aweigh 

Have a Good evening! until tomorrow

Ok.... So I guess I posted this in the wrong place yesterday!!

Shanny-- OH Yes!! No trash in the trash can but there better be a bag in it and it better be clean!! I never understood that one either! Something about attention to detail but it struck me as silly!

 Kristel2400, VintageGal, Jen(OS Mom), MyKidsMom, rebecca1957-- I have all of you on this weeks list. Do I have that right? Anyone else? 

VintageGal-- Your reading nook sounds lovely!! I spent the day trying not to get killed and or freeze to death!! Frozen roads and a High of 19 today!! It’s snowed all day and I have been trying to get caught up on a week of FB and posts here. Anyone want my temps?? (It’s 12 right now at 8:30 pm and expected to go into single digits overnight!) I hope all those evacuated from their homes got their home winterized before they had to flee-- otherwise there may be a lot of frozen and busted pipes!!

belovedbyHim, nope don't want those temps, I will stick with my balmy 33 thank you. Don't want no damage but hoping that hurricane can push some of those warmer temperatures up north. Have a peaceful night.

Shanny-- USAA Is great for Military Insurance. They offer an affordable option geared directly toward the needs of Military personal. If you use Oils I have a great blend that has helped me a ton!! You may also want to try Sciatica exercises to see if those stretches help.

Mellie-- It’s hard to say either way. Most likely there will be a chance at the holiday stand down but it’s the Navy in the age of COVID so there is no way to say 100%. either way. If they do come home they may have to quarantine for 2 weeks following so keep that in mind.

VintageGal and Northwoodsmom-- Those were the Sunday temps.  It was just as cold today and I just choose to stay home and make a Big pot of Beef stew!! 
Vintage-- Yes I read "Before We Were Yours"  The Ending made me bawl!!! (Not good when you are driving cross country aloneish... My youngest was in his car following me. when he moved back home in March!  Right before all Heck broke loose with nationwide shut downs!!)

BelovedbyHim:  my son called my boss to find out some info about it but he only does insurance in Michigan. He is going to research it and try to advise him. I told him to call USAA because when I went to their website, their rates were really good. And told him it would be better to have someone who understand the unique situation of being Navy on a ship. He trusts my former boss (he is a great guy, just difficult for me to work with) and I know he will tell him to go USAA. He believes in being honest. 
the only essential oils I have is peppermint. My sister in law’s family owns a peppermint farm. I have a bottle of pure peppermint they gave me for migraines. It’s amazing. The pain is on the left above my waist and down through the top of my butt cheek. I’m doing heat at the moment but not seeing a lot of relief

Shanny-- I have had issues with sciatica for YEARS!!! (Bad water skiing accident started it)  Try Ice.  I never got relief with heat but Ice worked wonders!! (Also OTC-- Aspercream really does help when it's unbearable)

SAILORS IN THE HOUSE!!!! WHOO HOO THAT IS AWESOME!!! 

CONGRATULATIONS TO MELLIE AND MYKIDSMOM. MAY GOD PROTECT THEM AND WATCH OVER THEM AS THEY BEGIN THEIR NEW JOURNEY. 

LBF- Mine is not in A school it's another training that he has to do.  :) Thank you for asking.  :)

Shanny- That's pretty neat about the peppermint farm. Never seen one of those before. 

Mellie- It is hard to say about travel. I'm hoping as well for mine to. we just don't know yet. With the numbers going up in different states it will depend on what the Navy will issue for restrictions again. 

VintageGal- Love that picture and that song!!  :)

belovedbyHim- Mmmm beef stew is one of my favorites. Stay warm tonight we were a cool 61 today. Yes!!!

What were those exercise or that link you were telling Shanny about? That's what I have and my back is always bothering me. Ugh!!! Thanks a bunch.    :)

Another busy day for me today. Another day closer for you ladies to. Hope everyone had a great day!!!

God Bless and have a great night!!!!

Good Night Everyone!! 

It is good to see some of our new members posting and asking questions! 

Staying hopeful for all the rest of you that are waiting for your calls.

Shanny, Yes, we are use to tornadoes in Oklahoma, we are also use to freezing rain in Oct. although it is still a little early. The trees have not even dropped their leaves yet!

C'sMom  - I am hopeful that with your mom being on Hospice that you will be able to visit her. It is so important for our family members to know that we can be near them. 

Relieving sciatic pain - link

LadyBlueFire- i’ve been thinking the same thing I can’t wait to hear if he took the RPOC job. I see that I have an SB letter on its way. I’m so excited to read the latest news! 

Shoosh- Hey sister, I read your post and your extra blog post as well. I understand all of those feelings that you had and the emotional toll that it took. I can see that your daughter exudes confidence and maturity by her picture. I can tell by her strong beautiful mother that she has taught her and brought her up well. She also has her guardian angel :) 
I’m glad that you ran with your own instinct and sent a letter to her last address! I’m glad that she’s doing wrong and like my son, when he was in ROM, it sounds like she’s getting in some good reading. My son read... a Janet Evanovich book that he said was hilarious (I have a few so I know how fun they can be), Make Your Bed, and Finders Keepers a Stephen King book. He said now I know why you can read hours on end! 
I’m glad you’re finding comfort and it looks like it’s almost over! Time to get back towards the finish line! (((((BNMH)))))

Partyofseven-- You can google them but this gal has good videos of the same exercises my Dr gave me..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAYFy06z5Bs

BelovedByHim - Yes, add us to your prayers for this week. We are expecting a sailor this week too! Thank you!

Good Morning Everyone!!

I do not like waking up to the sound of our beloved trees breaking under the weight of ice on their leaf laden branches!! It is such a sad sound to me. I would much prefer snow!!

Kim/Tory and all the rest who are still waiting patiently or not so patiently for your Sailor phone calls, I am waiting right along with you!!

Today is another deadline day for me, so I need to be focused on that and not on my computer much. But I am so glad to rejoice with those who are rejoicing and waiting for news with those who are in the silence. It might not seem like it now but BC is training time for you as well and if you stick with us, we will be glad to give you more pointers and encouragement as you continue on your Navy journey with your loved one. 

Velvetenor, Northwoodsmom, Shanny, Gigi, Mater Nauta and some of our other recent graduates - It is so good to see you sticking around and helping out to answer questions on here. This site is as much about teamwork as what our sailors are learning. We all have different experiences and different perspectives to share. Thank you for sharing yours!

Shanny - I hope your back gets better soon, I need to watch some of those video links posted. 

Now for my funny - I was going to post this yesterday but the timing wasn't right. My youngest pretty much taught himself to read and his favorite books were the Baby Blues comic books his older brother would check out from the library. He shared this one from yesterday. I thought some of our teachers could appreciate or maybe not - but it was cute.

Baby Blues - Oct 26 2020

One benefit of online virtual school - well the public schools all closed for ice - but Whoopie No snow day - because everyone is online today. But I am thankful my adult kids can work from home and not drive in the ice. Hubby's route is easy thankfully!

I may need to put on my rejoicing music today! With my hot chocolate!

Good Morning Ladies,

Another day closer to PIR! 

Chipmunk- I hope you’re able to get a lot done today and meet your deadline!  i’m sorry that you woke up to the sound of branches breaking!

I’ll have to check out that book that’s a sweet story. That’s funny I thought about it yesterday but it was so cold and windy it would’ve been a day that our principal would’ve brought us in side. We don’t get snow but once every 10 years it seems like so cold winds are our snow day.

partyofseven- I’m glad you liked the picture and song :) I love listening to that now and again. I told my son that I learned the words to anchors aweigh and he laughed- he said he has to sing that every day :)

Kim, Kristel2400, and other families who awaiting your SAILOR calls-(((((BNMH))))) keep your phones right next to you and your ringers on high! No doubt you are! Every time my phone rings my stomach drops! This is a very exciting and nerve-racking time and I only can say is say your prayers and light your candles <3

shoosh - I noticed that I had a typo in my post to you. I said I’m glad that she’s doing wrong but I meant to say I’m glad that she’s doing well in ROM! Geeezzz

I hope you’re having a good morning <3

Good Morning! Will catch up in a bit. I wanted to share what I was working on. It is a map of the formation for PIR. If your SR is a stick they will be in the front of one of the 2 sections (port/starboard). If they are a Port watch leader, Starboard Watch leader, section leader, Yeoman, MA, RPOC or RLCPO aka AROC then they will be easy to figure out. Those positions in marching are set. The rest of the division will be moved around as needed as some ASMO out etc.

So if you can't find your child and they tell you where they were based on those key positions you will have a  good chance of finding them.

The # of rows after section leader vary - I just did not want to draw that many, lol.

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Good Morning Navy Moms and all, Happy Tuesday Morning to you all. Whewwwww, woke up this morning and it was chilly inside, doesn't help that I had all the fans going lol! It is a chilly willy Morning here in Phoenix, and I LOVE IT! up North is getting a lot of snow already what a change it is!

Wishing you all the best today!

Good Morning to all the Admins who have been up pretty early posting. But I guess it is the Hours difference we have. 7:49 here in Phoenix right now. I get up at 4 but have things to do prior to getting ready, so I post when I can. Have a Good Productive day Admins!

Here is today's scripture:

Prayer to start this day off:

Heavenly Father, thank You for Jesus, and His sacrificial work on the cross. Thank You that He has already overcome the world.. and that by faith in Him, I too am an overcomer. Thank You that I have been born of the Spirit and have been clothed in His righteousness, and thank You that I am accepted in Christ. May I submit my life to You entirely, and live each day in spirit and truth, to Your praise and glory - this I ask in Jesus name. AMEN.

For those that are New Welcome! I will post some sites for you to begin to read so you will know what will happen first when your Loved One arrives.

First-- The Quarantine Edition  

 Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA) and Fitness Improvement Training (FIT).

See Things to Do in the Last Month Before Your Future Sailor Leaves for....)

See Arrival and What Happens at RTC and Ship/Division--How it Works.

 039, 040 ,041, 042, 043, 044, 045, 046, 047, 048, 049, 050, 805, 806

Kristel - that is too funny about your SR falling asleep. I hope that scare did not ruin his ability to sleep thru anything - that is a skill he will want on a carrier!

NewNavyMom - welcome! If your SR hasn’t done so have him start running a mile and a half every day! The running is THE biggest issue I have seen with failed PFAs.

Vintage - of course you have a tree up! I have to find that post again cause I did not have my glasses on or coffee in my system so I only noticed it was a tree, lol. OMG seeing it again - LOVE the sailor ornament!!!!!!!!! I want!!! I love Bob and Brad!!!! I wish they were my PTs! I hate back pain - got into a car accident 18 years ago and my back has never been the same...

Mellie - yay for the I’m a Sailor call!!!!!!!!!!!! BEST feeling! Pensacola has visitation ability - I think for both bases now. It was just Corry for a bit and I think NAS now too…

Shanny - I am inland enough that the hurricanes won;t hit me directly but if a few years ago proved anything it is that I am not immune to damage. We lost 40 trees and none of them were the dead ones we wanted gone. Then we had 4 feet of water in our backyard for months due to a river flooding...we bought kayaks and my kids had to kayak to take the garbage out to the back. (we have no garage to store garbage for the week). You need to see a chiropractor!!!

BBH - you can keep your temps! Though Colorado is gorgeous and I thoroughly enjoyed riding the Durango/Silverton train last year :)

Chipmunk - thanks for that much needed laugh - that cartoon is SPOT on for me, ha!

MyKidsMom - kudos to your new sailor!!!!

I still can’t reconcile how one of my sailors CAN take off for Christmas, CAN fly commercial and NOT have to ROM after - but cannot come home because we are outside the leave circle. They can catch the Rona at the airport just as easily as they can where I live and just as easily as they can when they go off base on liberty! And I can visit them too (no restrictions) so I just do not understand the logic.

Hello Ladies,

It's been a while since I've been on as my sailor has almost completed his A School. But I come to this group because you have insightful and are knowledgeable, unlike a first time Navy mom like me. 

So here is background and a question: As I said, my sailor is just about done with his A School in the HM-ATF pipeline. Part of his training is rigorous physical training before school each day. He has injured his knee which will be treated with cortisone injection. We are praying that will do the trick although there may be damage to the miniscus. Naturally, I am worried (mom reaction here). He says his two options are to "power through" and proceed to his next training location, or to "DOR" Drop on Request. DOR means a change in his rating. Does anyone know of this type of situation and consequences of DOR?

I do thank you. 

If someone could please chime in and answer Mrs. Luci's question I would appreciate it, Thank You!

Luci, chances are he would be rerated entirely, although there have been cases where they just get to be a conventional HM.  He could even go undesignated, but that would be less likely.  He needs to think about blowing out his knee ... if he does, he's in for years of frustration and potentially LIMDU (limited duty).  It's a tough decision.  

Ladybluefire... "Logic", ha. Hahahahaaaha.  Oh, surely there's a reason, but it will always be opaque as mud to us.  

Anti M - yes my use of the word logic was tongue in cheek. There is no logic.

Luci - sorry to hear the difficulties your son is facing. As Anti M said - he needs to think long and hard about causing permanent damage to his knees.

LadyBluefire:  he woke me up at 5:30 my time so 4:30 am his to tel me he is under a Tropical Storm Warning and Storm Surge Warning. I have my phone set to do not disturb except his number so when he texted it went off. Not sure what he is doing (they are at Readiness 2 right now. But he hasn’t opened or read my messages yet this morning. Hoping he didn’t wait until the last minute to stock up. Last time he and his roommate stocked up on food and water a week before. His roommates have graduated and are in fleet now and he is the roommate with experience as the other two are new. 

I am seriously weighing my options on this back thing. It felt better after a hot shower but has tightened back up again. The rest of my leaves may not get taken care of since I can’t handle riding the mower and emptying the lawn sweeper...  (this irrationally irritates me lol) going to try the videos people have posted because life needs to move on!  I’m out of coffee and can’t just sit here anymore. Priorities in life!

My daughter saw my little diagram and wanted me to tweak it, not that those who have flag holders will have much trouble finding your SRs!

The first full row of flags are sticks 1-3 (L-R) and then 4-6 (L-R) next section. Those are the 6 flags they have to earn (except the division designed flag - stick 1) so you may see someone without a flag in a #1 spot on the PIR.

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Shanny - lol - that is too early for me! It is just a warning. I just can't believe we have had so many hurricanes this year we already used up the alphabet twice!

Good he is the wisened one who can show the way to the others :)