Boot Camp Moms (and loved ones)

Good Morning Ladies and welcome to our new moms and the ones that just joined!!! Come and introduce yourselves and let us know where you are in your journey.

VintageGal- Sorry I read your post and then I fell asleep. Lol 

I love it that's exactly what the cats do when his door is open. They sleep on his bed or right by the bed. Our dog will go in there from time to time but it's mostly the cats that like to go in there. 

I know right me to. That's why I don't mind when they all come over and hang out. And it's so good to see them all isn't it?  :)

I'll check it out of course I have to write all this stuff down so I don't forget!!  Lol

BBH- That's exactly what we do in my house.

Anti M- Hope your keeping warm in all that cold. 

Stay safe and healthy out there ladies, God Bless and have a great Sonday!!!

NWM - how awesome to have found a kindred spirit!!!

Leslie - it is miserable, but as slow as these days go, once you get past them they also feel like they went by fast. I had my oldest 4 ship out this year (Feb-Aug) and it was tortuous. This group kept me sane. (ish) You will get through this!!

Shanny - Oh Mylanta! I am just about in tears for you! What a wonderful surprise and that little rascal! I can;t believe your neighbors knew! Well, I wonder how much we will see you for this visit? Lol - get all the snuggles and hugs in you can! Love on that manchild of yours!! So he is doing RAP duty. A good way around not enough leave.

Vintage - when he finally convinced his CMC that it was indeed camel the CMC said “I’ll take care of this!” (meaning stop it) and my husband was like please don;t it is so good! My husband told our sailors when you eat food in other countries DONT ask what it is. Just eat it and enjoy it..

Awww, the poor dog misses your son too. Just turn a blind eye to the dog hair and “see the forest”

BBH - yes, you can be wordy too, lol. I hate pasting it in the box only to be told I talked too much!

Party - my son is doing well (the one on the Ford) by other sailors do you mean ship mates or my other sailor kids? Lol. #1 is on her 2nd and final C school, #2 is on the Ford, #3 is on a barge as the Lincoln is in SLEP and #4 graduated CS school and we are waiting to see where he will be in holding for months before sub school and bummed that he could not come home in between as it will be MONTHS of holding… If my son (12 y/o) was not here I would not have any Christmas decorations up. He enjoyed decorating the tree (with the help of his plush Pokemon) and he enjoyed designing the front yard lights on the trees.. We have a snowman that counts down to Christmas and an advent cloth Christmas tree he enjoys keeping up.

Navy Moms: I wanted to mention this to all of you because all of you being Blessed into motherhood have cried endless tears for your children. Navy Moms probably more so than others. God records all your tears in His scrolls. Psalms 56:8. Some versions say He catches them in a bottle. Your tears are not unseen and the best way to help yourself through the struggle is to help someone through theirs.  This site is truly a Blessing to all of us no matter where we are through our journey. Thankful for All of You.

Friday night we played jackboxtv with sailor #1 and her BF (soon to be fiance I think) and 2 of their friends. It was so much fun! 

We do it over zoom - not as good as in person but better than nothing!

Well, have a great SONday ladies!

Well ladies, it is 10:27 am and still not a sound from my Sailor. Pretty sure he was dead serious when he said he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. Nothing like a good night sleep in Your own bed!!  

Leslie- Good Morning,

That's why I said what I did about sandboxx. :) I have learned from the other moms about it since I didn't use it.

Northwoodsmom-That is beautiful, thank you.  :)

Shanny- yay for him being home and for him sleeping in. :)

LadyBlueFire- I love it and yes I was asking about all your kids :) and the Sailors on the Ford.

I am glad you are decorating thou. It still helps me even when I'm sad. 

I'm sorry that he couldn't come home and I it's truly a bummer that they have to wait so long before they can start school. With this virus and the cleaning it's holding the line up so to speak. Lol Anyways, I hope the ball starts rolling soon for all the Sailor's to be able to start their classes. 

I have a advent cloth to and I love mine. 

That sounds like so much fun, glad you guys had a good time!!

Leslie,

You are very welcome. :) 

Hello everyone!!  I am still working on catching up since I have been enjoying some good family time and soaked up some grandbaby memories. She had so much fun looking at all the Christmas lights and pointing to them.

Jacksmom17 - Congratulations!!  WooHoo!! Sailor. I can relate to you watching the PIR over and over again. Even though we got to go to the live PIR, family could not, so I watched the video over and over so that I could mark all the places were where you could see my sailor. I was sooo proud of him - still am. 

Do you know what his Nuke Rate is? That is how you address their mail. 

Shanny- Did I gather you have a sleeping sailor in your house??!!! WooHoo - some magic seems to have happened after all and I guess leave got granted to come home!!

I think someone was asking about leave time for the sailors. I always will stand corrected, but this is what I recall my son telling me. They earn 30 days of vacation each year. They are also only allowed to roll over so many days to the next year, but I believe there has been an extension on that due to COVID.  The sailors are also allowed to borrow leave time, this is especially common their first year. If they are allowed to take a 30 day leave time for their travel between A school and 1st duty station, there are a certain # of days that are allowed for travel and I don't think those count against their leave time, but any other days off are counted as leave. 

My sailor has never tried to work at the recruiting office to make up leave time. At this point, being 3 + years in with a couple more to go, my son probably has more leave time built up, that hopefully he will not loose, than what he has been allowed to take off due to COVID and his work schedule. So, in many cases, your sailor might not need to "work" during their leave time. 

CHIPMUNK:  he tricked me!  Everyone knew but me. Even the neighbors knew lol. He had originally been denied leave. But the denial came through Pensacola. He ended up requesting it through Norfolk and was granted because of the current status of his ship. He is awake and the food requests have started. Just went to an Amish store and got some breakfast sausage. Currently making sausage gravy and biscuits. Got enough sausage so he can have breakfast burritos tomorrow. 

Good Morning Chipmunk,

Glad u got to see that grandbaby of yours. They are the bomb aren't they? 

Yes those days are counted when they are traveling between A school and or duty to duty it doesnt count against them. But since mine's is a little different I was going to ask him how that worked to? It will probably be the same but it's good to know. :) 

Shanny- I love it. I fixed sausage gravy and biscuits this morning to. Enjoy your breakfast and your day together. :) 

BBH- I read that this morning to. It gets me every time. 

belovedbyHim, you keep this up God is going to run out of scrolls to record our Navy Mom tears.

Well, he has his dog and his dog is happy to have his human home!  He slept 13 1/2 hours. Woke up to the recruiter telling him to take today and rest up and so what he wants then if he still wants to come in to come tomorrow but he doesn’t have much for him to do because they can’t do school visits.  But he said they would like to talk to him to get info on BC during COVID. He just went back to his room. Said he is still tired after 3 helpings of sausage gravy and biscuits

Belovedbyhim-Thank you for the post and the warning.  

Shanny-I am so happy for you.  What a wonderful surprise.  Enjoy every moment! 

Leslie-Welcome.  I am currently waiting on the letter from my son that has his mailing address. Hopefully he is out of ROM and has started bootcamp. I have been writing a letter everyday and cant wait until I can mail them. But I do plan on sending my first letter through Sandboxx just so he can get it faster.  I do wonder how many people will read it before my son.

BelovedbyHim - I think you have posted another Christmas story but I shared the first one with my husband while he was driving. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him pull his cloth handkerchief from his pocket. After I was finished reading, he said "send that to me!!" It touched him!!.

VintageGal - And anyone else, if you all are in a location where you might be able to direct me to a London Fog type trench coat for my husband for Christmas, I would be most gracious. I bought him a raincoat slicker (full length) probably about 10 years ago at our local wholesale club. It was a raincoat with the zip out inner cold weather liner and I didn't know if he would like it, but needless to say, he has worn it out. Trying to find something he wants though has been next to impossible. He doesn't want to order online and have to mess with returning it, but I am getting desperate - this was supposed to have been last year's present!!

I also get him Cherry Chocolates every year and a Cartoons by Josh Calendar for him that is something he wants every year. I bought one for my sailor as well. And did I post on this group my X-scope that I bought for my sailor?  I bought an external hard drive, I think for my sailor. Actually, he bought it from Best Buy and picked it up and I sent money to his account for him to have it. 

VintageGal - We are rocking out in the car to "Jesus Freak" - DC Talk -  My husband's opinion is - Loud music should be played loud - soft, classical music should be played appropriately.!

Shanny - I am doing the happy dance - as best as I can while sitting in a car!!   Oh - my sailor would never pull a trick like that on me - He knows me too well to know how much I would freak out if my schedule was changed somehow because he showed up unexpectedly!! Even though I would be just as happy to have him home. Actually, he also knows, I would probably figure it out anyway. Like I had told you about following their flight - if I had false information or something - well anyway - I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!! - Glad we have found your lost puppy and that his puppy has his master home for a bit.

Remind him that he is allowed to borrow his leave time and he may not get a chance to be home again for awhile -so if he doesn't want to "work" it, like I think I mentioned already - he doesn't have to. Okay, well we know where lost puppy is and I am glad that things actually worked out for what we were hoping for!! Enjoy - and who knows, maybe your mom had an idea and was trying to just jib you about the decorations - but don't feel any pressure to have decorations. Do what works for you. 

Ladybluefire - They are not planning on doing Christmas Day or maybe morning with anyone - but considering we have to travel a days drive currently, I don't know what Christmas will look like next year, which is to be our holiday together. Then again Thanksgiving was to be our holiday and I got sick so we had to do some rearranging with that one. That is why the baby 1st birthday was so important and she knew that as well, so they were trying to distance and let me get well. I am just not a good patient and I don't like things interrupting my plans. 

Shanny - I am glad that he got his leave approved through his new command. I was even thinking, surely they would be able to work something out, especially when all of us in the KNOW, knew the situation with his ship. Glad you have stocked up on food now. - I am still reading backwards on some of the posts here and earlier I was reading each on on my emails so that I could delete them. Not very systematic but it was working sort of. 

Northwoodsmom - I am so happy that you got to meet up with your Navy Nuke mom!! I am sure that you will develop a special bond and having someone close and able to talk to will be nice! I know this Christmas is going to be hard for your family but like you said, pull up the big girl panties and get the job done. It is not easy, going through family memories and to some extent having to box up and remove, but just like with our sailors, it doesn't necessarily get easier and we don't even always feel like we get stronger, but God eases the pain as we learn to keep moving forward with our own lives. We were driving along a stretch of road today, and I had just woken from a "catnap" and noticed the landscape. It just struck me and I told my husband - "I remember one of the last times we were driving this stretch back from home and Mom had been so worried about us driving because of 70 mph winds they were predicting." It was about the same time of year with the sky so blue and sun shining. Those thoughts and memories will come. They make us teary eyed or sentimental - but we learn to embrace them and roll with them. 

It is the same with our sailors - and honestly for me with all of my other children. It is slightly different, but I have to let each of my five children leave home and find their way - and being able to do that more and more and some days easier than others - is because of my mother!! She taught me how important to let all of her children go and only now, do I realize just how much of a sacrifice that was for her that we never lived closer or near by for so many years. So, when I know that I may not be able to see my grandbaby on Christmas Day, I pull up my big girl panties and I make a birthday cake instead and I embrace what time I do get to have with her and I even don't get upset when she doesn't want to come to g'ma because she is just not use to me as much ( but I still know that I bonded with her when she was first born and that will always be there. ) 

Chipmunk:  he sent me the info for the first leg of the trip when he took a snapchat picture to show me they had moved him to first class-first row with extra leg room. I saw the flight number and wrote it down. The second part of the trip, he didn't message me except to say he was on a layover but had landed in Charlotte. I kept asking for his flight number so I could know he landed ok in case he was too busy once he landed. Never heard anything until he walked in the door. 

Can tell he is home...  his former boss just called and asked him to come to his new house and help him move a couch. He just built a house a couple miles from us. I told him to be careful and not hurt himself!!!

Shanny - LOL!!  I love the picture. 

Good Afternoon Partyofseven - I am not ignoring you, I am just still reading through all of these posts. Goodness, I am just riding in the car and it has taken me most of our trip home!! I know different sailors have done different things, but mine was never concerned about "working" for his leave time. Even when he first came home, they were on Christmas stand down, so they had to either take all of the leave option or none of it. He took it and borrowed. Then when he left Prototype, at that time most of them were able to take their 30 day leave as they also traveled to their duty station. He might have "borrowed" some but now, I am fairly certain he has more leave accrued than they have been allowed to take because of all hands on deck with their ship and the "bubble" due to being in and out of port on underways. Their command built in leave time for the sailors which included 14 day ROMS afterwards for those who traveled commercial flights to see family. Each command is different and it is definitely harder for those going from BC to A school and even to duty station. 

I was going to give a suggestion to you and VintageGal and others with pets. Our dogs were never allowed on the furniture (unlike on my husband's side of the family - so that was a get use to issue for me) but the cats were always allowed on the beds, unless you kept a door closed. So, my mother always kept an extra older flat sheet on the bed, or a lighter weight blanket that she would lay over the comforter, bedspread, or family quilt that the cats could lay on. That way the cat hair went on it and it was easy for her to pull and wash and helped prevent the pet hair from embedding in the other heavy quilts that were harder for her to wash. 

BelovedbyHim it looks like I have another story to read to my husband before we pull in at home. 

Leslie and all of the other new members who have joined this weekend, Welcome!!  BC is definitely different with ROM and so many other things with wearing masks, etc. But this is preparing them for the way some things are in the fleet currently and while their experience may be slightly different, I think that I have heard they are going back to making BC the full 8 weeks (after the 2 week initial ROM) so that they can do more with the Warrior Training - This is a training that helps them learn how to deal with many different aspects of the mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical drain that Navy life can take on our kids. 

DoriBry - Good afternoon!! Thanks for sharing as well. 

Good evening! 

I’ve trying to reply all day but it’s been busy to say the least! 

Belovedbyhim ~ oh my goodness, yes, I do believe that we’ve filled the ocean with our tears! Thank you for the stories! 

Shanny ~ I do believe you are on cloud nine! What a precious picture of your boy and his pup. <3 Mmm biscuits and gravy my favorite!! And excuse me former boss! He’s home to be with his mama... like what?! 

partyofseven ~ I know I need to relax about the dog hair :) like Chipmunk said about putting the flat sheet on the bed is what I’ve done so I need to chill. What’s funny is she’s not allowed on the furniture but my Sailor always allowed her on his bed. He’d say up up! So she looked at me like “what are you gonna do?” 
stinker! 
I always loved the sound of my son and his friends hanging out at the house. We had an open door policy :) my kids missed them a lot on Halloween and when we watched movies on the projector out back. We’re so glad to have this time with them all very soon! 

Chipmunk ~ I’m so glad that you enjoyed your family time! Safe travels home! I agree with your husband 100% certain music should be played LOUD! ;) I’ll be on the lookout for that coat. I need to take a closer look at these gift ideas when I have a second to sit. I’ve been trying to respond to these all day! :) I know you know what I mean. Love these ladies! 

ladybluefire ~ hello! I need to look into this game that you’re talking about! Sounds great! 

talk to you all soon when I can read more :) 

VintageGal:  his old boss -the guy owned the landscaping business he worked with for 2 years- is more like a good friend. He and his wife are in their late 20s. They wrote to him when he was in boot camp and he went to see them before he left for BC. They came to our very small graduation party for him too. Our community is new for them. They don’t know anyone here yet besides us and a few of my son’s friends. He stopped there to see him yesterday so they probably arranged it yesterday that he would go help him if he needed the help. My son said he heard from him or his wife every few days when he was in A School. 
I have had him home all day once he got out of bed lol. Got to talk to him and watch him play with his dog. I knew I would be sharing his time with his friends and the people that have been like family his whole life. As much as I want to lock him up and not allow him to leave the house, I know there are people he has missed and NEEDS to see. 

how are you doing!?!?  How is your sailor?!? (Never gets old calling them that now, does it?) 

VintageGal - Yes, I get it!! Thanks for being on the coat lookout. 

Shanny - I have to remind myself that my sailor's leave is his vacation time as much as it is my time - but I am with BelovedbyHim, I like her mandatory hours with her sailor. 

VintageGal- I have been the same today busy all day. I have a old sheet on his quilt as we speak. :) 

Hope ur day was good. 

Chipmunk- Hey, I've been busy as well and no I didnt think you were ignoring me.

I have a sheet on his quilt now. Thanks for the tip. 

We also do that when my Sailor is home. It works out very well and makes my heart happy. I'm usually awake when he comes in, and I enjoy our talks before going to bed. Those times are priceless amd I cherish these memories.

Shanny- Hope ur evening together was great.

So quick question as we are making a list of anything h may need to get before he heads back...  he is going to need to get some kind of face wash/cleanser. His instructors told them to get something good or their skin will be a mess from the dirt and grease they may deal with. (He has never had skin issues but it is a mess now...  super dry and broke out) 

Anyone have any recommendations?  I think he will need something that will deep cleanse but moisturize. Or even something for either or both. The one his instructors recommended is $157 for a small bottle. Pretty sure he can find something to do what he needs for a lot less than that!  

Partyofseven - You are welcome!!

Shanny - sorry, I have no suggestions. 

VintageGal - You can always deliver cheesecake for my birthday!!

I just heard from the rest of my kiddos and they made it home - it was a longer journey from our family outing back to their house than it was for our trip home. We had the rest of the birthday cupcakes for our dinner!! Good thing they were nutritious!!

belovedbyHim-Thank you so much for providing us moms who have a recruit or recently had a recruit at Ft. McCoy a glimpse of what they are doing.  I found myself squinting at every pic hoping I could make out my son in one of them.  I am sure I will be doing this with every picture that is posted. Again, thank you.

I hope everyone has a great Monday.

Good Morning amy_jo and Adrian, 

Welcome to our group. We are glad you are here. Please come and introduce yourselves and let us know where you are on this journey. No question is ever dumb so please ask and someone will answer!!

Here are some links for you to read and sign up for the mail as then you can see when your SR is sending you a letter. I would start writing now and number your letters so your SR knows what order you wrote them in. They want to hear from you and enjoy getting mail from home.

Writing seems to help you as well. Boot camp is a training for us parents as well as it prepares us for when they are in the fleet and beyond.

I  have one more link to post for you. Welcome again.

DoriBry and Mamaita- Good Morning, No worries DoriBry we all do that hoping to catch a glimpse of our SR's. Prayers for letters and or calls to come today for you ladies.

Good Morning to the rest of the ladies. Hope your weekends were good and productive. 

First Things First-- The Quarantine Edition

Informed Delivery®

amy_jo and Adrian,

Here is the other link I was telling you about:

Boot Camp First Weeks Timeline

Good morning everyone.  So much has happened since I was last on!  :)

Congratulations Shanny!  What a wonderful picture of your son and dog.  Every time I read a post I got tears in my eyes.  So happy for you :)

DoriBry and Mamasita - I am also waiting on a form letter as well.  I am guessing my son got to Great Lakes on Thurs. Dec. 3 after initial ROM...maybe.

Mamasita-I havent received the letter yet.  I do have informed delivery so I look forward to the daily email in hopes that the letter is on its way.  I will definitely post when I get it and if you could do the same, it would be most appreciated. 

Morning everyone!!!!!  

WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS!!!  You have found the right places for people who will support you, laugh with you, cry with you, and celebrate with you!  Please ask any questions you may have!  Someone will answer and try to help. During the week this board can move fast so if your question gets lost, please ask again!  No one will intentionally ignore you!  My son is home on leave (wooohooo!!!) so I have been on mostly in mornings when he is still sleeping then play catch up at night!  

Good Morning Everyone!!  It is good to see our new members posting and chatting. Once the RTC posts the TGs (training groups and Div) for the January PIRs one of the site admins will set up a January PIR group that you may join. This will allow you to chat in a more private group and share information. Until then, this is your go to place and where you can start connecting with other members and reaching out and sending friend requests, etc. 

Shanny - enjoy your sailor being home!!

VintageGal - chocolate raspberry swirl sounds really good just about now!!

Partyofseven thanks for posting the links. I am having issues with posting links and being able to tell if they went through properly. 

Phoenixmom - I hope you had a restful weekend and that more of your kitchen got put together. I know you will be on later and sharing information with all of our newbies. 

Anti M - Thinking about you.

Ladybluefire, Katharine, Northwoodsmom, C'sMom, Kim, and so many others it is great to see everyone when you get a chance to post and I read them, I just don't get to respond to all of them. 

MammaBear - any more news on leave being granted for your sailors? 

Be sure to scroll back through the pages as we chat. BelovedbyHim posted some links to pictures that you might be interested in. 

 woke up due to a headache so I am trying to catch up as best I can. It is hard for me to follow things with a headache so I may miss something.

Chipmunk - thanks for the “Jesus Freak” earworm! I too hate when things interrupt my plans. Glad everyone got back safe.

Vintage - jackboxtv has “party packs” 5 games in a pack and we have all 7. Each year a new one is released. Some packs have newer versions of games from previous packs. Our favorite games on there are: Fibbage, Fakin’ It (easier done in person), Ear Wax, Quiplash, Murder Trivia Party, Push the Button (like Fakin’ It but can be done remotely), You Don’t Know Jack, Lie Swatter and Blather Round. You could have “the boys” come over and then do a zoom meeting with your sailor. He would need 2 devices - one to zoom on (tablet, laptop or phone) and one to play with - a phone or tablet - it can be done with one device but that requires a split screen and it can be difficult with small areas to work with.


BBH - sorry you are still having issues. Is your browser needing to be updated?

Party - my son on the Ford is not the kid to call his mama a lot. He will call me and say he is on an underway. So I have no clue about any of the other Ford sailors. He pretty much seems to like to only call when it is uber important and my mama heart has to learn to accept that is who he is.

Shanny - I feel ya on the wanting to lock them in the house. We just have to be happy for any moment we get with them. Even if it is them playing video games in the other room (cough my oldest cough) when we are visiting them!

I already feel overwhelmed at the prospect of my daily cleaning chores and needing to prepare my crockpot meal
(cutting tons of tomatoes, pablanos and jalapenos)

Have a good day to anyone I did not address here and welcome to All new moms!

Hi, everyone!  Hope you all have a wonderful day!  

I told you all the other day that my sailor found out his medical and dental records were not transferred to his new division when he got put into a new division after his second ROM.  He was told that they would get into his file and his packet would then be complete and he would leave on the next flight to San Antonio.  That was Wednesday of last week, I believe.  He is still in THU, and it's been 3 1/2 weeks now since his PIR.  On the 12th, it will be a month since he graduated.    Has anyone else's sailor been there that long.  I'm getting impatient wanting him to get down there and hoping he can be home for Christmas!  I know it may not happen, him being home for Christmas, and i have to be okay with that, but it got my hopes up.