Boot Camp Moms (and loved ones)

Welcome Rebecca, we are so happy to have you join us here. These Ladies are filled with knowledge and compassion. I know it will bring comfort to you knowing your feelings, worries and just the unknown was shared by many of us. 

Please come and share where your recruit is at in their journey!

Good morning!! I hope some of you got phone calls!! ?

Did you write letters? Did you receive any letters?  Is anyone currently in using the Sandboxx APP? How is it going with the new notifications?  If you are not familiar with Sandboxx here is some information.

Sandboxx App for BC

I am looking forward to chatting with more of our new members and updates from the rest of you. 

Morning! My sailor has been at gone for 2 weeks. I used Sanboxx once, just to send her a quick message that we had received her mailing address. I like it for the weekly updates! 3 days ago we received the graduation flyer but in my sailors handwritten envelope. No phone call yet. 

Mom2Boss - How are you holding up?  For me, the time before the first "real" letter was the most difficult.  It was nice seeing my son's handwriting on the envelope, but it just isn't the same as getting a real letter.  I hope you get a letter and phone call SOON!  (FYI, my first call came on a Saturday about 3 weeks in.  And the caller ID was "Waukegan, IL".  But other moms received phone calls from different IDs.)

Rebecca - Welcome to the Navy! 

Ellen0502 - Best of luck to your son! he sounds very motivated and driven. Kudos to him.

Mom2Boss - I think it was about 4 weeks in when we received our first letter. I agree with MomofJoseph - reading a full-page letter (especially from a kid who NEVER wrote letters!) in their handwriting was amazing. I probably read all of his letters at least 50 times. Our first phone call showed up as just the phone number with the "847" area code. Sandboxx was a very helpful tool for us.

welcome welcome.. my sailor was in boot camp late summer/fall of 2021. We dealt with few letters, 1 phone call because he got washed back two weeks and one other call plus the I'm a sailor call, which like most kids didn't start with that, kinda annoying as that was all we needed to hear..

Trey - Ha, that's so true! Our son never said "I'm a sailor" in that call, so I had to outright ask him. He sounded completely beat and ready for a good nap.

Be sure to join your PIR group.  Here are the links:

JULY 2023 PIR

PIR JUNE 2023

PIR MAY 2023

joe-mom - Ditto for us with the "I'm a Sailor" call.  We also had to ask him.  (Maybe us moms call it that, but they don't?)  We got our phone call just as we arrived in GL.  I guess now there's a two week delay between battlestations and graduation, but for him, it was only one day later.

MomofJoseph - Good thing he passed battlestations, right?? Yes, they added the extra two weeks in January of 2022, I think. 

Awesome.. There are several Nuke moms and I'm sure they are just full of helpful advice.. Maybe some of the newer moms could answer the graduation question as that started just a month or two after mine passed BC.

I think the blue candle is something us moms and family keep lit when our sailors are out at sea or a big test/achievement is going on.. and a light for them to find their way home. I have several LED candles on amazon that I am looking at. Mine is graduation C school in July, he is in San Diego and will be stationed there as well. 

Good Evening Rebecca - 

I am not exactly sure on the Asthma but your son is going to need to make sure there are medical waivers, etc. And be sure to investigate more. With being a Nuke, there were extra delays when my son was to leave PIR and head to Nuke school, because they were scrutinizing his medical records. 

You might ask in the Nuke Mom group, if anyone else had a sailor that dealt with Asthma. 

As for Blue Candles, can you see the discussion directly above this that is labeled Blue Candles? If you click on that and read through the examples, you should also see a note with the Blue Candle Poem / Prayer. As Trey mentioned some of the families leave their Blue Candles on all the time, ore when their sailor is out to sea, or getting ready for BST. 

Battle stations now take place prior to the final physical fitness test and so they may call and let you know they finished BST, but they won't necessarily say they are a sailor. And now, they actually can't complete PIR unless they pass their final PT test. You hopefully will know at least a couple of days prior to your son's PIR, but not necessarily, which is why we recommend buying refundable tickets. 

We drove 1.5 days so that we could have more flexibility than we would have had if we had flown. 

Diahn -- Are you excited??? It's your week!! Safe travels and enjoy that amazing Sailor hug!!

Mom2Boss -- It sounds like you are right on track!! I know the great silence is hard but you are not alone!

Rebecca -- Welcome!!! It is late and I am needing to get to bed but I have a blog that has some information that may be useful for you in this next 2 months (ish). 
https://navyformoms.ning.com/profiles/blogs/welcome-to-the-navy-eve...

It's not all up to date but close enough to get you started.
Take a Deep breath!! You are not alone and you don't have to eat this elephant by yourself!!! Do one thing then the next.  Ask the Questions. Yes we have the answers here but it takes time, You will get there.  You are NOT alone here!!  Please check the dates on the pages you are reading.  There have been a TON of changes since COVID and some of the info is out of date.  Don't panic if you read conflicting info just come here and ask and we will be happy to point you to the correct information.

For all our new moms... They don't know it's called the "I'm a Sailor" call.  That is our term to distinguish between the various phone calls.  There is the "I'm here" call that usually comes when they arrive at BootCamp, the "I'm still alive" or "Proof of life" call that usually comes around week 4. and the "I'm a Sailor" call that comes after BS21.  All other calls are either earned calls or calls for information, but these are the 3 you should expect.  There are many, many, many reasons why they may not make one of these calls that are not reason to worry so if you don't get one don't panic.  No News is Good News.  If there is BAD news they will keep calling until they reach someone at home.

Rebecca - Welcome to the group!  Some of the newer moms can update about the time frame between Battlestations and PIR.  In our experience, we got the call that he passed Battlestations just as we drove past one of the gates to BC.  (I told my son I was going to crash the gate so I could find him and hug him!  LOL)  But that was 1.5 years ago when BC was 8 weeks instead of 10.

Like Chipmunk, we drove 1.5 days (from NC) to have more flexibility.  My son graduated the day before Thanksgiving, and we went up there knowing that he would not ship out until Friday at the earliest.  He ended up flying out on Tuesday.  We were able to be there with him from Wednesday to Sunday, which was amazing!  (But some of his buddies left early Friday a.m.)  Flexibility is the key to Navy mom life.  (And as a massive PLANNER, this has been a difficult endeavor for me.)

Be sure to ask lots of questions.  This group of ladies was my lifeline in BC (and now I'm in the Nuke mom group and they are amazing, also!)

Rebecca - My son started BC last August, so he had to do the extra two weeks after Battlestations. He said they didn't do much during that two-week period, but they did have to pass their final PT a few days before PIR. If I remember right, we had at least two days' notice. We live in SE Wisconsin (about an hour from GL), so our travel plans wouldn't have been affected much if his PIR date changed for any reason. We did drive down the day before PIR to attend Sarge's Meet & Greet (fantastic!), so we made sure we booked a hotel with the free-refund option - just in case. My son is also a Nuke. His PIR was the week of Veterans Day, so they held it on Thursday instead of Friday (Friday was Veterans Day). I guess because of the holiday, he didn't fly out to Goose Creek till Saturday evening. We drove back down to O'Hare Saturday to spend the day with him. O'Hare has a nice little USO room where they can chill out for a while before flying out, and families are welcomed there, too. I hope this helps a bit. Please reach out if you have any other questions!

Diahn - Have a wonderful time! Still one of my favorite days ever.

Be sure to join your PIR group.  Here are the links:

PIR JULY 2023

PIR JUNE 2023

PIR MAY 2023

Stephanie I see your comment right now. Whatever you did the second time is correct. Just redo your comment and resend it here, this is where most of us read the post.

Stephanie - I see your comment as well here on the BC Moms group page. 

You should also be receiving these messages in an email feed to your personal email. When you are logged in online, it is generally a lot easier to navigate this site if you are on a computer because then you can see what pages you are on easier. If you are only able to log in on a mobile device, in the past we have recommended that you put it into "desktop mode". 

You may also scroll all the way to the top and find the blue ribbon under the Navy for Moms Logo.  Click on your My Profile and that will take you to your profile page. Then when you are there, you may click on any of your groups that are shown in the middle of your profile page, to the left of the comment wall on your profile page. 

If you post a comment there on your profile page, unless you "reply" to someone you will just post the comment on your page instead of on the group page. This site is sort of "old school" but there are lots of groups on here and lots of information to glean, so please keep posting and asking questions. We are here to help you as best as we can. And if we don't reply immediately, it is because we all volunteer our time on here and answer as we are able, so be sure to come back and check the comments. 

*** The Link at the top says MY PAGE  for where you need to click to go to your profile page. Or you may also click on your little avatar (profile picture) as well. 

Diahn-- Savor every second!! (there are NEVER enough!)  And then once you are home come share the news with us all!! I remember that whole weekend like it was yesterday (even though it's been nearly 10 years!)

oh yes indeed Diahn... treasure every second.. I will never forget the emotions and hugs..

Stephanie -- Welcome. How are you doing hon. I know it can feel a bit overwhelming at times but your posts are showing up.  Just make sure you scroll down till you see the chat box with the text options above it. Right below the comment wall.  I find it's easier to navigate on my computer instead of my phone so you may want to give that a try.  You can message anyone by clicking on the icon next to their name and sending a "Friend request" or posting a comment to them.  The comments are NOT private by default but if they have locked down their page then they can decide what can be seen or not.  We are here for you so take a deep breath and try again.  We won't abandon you as long as we know you are needing help.

Be sure to join your PIR group.  Here are the links:

PIR JULY 2023

PIR JUNE 2023

PIR MAY 2023

Diahn - All the BEST!!!!

Stephanie, You might try switching the view on your phone to desktop view. It will appear like the website does on your computer.

To navigate to desktop view on your phone, click on the three lines on the upper right side of your screen, then click on "desktop view."

Happy May 4th!

Be sure to join your PIR group.  Here are the links:

PIR JULY 2023

PIR JUNE 2023

PIR MAY 2023

Good Morning Everyone!! 

Congratulations to all of our new Sailors!! And lots of love to all of our families!! For those at PIR, may you have a wonderful time, get lots of hugs and have safe travels.

Now that you have a sailor - please come join us in the Beyond BC group. We are here to walk alongside you in the next part of your Navy journey. 

Congratulations to the 463 new Sailors graduating today.  Watch the PIR live right now:

LIVE PIR MAY 5, 2023

Be sure to join your PIR group.  Here are the links:

PIR JULY 2023

PIR JUNE 2023

PIR MAY 2023

Diahn --- No need to reply but I wanted to post... Congratulations!! I hope your Sailor hug was everything you hoped for and more!

Everyone join me in welcoming Lusailorrmom to our group!

Lusailorrmom - be sure to come and ask questions, read the information in the pages to the upper right. This is our chatting area. 

For those with loved ones waiting to head to BC - Are they working on their run? Do they know the requirement for passing the Physical Fitness test? Are they going to their DEP meetings?  

***TMI ALERT-- MAYBE****If we have any DEP Moms with daughters... read this (Moms of boys... you can just skip this post/email)

OK... Hopefully this is well nested .......


 Please teach them about hygiene options before they leave.  This topic was brought up on another group I am a part of when the OP asked a group of RDC's what was "one thing they wished SR's knew before arriving at BC?" and they learned that the RDC's have had to have some "Uncomfortable" conversations around this topic.  I'm sorry if this is TMI but please don't put these folks in this position!

Welcome Lousailormom!

Good morning all and welcome to Lousailormom! I just wanted to say thank you for the encouragement and kind wishes - we had a wonderful trip to PIR and even though we only had the day with my sailor before he headed off to A School, it was a fantastic day. He looked so handsome in his dress whites and the honor guard did a fantastic job - I was proud!

That first hug was amazing as well, my husband and younger son and I all wrapped him up as soon as we saw him. He talked non-stop for about 8 hours - ha - and he’s not my talkative child. He just had 12 weeks of pent up words, I guess!

Welcome Lusaiilormom!

Diahn - Glad you had a wonderful PIR day with your sailor. Yes, they do have a lot to say!

I am sooooo looking forward! Our SR will be graduating in either June or July!! 

Best wishes to all of our new USN Sailors! Keep up the fantastic work! We are ALL so proud of you!

Be sure to join your PIR group.  Here are the links:

PIR JULY 2023

PIR JUNE 2023

PIR MAY 2023

Diahn, I am sooo happy for you!! I am glad that you got to spend some time with your sailor!!! WooHoo!!

Patti - We are cheering your SR on. I know this has been a long wait for you. 

Chipmunkmom, at this point, it has been 7 months! What are 1-2 more, right?  ;)

patti - we are going to need to figure out a badge to give you!!