Boot Camp Moms (and loved ones)

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Here's the link:  

Sarge's Meet N Greet

Here is my discussion on the Sandboxx App - click on the link:

Sandboxx app while in BC

**Only to be used while in boot camp.

B'sNukeMom - I hope the weather lets up a little bit for all of you!! 

Chipmunk - the rain is letting up for a bit - thank goodness!  It's been pretty crazy.

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Happy Thursday and Happy PIR Day!

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Hi all, and Happy Thursday! I just wanted to pop on and say it's almost the one-year anniversary of my son leaving for boot camp. My heart shattered watching him walk away that day and I just could NOT wait to hear his voice again. But I'm here to let you know that it's all going to be okay! They seem to find their way through and so will you! Mine is finishing up the last bit of training he needs before he heads to the fleet and he just got his first promotion to Petty Officer 3rd Class. I can't believe what a difference a year has made in his life and mine.

Hang in there, mamas! You've got this!

Diahn - thanks for checking in and BZ to your son on his promotion!  Yes, amazing what a year can do!

B’sNukeMom - Happy to! I don’t post often, but this group and the BeyondBC group have been so helpful to me as my son moves through this new life!

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Please join me in welcoming Darlene to our group. 

Darlene this is where you want to come say hello and introduce yourself. My son served his 6 year enlistment as a Nuke and is now out and starting college on his GI bill. While in the Navy, he met his wife, who is also a sailor and still enlisted. 

How is everyone doing? 

Did anyone watch the Super Bowl. Those in the Beyond BC group know that our family is a big KC Chiefs fans, so that was quite the intense game to be watching tonight. My daughter lost reception at her house and so I was texting her updates on the game. My veteran son called from his place still on the east coast and shared the last few minutes of the overtime on the phone with his father. 

For those going through the silence of BC it can seem like it will never end, but it does, and I am thankful for technology that allows me to see my son while talking to him, and instant pictures of my grandbaby, something that was not possible with my parents when I lived halfway across the country from them with 3 grandbabies and no money to travel home. 

Diahn - You are growing Navy Mom strong!! Thank you for sharing and please share our congratulations with your son!!

Darlene posted a discussion above  - Boot camp - Navy For Moms (ning.com) - asking for advice to get through this time. 

Darlene - Have you received a letter yet from your SR (seaman recruit)? If not, just keep writing letters to him. There is a lot of information in the pages in the upper right of this group page. Here is one that might be helpful to you. I am posting the link to it - Letter writing and fun stuff/questionnaire.

My son said he barely had any time to write on Sunday, so we usually received just a short letter, and my mail came on Thursday. I have several children and we had a lot going on while he was gone to BC that summer, but it still helped having an idea of what he was doing. The timeline in the information above the discussion is helpful and I posted in my reply to your discussion. 

Good Morning and Happy Monday!

Chipmunk - exciting game - I'm sure there was lots of cheers in your house!

I loved Reba's singing of The National Anthem!

B'sNukeMom - Thank you! Yes, cheers all around. And yes, Reba did a wonderful job singing The National Anthem. 

Hi ya'll!!! My daughter leaves for RTC next Tuesday, so this weekend, I had family pictures taken. (all four adult kids came from all over the state and their kids) we have never had family pictures taken before, so this was a new experience. It wasn't bad, but I was adamant that I wanted these done. So glad everyone was able to show up. My oldest came with blue hair though! BLUE. this girl is 28 years old and knew how i was looking forward to this! I was furious. Then I stepped back and was like "well at least all the kids made it" and i bet there will be some black and white versions of the pix LOL

nice work axolotmom getting them all together.. Black and white or sepia  options definitely lol. . Get those hugs in..

we are here for you anytime..

AxolotlMom - 😂 Blue hair…matches that Navy color scheme anyway! Good job getting everyone in the same place for photos - years from now, you’ll look on that blue hair and smile.

Darlene - When my son was in boot camp, I wrote him a letter every day. Nothing long or in-depth - just a here’s what happened today kind of letter. I always included some sort of inspirational index card that I found on sale at Target. He told me later that he shared them with his division buddies when he saw they were having a bad day.

Once a week, I sent him a newsletter that included scores from his favorite sports teams, photos of us and our dogs and sometimes a word search or a bunch of trivia about things that interest him.  I printed it front and back on one sheet of paper, because they don’t have a ton of space to store things. He really enjoyed those and said it made him feel less homesick - less like he was missing out on things.

He wrote me on Sundays, but it was always very short - not a lot of time for that. I treasured every one that I got! Stay busy - it helps!

Darlene & anyone else - Here is a link to BelovedbyHIm's Welcome to the Navy Blog - Welcome to the Navy! Everything will be ok! (revised) - Navy For Mo...

She is usually on this group page but has been taking care of things on the home front so she asked if I would share it. 

 AxolotlMom - I am glad you were able to take a step back and just be thankful that you had your entire family at home, even if one of them had blue hair. It took me a long time to be less bothered about things like that, and I still have issues, so I know where you are coming from. You will come to treasure that picture very much! 

Darlene and Axolotmom - My Sailor graduated from RTC in early November. I wrote letters nearly every day too. I would use a writing tablet sized piece of paper and I thought this worked really well in folding several pages and not too much bulk. I didn’t decorate or put anything on the envelopes to draw attention to them at all. I wrote a bit about what was happening but also I would write weather forecasts for Great Lakes, jokes, sometimes a short funny story I would copy from different short funny story websites I would find. I tried to send a calendar picture like from a page a day or desk calendar as something fun as my Sailor had a bulldog calendar he was using before he had left for RTC. I know I recall writing so much and then being surprised at the beginning that he hadn’t yet gotten any when we finally had that first call. But then they started showing up. 

Darlene and Axolotmom - I have to admit too though, I wrote a lot of ‘cheerleading’ and encouragement in most of the letters as I felt part of what was hardest about RTC was not having a sense of how my Sailor was handling what I knew were probably big emotions with every success or setback and just hoping he could move through it all and not be overwhelmed by a discouraging thought or feeling, especially if he was tired. 

I also really liked watch RTC videos on YouTube, every video I could find I would watch and rewatch just to have a sense of what he was experiencing. That might not work for everyone but I liked it as a way to picture what was happening. There was also another site I came across that someone had listed for several weeks what activities were happening each day essentially nearly to battle stations and I liked that too, thinking in a ballpark way what he was maybe doing that week or that day. 

I also like the idea and sentiment behind the blue candle lighting and I found this to be helpful too in focusing positive prayer and energy in my Sailor and all the recruits’ direction. 

Thinking of you both and your soon to be Sailors! 

Lara - Thank you for sharing. 

Ladies here is the link to our Blue Candle discussion - Blue Candles - Navy For Moms (ning.com)

Darlene - I am glad that you have had a phone call, and it sounds like your SR was doing well. So does the Sandboxx App also send you updates on the recruits?  That was not an option when my son was at BC. We were old school with the mailed-out form letter which took about 2 - 3 weeks for us to receive, just so we could have their mailing address. 

Since they don't have much time to write, questionnaires are always fun to send.  Then they can just check the box.  Here's an example - use your imagination and change it up to fit your SR's personality:

Questionnaires and encouragement

I remember one of my questions to my SR was "What are you looking forward to when you finish up boot camp?".

His response: "Peeing standing up!"  He said they had some "idiots" in his division that couldn't manage to pee inside the bowl so their whole division was made to pee sitting down.  I lol'd at that one!  And he said it was someone's job to stand in the bathroom and make sure they sat down!  OMG

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Everyone - Please join me in saying hello to londack86!

londack86 - this is the Comment Wall area and really the best place to ask questions, as more of the members received email notification from posts here than elsewhere on the safe. 

Happy Valentine's Day!! 

londack86 - Have you received any mail from your SR (seaman recruit) yet? 

You might also appreciate reading this discussion which Darlene posted. Boot camp - Navy For Moms (ning.com)

Also, read through the last few pages of comments from this group, as some people replied here to Darlene as well. 

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welcome londack86.. 

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome! Sorry I’m getting back to you so late, but work has been a bit hectic the last few days. My oldest daughter left for BC last Monday, and I’ve been a mess ever since. Earlier this week, A friend of a friend who’s also a Navy Mom recommended the Navy for Moms Facebook page to me, but I don’t have Facebook so I searched for Navy Moms and this site popped up. It’s been a god send, knowing I’m not struggling alone and there are others out there like me who have questions and just want any inkling of information. I haven’t heard from my SR yet, but did receive an address through Sandboxx. Is that address accurate? I already have a stack of letters I want to send lol. Any advice, encouragement or suggestions to get through this are welcome and appreciated. I know “no news is good news” but as a parent we worry anyway when our babies leave the nest. Thanks again! 

londack86 -- Yes the Sandboxx address is correct. (A newish change.) I am also on the FB pages but I prefer this site for New Moms in BC. Much less Drama!!!! 
If you want the Official RTC Site and want to join FaceBook you may find this one useful. U.S. Navy Recruit Training Command

This is the Official one and from time to time they post photos of SR's in training. DO NOT ask for your SR's DIV however!!

SR= Seaman Recruit    DIV= Division (training group)

Please read my blog to give you an idea of what the first few weeks may look like.. Welcome to the Navy... Everything will be ok!  The First part is some things to do before your SR leaves IF you Can, It’s NOT ESSENTIAL! Up and to the Left is a link to all the Navy Lingo! It is titled Navy Speak and you can find it here. We are here to get you through the “Great Silence” of the next 4 weeks (ish) and the 10 weeks of BC (ish). You will come to learn that No News Is GOOD News and everything is Needs of the Navy. You life will be Hurry Up and Wait and it’s ok to make plans but they are subject to change until after they have happened so it’s best to embrace the Motto: Semper Gumby!! (Always Flexible!!)

londack86 - Welcome!  Seems like yesterday I was writing something very similar.  Our sailor graduated 11/9 and this group was a terrific resource and a great comfort.

Writing everyday helped a lot.  Also reading the weekly update in Sandbox gave us an idea of what the recruits were doing.  I assure you all of the tough days of missing them are worth it when you get to graduation and see your recruit march in!!

BNMH (Big Navy Mom Hug) to you!  Hang in there!

londack86 - You are not the only newbie in this group or on this site. The more you post and just say hi the more interaction there is, especially here in the Comment Wall section. 

As BelovedbyHim shared, the Sandboxx address is correct. You may choose to pay for mailing stuff through them or just send through the regular PO mail. One thing to remember about writing letters and sending through Sandboxx - your letters are visible - it is like sending a postcard. So, we recommend you only use Sandboxx during BC. Here is the link to a post by B'sNukeMom - 

Sandboxx App - And it will still take a bit for the division to get a recruit mail petty officer assigned to gather and distribute mail so you may send as many letters as you want, but keep in mind they only have limited space for storing them and it may take a bit before they start receiving your letters. 

Here is the link to the Navy Bootcamp website - there is a lot of information there as well. - RTC - Bootcamp website

My kiddo leaves on Tuesday...so this weekend we are going to play board games, card games (she enjoys this and i am more than happy to oblige), then on Monday we are going to an escape room and just having a family day in the city (we live in a small rural community, so it's always an adventure when we go to "the city"). My kid is generally calm and collected but i'm FINALLY starting to see a bit of excitement and dare i say apprehension from her, but she's ready :)

AxolotlMom - It sounds like you have some good family memory times planned!! One of the things we suggest is writing a short note and sticking it in your daughter's wallet or maybe Bible or other religious text that is allowed at BC. Tell her it is for her to read when she absolutely needs it. It is just a short note of encouragement so that during those long weeks between communication she has a little bit of home with her. And often the SRs will do the same and leave something for their parents, or a voice message. 

Something a friend of mine did with one of her children was she told them a specific time of day, in the evening, when she would be thinking just about them, so that each day they knew at that specific time that mom was thinking about them and praying for them. Not that you would not be at other times, but it was a connection moment for them. 

(((BNMHs))))