Norfolk Sailors - Family & Friends

Joyce Scott's proud Mom,  Nathan will be with the ship til they tow it to Washington.  He's a Nuke EM and the Nukes are needed to monitor the reactor.  Thanks for the advice.  I will tell him to check with the shipyard workers.  The girl who hit him has her ins. in TX so no help there with where to go.  It does need body work and the exhaust fixed so not sure if Maaco can do that.

I am so excited I almost pee'd.  Got a FB message from Stephen !!!  First I have heard from him in two and a half weeks. Oh well that does not actually sound that long but it sure has felt long.  He Loves being at sea, having great adventures and seen lots of neat places.  He said, "now I remember why I joined."  He said he will have lots to share later.  He sent a FB message because he couldn't get his email to work. 

Very exciting CO-Twin, I know that had to make your day. Glad he's doing ok an enjoying his deployment so far. Here's to safe travels for your Sailor.

LOL love your reaction to his message, how awesome you heard from him!  And that he's doing so well, love it.  In re chair, DofS, what are your thoughts?  I'm thinking I'd message him with some pics of chairs and see what kind he's thinking, also wondering about collapsed size for storage.  This one looks cool...http://www.chairpak.com/home.html

LOL don't feel dumb, there are so many Navy acronyms flying at you in the first year that your head spins! This one's easy LOL I was aiming my question at Dad of Sailor - just didn't feel like typing it all out! :)  

Kinda like how I think of you as Colorado Mom, not CO-TwinSalorsMom Ship03Div233 haha  In our "corpsman moms" group, most of us use our first names as we've gotten to know each other better, it's so much easier :)

You're right, I wrote my chair comment confusingly - sorry!  Anyway, hope you can find what your son is looking for, and hopefully they'll ship to an FPO address too.

The only "backpack chair" I know of is a chair that has straps that you can carry on your back like a backpack. I doubt that is what he's looking for and I'd bet he's just looking for one of those nylon folding chairs. I would ask for some clarification first as he will be the only one to tell you how much room he is going to have to store a chair and exactly what he's wanting.

Hello everyone, I know that many of the guys wanted chairs for when  family was coming for the Tiger Cruise since the sailors have to be on their feet most of the time in many of their jobs and there is no place on the ship for people to sit. They were looking for the small camp chairs since there is no room for storing things and then the family member took it back when they arrived at port after the cruise. I don't know what type of ship your son is on but I can tell you they would not be fishing off a carrier.  They might fish if at port somewhere with time off.  

Oh one other thing too they wanted ones that did have the straps since they have to go up and down narrow chairs quickly and they can not have it getting hooked on the railings.

Most ships are constantly moving and fishing isn't possible/allowed. I know we were allowed to fish once in awhile while at sea (off a carrier) but that was during designated times when the ship was stopped for a specific event like a steel beach picnic. Fishing is definitely not something they get to do very often so I doubt that would be why he wants a chair.

Well no tiger cruise in his near future, he is deployed for 7 months.  He is on a destroyer so it is small enough for fishing.  I did hear that they do fish sometimes from his ship and the cook prepares what is caught. I figured he wants a very small chair that fits in a duffle bag given where he sent me to look.  Maybe it is for any free time he has to sit on deck?  Does not sound like he has much free time though.  He said he is kept pretty busy.  Maybe it is for the room (what would you call that Dad?) a compartment maybe, where he works.

Life must be different on the smaller ships. I spent my time on carriers and we didn't get to fish or sit out on deck. singingbird's son was asking for sunscreen a while back so maybe those on the smaller ships get to fish and work on their tan a lot. :)

You're probably on the right track CO-Twin and probably just wants something to sit on when relaxing after a long day. Not many places to sit on a ship as I remember it. 

The place where their racks are (where they sleep) is called the berthing compartment and the chair could be for sitting in there. If you have a middle or bottom rack you don't get to sit up so seating is limited in berthing.

It depends, they are of various size and spread all over the ship. Normally broken down by division so if it is a small division they will be in a smaller bearthing, larger division in a larger berthing. My son started in a 140 man berthing and moved to a 32 man berthing recently. 

and they are called racks...normally stacked three high.

Hey Jackie!  Your question is really Theresa's department, as she lives there and has the scoop.  If you go back a page or so here to yesterday, she said that Busch Gardens Williamsburg is giving free admittance to Busch Gardens or WaterCountry, she had all the details.  Theresa, what else have you got?  

Jackie, how is your sailor these days?  New Orleans and Fleet Week seems like a long time ago, that was FUN!

Alcbcc, my son was on USS Wasp just for Fleet Week last year and had a blast.   Was your son too?  That was so cool, Ft. Lauderdale and New Orleans, tough duty LOL

at Marcy....he is doing good, loving his new rate at operations specialist.  it does seem like forever ago

Sorta related, this is coming up - Navy Motion Picture Service is presenting a sneak peak of "Pacific Rim" at Oceana on July 7 at 5 p.m.

Love this beach!  

USS Wasp is one of the Navy's eight LHDs - amphibious assault ships that are one step smaller than aircraft carriers.  They have aircraft and amphibious landing craft for transporting Marines, and have extensive medical facilities too.  Three are based in Norfolk - the Wasp, the Kearsarge and the Iwo Jima.

Each Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG) typically has an LHD, a transport dock ship and a dock landing ship.  They carry Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs).  As a corpsman with a Fleet Surgical Team, my son has been on three LHDs and they are truly awesome; their capabilities make them ideal for humanitarian and disaster relief missions.

Here is something else I saw for the holiday weekend.

The Norfolk Naval Sailing Center is offering free sailboat rides on the 4th of July! The fun starts at 10 am with the last trip at 4pm. Try something different this Holiday! Need more info? Call the Sailing Center at 757-444-2918.

Here is a video on living aboard for those who have not seen what it might be like. Of course depending on how old or new the ship is will determine how much space as well as the type of ship it is. On a sub for get it! God Bless all who are willing to serve on a submarine and thank you from the bottom of my heart, no way could I even conceive spending a week on one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXDdh5zRle0

I had some problems with this so you may need to copy and paste the URL.   

Oops, how could I miss USS Bataan!  They had the epic ten-and-a-half month deployment that ended February 2012.  

It's the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group - USS Iwo Jima, USS New York, and USS Fort McHenry - that's moving to Mayport Florida by early 2015 - about 3,000 sailors.  Smart, I think, not to concentrate so many Navy assets in Norfolk.

I've been fortunate to tour the Iwo several times. What an experience, LHDs are awesome!

Hi all! So, I'm watching the return home of the USS Eisenhower...so exciting!! But, I'm curious....who are all the civilians coming off the ship with the returning Sailors? How did they get on the ship? Some are children, so I am assuming they are family members. Can anyone clarify?

Oh...nevermind. One of them said...part of the Tiger Cruise. :)

Thanks for the reminder TJCsMom, so cool to watch live!  http://navylive.dodlive.mil/2013/07/02/eisenhower-strike-group-home...

I think I will have to find out all about this Tiger Cruise!! I want to go on a big ship with my boy!! :)

@Jackie, more 4th of July free stuff - 
Sony Pictures has announced that they are offering Active Military and Veterans two free passes to Roland Emmerich 's presidential thriller White House Down  on the 4th of July.
Tickets can be obtained at select Regal Entertainment Group, AMC Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, or Carmike Cinemas theaters by showing proper military identification.  Seating is being made available on a first-come, first-served basis at each participating location.

there is also going to be a movie staring Tom Hanks on My son Steve's ship the USS Bainbridgehttp://www.wvec.com/news/military/USS-Bainbridge-deploys-211575511....

I see a lot of your sailors are going to be or are already stationed here in Norfolk on various ships. We will be praying for all of them.  We also would like to let your sailors know that there is a place where they can go to relax, play games, eat lots of food, etc....in our home on the weekends. We have been opening our home for the last 13 years here and we love it! :) My husband spent 20 years in the military-10 enlisted and 10 as a Navy Chaplain. So these servicemen and women have been on our hearts for a long time. We even met at a Christian Servicemen's Center in California....I hope you will pass our information along to your sons and daughters...you can check us out at our website:wwwopenbibleministries.com  and we also have lots of pictures posted for you to see all the fun times we have had. We even have a bible Study evening during the week should they be interested.

Thanks for taking the time to read this ladies and God bless you and your sons and daughters!

Yvonne Wagner

Coach Shelia welcome  my son is also on the Truman.  where is a Truman site that you may want to check out.

Welcome Josh's Mom and Coach Sheila!  This is a fun and active group.  

Josh's Mom, we have this Iwo Jima group - USS Iwo Jima - that has info about the ship and how to get on the Ombudsman and FRG lists too.  There is this group Amphibious (Gator Navy) to join as well.