Pamelaship14div361, My son has been moved around several times since being in Norfolk, he said that some rooms are nice and other are not, so he goes and buys his bleach and other cleaners and cleans his room himself before he ever sleeps in the room, he talked about scrubbing the bathroom tiles with a toothbrush. Since he had a bad experience with a skin rash from a not so clean room he has made sure he cleans his room from top to bottom before moving in.

Pamela, not all of the barracks are bad. I know that there are different buildings that house barracks, because my son was, at one point, in a room in the "new" barracks and he loved it. But, some of the older buildings are a little more "run down". And not all of the rooms are dirty, because most of the Sailors that vacate leave them clean. And then sometimes, things get missed in inspections.

I don't know that there is anything we, as parents, can do about it, but I would definitely have your son give it a good cleaning, with lots of disinfectants, before he settles in. Even my son cleaned his fairly new room, from top to bottom.

Does anyone know of any SAFE, reliable daycares in the Norfolk area.    Maybe by the mall?

Well B-Ready dropped out of N4M's. Sad. Her son is being discharged for medical. 

CO-Twin, did this happen today? I thought he was going to be able to report back to work. Did something else happen? I truly hate to see her go and us lose contact with his progress. Please let her know that I will keep them in my prayers.

I will keep you posted as she emails me news. She wanted you to know about the alveno and whoever it was here that recommended it it worked and she is greatful.

Also prayers please this lake is 5 miles from my home. It involved 2 adults and 3 children. Sad day here.

http://www.watchnewspapers.com/view/full_story/24795469/article-BRE...

Terrible news from late last night at the base:   pilotonline.com: Sailor, civilian die in shooting at Naval Station Norfolk.  A civilian was shot and killed by security officers Monday night at Norfolk Naval Station after a shooting that left a sailor dead aboard the destroyer Mahan.

The incident occurred about 11:20 p.m. on Pier 1, according to Navy spokeswoman Terri Davis. The civilian male, described by the Navy as the suspect in the shooting, was shot and killed by Naval Security Forces. Davis could not say whether there was a standoff between the man and the security officers.  http://hamptonroads.com/2014/03/sailor-civilian-die-shooting-norfol...

WAVY.com/channel 10 news story and video:  http://wavy.com/2014/03/25/two-dead-after-shooting-at-pier-at-naval...

judysgirl, I saw your question about daycare - try this N4M group Navy Wives of Norfolk and Portsmouth

And definitely ask your Family Readiness Group for the Truman.  If you need help contacting them - how to locate your FRG and Ombudsman

Hello Ginnysue, my son is on the Truxtun as well. OS. 

Welcome!

my son at Norfolk had not heard about the shooting. He did hear the sirens he said. His can see Pier 1 from his window. He said he had friends onboard the Mahan. Praying this did not involve one of his friends, also for the family of the killed sailor.

I am so sad to hear about this shooting.  My heart goes out to the sailors family.  You think your son or daughter is safe on a military base, but then have to realize this can happen anywhere as it does too often. 

I am also thinking our Sailors are very trusting of people and it is unfortunate that the civilian was able to get close enough to get ahold of the gun to shoot the responding Sailor... sighhh...

Here's a GREAT Update from B-Ready, Gals!

On the evening of March 24th, she took Steven to the hospital because his itching was relentless.  He was treated for the scabies which was painful and it caused burning and crazy itching in the first hour of treatment.  His cast on his fractured arm was removed for the treatment too.  His skin began to ease some.

This morning he feels some relief and his skin looks as though the scabies have been taken care of.  He is feeling less itching and his skin looks as if there is less rash and bumps.  It's really noticeable between his fingers from the before pic that she took!  His fracture on his arm is healing too as shown on the x-rays.  The infection on his hand  has cleared up and he will continue to take his antibiotics till they are gone.

Steven knows he will recover!!  He is back to work on light duty~~

B-Ready is praising Our God!!  I join her too!!  She thanks everyone for their prayers, love, and support she was given...She is really grateful.  The Lord has shown her His mercy and His amazing grace~~  Today is a new day!!!

Thank you for the update CatMom509 from B-Ready. I have been praying for Steven and am so thankful that the prayers have been heard and he is on his way to recovery. My heart goes out to all of you Mom's that have children in the military or not near home, when your children are sick they need us and I understand how that feels. I thank God everyday for my children and ask for His protection over them. I will continue to remember Steven and his family in my prayers and that he has a full recovery.

i hope everything works out for Steven!  it's sad that they were talking about a medical discharge before they even diagnosed what was wrong with him.

Hope all is well    

kathy yes spring is coming  I'm in North GA  and it is nice to see the flowers and green grass 

So glad to hear that Steven is getting better He and his family are in my prayers  And continue to pray for the family of the sailor that was shot 

B-Ready, Prayers for a safe trip for you and your family. I know your son appreciates you stepping in and taking care of things while he was so sick. I am glad that he will be able to continue his Naval career no Sailor wants to end his career until he is ready. We have stayed at the Comfort Inn near the hospital many times while my son was sick with his blood clot. I pray for Steven everyday and I am so thankful that he had a family that cared. We will do anything for our children they are our Blessings from God. Take care and please keep us updated on Steven.

B-Ready: This is great news! I am so glad that things have worked out for your son. The power of prayer! Thank you God for Steven's healing and for sustaining his mama through this difficult challenge. Amen

B-Ready,

I'm glad to see you in this group again! And it's good to know the Lord has given you a safe trip home-we'll pray for safety in the last 63 miles. :)  We will also keep Steven in our prayers. Hopefully one day we will meet him. :)

Have a blessed week at 'home sweet home'. :)

Yvonne

I am so excited to travel to Norfolk the end of this month to see our son.  It will be a little over 3 months once we head that way since we saw him last.  I can't even imagine how it will be when he goes out to sea for 6 months or so.  I will have withdrawals just like all the other military mom's. We are staying at a condo on the beach and I can't wait to hear the sound of the ocean.  I haven't been to the ocean for years.  I hope the weather will be nice.  Hoping it is easy for us to find our way around.  My brother who lives out there is out to sea until July, so we won't have a tour guide! :(  My son has only been there since the beginning of January, so he will know a few places to go I guess. ha

Huffy Mom don't dispare. When my son was deployed I heard from him quite a bit. FB messaging often and an occasional phone call was a real treat. I sent him many boxes. 

HuffyMom23- We are going through our first deployment since my son left home right after HS graduation last year. He got to Norfolk in November and left port in Feb. It's hard at times, but he does email often. We'll get through it, as will he. He loves it!

HuffyMom23, which ship is your son on.  My son deployed in February also from Norfolk. 

HuffyMom23, it's a great place for them to be stationed, because it's also a great place for families to visit!  LOL  It's easy to get around (just try to avoid commuter-hour traffic), and lots to do.  

Harbor tours: http://www.norfolkvisitor.com/spirit-of-norfolk.html 

Norfolk's Waterside, Nauticus and USS Wisconsin:  http://www.nauticus.org

The 10-minute, $1.50 paddlewheel ferry between Waterside and Olde Towne Portsmouth across the Elizabeth River - http://www.visitportsva.com/index.html

Doumar's in Norfolk not far from the base, for a true, original drive-in restaurant (think BBQ and shakes), turn on your headlights for car service - http://www.doumars.com.  The founder is credited with inventing the ice cream cone:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doumar's_Cones_and_BBQ

And the cherry trees and myrtles should be coming into bloom, a great time to visit!

When he deploys, join this group for great ideas - http://navyformoms.com/group/carepackageideas ...

… and hang out here because everyone is for each other :)

Kathy, we were typing at the exact same time and complementing each others posts!  

Totally on the same page with you about being supportive by learning and sharing what's relevant - which can be tons, and important both short (news) and long range (career development).  And it just plain old gives you lots of interesting new stuff to talk about!

Speaking of beach vacations, check out this hidden gem for sailors and their families: The Cottages on the Coast at Oceana's Dam Neck…  https://www.facebook.com/notes/navy-ffr/discover-dam-necks-cottages...

July should be great.  We are planning a trip around the second week in July.  Thanks for the links and info everyone.

ChambosMom- Is your son on the Bush? Mine is and ABF on flight deck.

No he is on the USS Bataan and has been deployed since February also.

USS Bataan also. 

Lifting up Petty Officer Mayo's family and friends for God's comfort~~  He is a true hero who gave his life to save another...

Josh'smom, your son is so right!

OPSEC GUIDELINES

✓ Donʼt discuss future destinations or ports of call.

✓ Donʼt discuss future operations, exercises or missions.

✓ Donʼt discuss dates and times of when we will be in port or conducting exercises.

✓ Donʼt discuss security procedures, movements, or arms.

✓ Donʼt discuss readiness issues and numbers.

✓ Donʼt discuss specific training equipment.

✓ Donʼt speculate about future operations.

✓ Donʼt spread rumors about past, current or future operations or movements.

✓ Donʼt discuss deployment or homecoming dates (including Tiger or Family Day Cruises)

✓ DO assume the enemy is always trying to collect information.

✓ Keep in mind there is no guarantee of security for information transmittal, or that a chat room or forum described as “military” has its membership restricted to militarypersonnel and their families.

✓ Be smart, use your head, and always think OPSEC when using email, phone, chatrooms and message boards.

Also -  Keep Your Family Safe: Practice Operational Security on Social Media

Good morning fellow Mom's.  Thank you so much for posting the OPSEC Guidelines. Being fairly new to the Navy family I look to this sight for info and support. I don't post very often, but I am reading and learning all the time. So thank you to everyone for you sharing.

Oh my gosh so many prayers. My Son is at Norfolk. My thoughts and prayers for Petty Officer Mayo's family and friends. And now so much more sadness at Fort Hood.

Waiting, waiting for spring to come. the last couple of days it actually got up to 47. But now it is snowing again, ugh.

Have a safe day. S.

Thanks for posting the OPSEC guidelines.   It is so important that we keep our sailors safe. No idea where my son is out there.  Only known of one place and that is from a 2 min call.  

Marcy thanks for the information.  We are counting down the days until we get to see our son.  I believe he is counting down too. lol

Kathy - we are blessed to be close with all 3 of our children.  My son calls us almost every night.  Sometimes on the weekends he might call us 2 or 3 times in a day.  lol  He does not do facebook and will text some.  I tell you he is an old man in a kids body.  He has never had any interest in facebook.  It took him until probably his senior year before he would even carry his phone on him.  You really don't see many kids out there like that anymore.  My girls both do facebook and always carried their phones. I also agree about it being different having college kids.  I might not see my girls often, but they are both close enough to go see if I need to.  Not the same with our military kids like you said. I always ask him a million questions when I talk to him.  When he lived at home, I was only allowed about 2 questions and then he would get mad. lol  Now I can ask him things over and over and he is totally fine with that.  Man how they change after that bootcamp. :) I occasionally will ask him if he is glad he joined the Navy and he always says yes.

Now about the comments on the kids that might not have parents they are close with, or talk to all the time.  That absolutely breaks my heart!  I realize some people are okay with feeling once their child leaves the home, they are on their own.  I can't imagine that at all.  We have always been close with our kids as I said before, and they never gave us any major problems growing up.  That is why I am having a hard time with the empty nest.  I miss having them around.  Even though sometimes it is nice when their dad and I are home alone and it is quiet. :)

B-Ready & HuffyMom23 - I am a college instructor and one of the classes I teach is first year success. During a faculty training someone shared a report regarding the rising number of emotional / mental health problems among our youth / college students - just Google and you will find articles. Anyway, this really breaks my heart to realize that so many have no family connections and are alone - too much being alone is not healthy for anyone. One of the topics I teach in interdependence and the skill of building a network of support, asking for help.... I'm just feeling compelled to act in some capacity for our youth in general and these young sailors away from home. Can we create a network to adopt sailors, launch a drive to educate sailors on mental health, interdependence, warning signs...(similar to other trainings they must attend). Thoughts?

What I actually would love doing is writing to those kids who do not get any mail during bootcamp or have no family support.  My son will tell you I can write about a lot of random things. lol I can't imagine what it felt like to see other kids getting lots of mail and then getting none yourself.  Now I honestly do not know how often that happens, but I bet it is all the time.  All those kids need the support when they are going thru that life changing experience of bootcamp.  I feel like they need someone telling them it will all be worth it in the end.  I know one of my daughters would love to be pen pals with these sailors who do not have contact with any family.  I thought there was something out there to adopt a sailor.  I might be wrong though.

Check out one of the groups here on the "Navy for Moms" site, "Molly's Adopt a Sailor".  All deployed branches are supported.

If you want to send letters to our deployed military, including those in the U.S. forward combat hospitals in Afghanistan, then please join the group.  I am a member.  We would love to have more letter writers!  It is how the group got started!

I can't find Molly's Adopt a Sailor group.  Can someone help me look for it?  Thanks!

http://navyformoms.com/group/mollysadoptasailorproject

Here you go.

When my son was in BC I found a list of recruits that did not receive mail from home,  The site had the name of the recruit, his address and his PIR date so that you would know that what you were sending they would get before graduation.  I even got letters back thanking me for my support.  I believe they may also have access to other branches as well - but I sent mine to the Navy BC where my son was - because from hearing of his experiences helped me in finding what to say.  The names come from someone who sees who is not getting mail in their unit as well when I got a name from my son I could add the sailors info to the website.  Send a note to "callsforrecruits" <callsforrecruits@yahoo.com>; and the Navy Dad that runs this group can lead you to BC support. This person also helps provide calling cards to all military branch personnel in BC (and some overseas) that don't have a calling card to call home when he/she has a chance (via donation).  Even when the donation is small I was surprised to see the number of calling cards given out and what great joy it provided them.  My son had a card but many of his friends didn't and it was an easy way for me to get the card codes to him and he could pass them out to his fellow recruits.  But as I mentioned this Navy Dad also works the list of sailors without support in BC. 

Trevors mom thanks for the link to adopt a sailor.  I'll look into it.

B-Ready, Steven is in my prayers daily, I will continue to pray for him.