Norfolk Sailors - Family & Friends

My son is on the Bush, also.  I will be around for awhile!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you get to spend Christmas with your Sailor. We were able to the 1st year and not home the next 2. And not again this year. He is on the Bush. . At least he will be home in Jan.! I can hardly wait to see him! I miss him so much. I pray for my Sailor and all your Sailors too! Let's pray for safety while out on deployment and good decisions when not on deployment. Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Hi  I just discovered this link...I've been a member since my son was in BC. Is there a site for specific ships? I was wondering if there is a site for the USS GR Ford or any sites within Navy for Moms for it?Thank you in advance. 

Cameronsmom, welcome!  Here is a list of Navy ship groups on N4M, but no group for USS Gerald R. Ford has been created by anyone yet.  Even though it hasn't been commissioned into the fleet, you could start a group for it yourself and start adding info.  As the commissioning date gets closer, it will grow into an active group  :)

Hi. please keep me active. Thankyou

momof boys,

If your son can't go home for Christmas and is not working, we would love to invite him over to our home to spend Christmas with us. We have two sailors coming over so far...the rest of the sailors who come over on the weekends all went home for Christmas.

Yvonne and John

hi yvonne. i told my son about your invitation to spend Christmas in your home but he won't go. I wish he would  that is no nice of you  do this especially during holidays when they are alone.  i tried to get him to go i told him i could find out where you are located.  Merry Christmas to you both. 

allie1928,

Perhaps it's because he doesn't know us. However, we have sailors over every weekend and maybe he would come then. Most of the sailors who come over went home for Christmas and will be back some time this coming week.

We live in Virginia Beach about 15 minutes from Norfolk Base. 

Is he on a ship or shore duty? 

Here's hoping he does come sometime. :)

Yvonne

Merry Christmas! our son is on shore duty. he has been  in 5 years . we are very proud of him and his service to our country. I read a little about you and John. God bless you for reaching out to the sailors. I will keep encouraging him . we hope to come visit him soon for a long weekend.  Have a blessed Christmas. ~Allie

Allie, 

Thanks and when you come you would be welcome to come join us for our board game night and dinner. I'm thinking that would be an better time to come because we have lots of fun! 

Yvonne

John and Yvonne, How do I get my son your information? Would love it if he connected with you. He is coming home soon and then off on the seas, so not much time. Thank you for your loving kindness to the Sailors!

momof boys,

I will pm you our cell number. 

Yvonne and John

My son is stationed in Norfolk and has an apartment in Virgina Beach. Is anyone aware of a workworking or metal working shop in the area where you can rent time in the shop for some small projects. It doesn't appear that the base as a "hobby" shop other than for working on cars.  Any suggestions you may have would be appreciated.

If your Sailor has a wife or GF living in the Norfolk/Portsmouth/Hampton Roads area, please let them know there is a group for them here on N4M - Navy Wives of Norfolk/Portsmouth VA.  A new member there just arrived at JFSC, has two little ones and is looking for mommies to connect with for playdates etc  :)  Thanks!

CL, I am aware that they closed the shop on Little Creek, but wasn't sure about Norfolk Base. I can ask some of the sailors who come over on the weekends if they know anyplace on base or off. 

\Yvonne and John

Warn your Sailors about this latest scam (and beware yourselves!).  Several people in the Virginia Beach area have been hit by it.  "Can you hear me?" scam

Looking for any advice or recommendations. Please desperate Mom. I visited my son in 5/16 he  had arrived there in 2/16 from Groton. I helped him purchase a new car. The day we drove it off the lot he got a speeding ticket very close to base.  No problem he paid the ticket. We recently got a notification of non-renewal of our car insurance. I was having a terrible time finding any one to insure our family. Finally one of the insurance agents said your son has 2 tickets. I said no its one. He then looked and yep only one but listed twice on the National Data Base which then reports to Florida .They can see its the same ticket number same speed same payment.Also it is listed a 4 point ticket which is reckless driving. He was under the that and should have been reported as 1 three point ticket. Not 2 four point tickets. Florida DMV says it has to be removed by Virginia. I tried calling no help even though I offered to fax my power of attorney. My son went to DMV in Virginia. They sent him to the court house and it was closed. He has very limited time as he is on a sub. Does anyone have any recommendation . Please I am just need to get this fixed. Insurance is charging us almost 6500.00. HELP. Please, Linda

Oceanslayer, have him contact JAG, if they can't intervene, they should at least be able to provide him with good advice. My son hasn't used them in Norfolk, but has found them to be very helpful at other commands where he has consulted with them.

Thank you, I will let him know. 

Oceanslayer,

They are very tough here in Virginia Beach/Norfolk about speeding. How fast was he going? However, I hope you can get the repetition of the same ticket resolved! JAG sounds like a reasonable avenue to pursue. 

By the way, if he is stationed here I wanted to let you know that my husband and I have a home away from home in our home for the sailors to come to on the weekends. On Saturday evenings at 5 we get together, eat dinner and play board games. Weather permitting we try and do outdoor activities. Sunday at 1 we get together and have a sitdown dinner with home made bread and dessert and get to know each other, watch movies, etc. It gives the sailors a place to hang out with other sailors. :) If you think your son would be interested let me know. I can pm you our cell number.

Yvonne and John

P.S. Check out our page on this site to find out more about us.

Our sailor''s ship will deploy and I am wondering what we can expect in terms of a ceremony, etc. How many days in advance should we be in Norfolk, etc.  

I was able to see USS Iwo Jima leave on a deployment and thought it was fascinating.  There aren't many there to watch vs. the crowds at homecoming.  A great Navy wife told me how I could see the ship as they headed out, so I hustled from the pier at the base to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and got out to the fishing pier just before they passed by.  It's a great photo opportunity, and rather emotional to watch them disappear out to sea!  There is a restaurant at the fishing pier too.  Take binoculars, and $13 for the toll.

Just FYI - Militaryonesource provides free tax filing software.  All active duty, reserve, and retired service members, and their spouses and dependents, are eligible for free tax filing services at www.militaryonesource.mil.

Singingbird, I couldn't see your post about deployment when writing mine - yours was so similar to my experience!  Nothing like manning the rails - it's like a Pavlovian response, I get choked up every time.....

Thanks for sharing the tax info Marcy!  You are AWESOME... :) 

It took about 24 hours before my son heard via red Cross. I was fortunate that he was state side at the time and I was able to keep him informed about his grandfather.

He was able to get leave to come only only because my dad help raise him from 2nd grade on. Had to provide proof that we had lived with my dad during that time.

Any Navy intermural teams there in Norfolk?

2017Commission - here's a current list; click on each league name for more info.  Navy MWR Mid-Atlantic Region Intramural Sports

Marcy - this is awesome!!!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

You're welcome!  I just added a Discussion above with this and more info about MWR events and activities for Sailors  :)  MWR Events, Rec Center, Activities, Sports and Volunteering for Sai...

(A note to the wise - community volunteering is great to add to brag sheets for evals, so the MWR monthly opportunity is a good way to get that service in...)

You are even more awesome!!  What a great source for all sorts of cool stuff.  Now there is no excuse for "there is nothing to do"

The MWR does a great job of providing activities for the sailors. Lots of options!

My husband and I also provide a place for the sailors...our home. we invite them to come over on the weekends-Saturday evenings for dinner and board games, mini-golf, etc., and Sunday afternoons for a home cooked meal with homemade bread and desserts.  Other activities include Civil War Re-enactments, trip to the Outer Banks. If your sailor is at all interested in having a place to go like home let them know about us. Check out our page on this site to know more bout us.

Yvonne and John 

It's been awhile since I've posted in this group. Since my son is deployed again right now on the Bush, I tend to watch that group more. I printed RED Friday shirts for our family and friends to wear during deployment, and had great interest in them from a lot of people. I ended up printing several for friends and family of other sailors aboard that ship as well. They have a design on the back that is specific to the ship, and I had a lot of military families tell me that they would have ordered them if they weren't ship specific, so I've decided to take orders again, leaving the back design off. If anyone is interested, please email me at ignitespiritbows@yahoo.com. The cost is $15 and that covers shipping and taxes. They are a basic 50/50 t-shirt in unisex sizes. I do not profit from these, this is just my cost. I will post a picture of the design. I will only be taking orders through this week, as to get them done and shipped out as quickly as possible.

Pro tip to share with your deployed Sailor!  "Use the following, which will allow you to text from your ship's email. It'll save a lot of time when communicating back home if you'd like semi-instantaneous communication."

AT&T: number@txt.att.net.
T-Mobile: number@tmomail.net
Verizon: number@vtext.com (text-only), number@vzwpix (text + photo)
Sprint: number@messaging.sprintpcs.com or number@pm.sprint.com.
Virgin Mobile: number@vmobl.com

Thank you Mary~ corpsman mom. It is nice to have those all in one spot. Not everyone knows you can email to a text number. Have a great night.

Island Girl,

I found 2 places on Google you can look up for houses. 1) 10 best Virginia Beach Rentals and 2) Top Virginia Beach Vacation Rentals (VRBO)  I hope they help!

Yvonne

Island girl, 

Did you ever come here and find a rental?

If you did , I hope you had a great time filled with memories you can think back on and pictures to go along with those memories. :)

Yvonne

Emmiesgram,

I would say your granddaughter went from one extreme to another! We were stationed in Hawaii for 2 tours of 3 years each and now we've been in Virginia Beach for the last 17 years. My husband is a retired Navy Chaplain and for the last 17 years we have been inviting sailors over to our home on the weekends to give them a place to hang out. We feed them and play board games with them, go mini golfing, go to re-enactments, etc. If your granddaughter would be interested we would love to invite her over. If she is we can pm you our cell number so she can get in touch with us.

Welcome to this group!

Yvonne and John