Norfolk Sailors - Family & Friends

WaterLily - I hope that things continue to be mild for all of our sailors that have their cars parked in that area. 

2022 Holiday shipping information - USPS - here is a link to the page with all shipping information. Be sure to scroll down and you will find the dates for military packages and other helpful shipping information as well. 

2022 Holiday Mailing Deadlines (usps.com)

paintpink - I very much understand your concern. It is one thing for us to say, "No news is good news" when the SRs are at GL, and being watched over. It is different when they are out to sea and return from deployment. Have you tried reaching out to him? (that is probably a silly question.) 

I would see about trying to contact the ombudsman for his ship. If you have difficulty doing that, we can try to help you find out if there are some other resources available for checking on him. 

paintpink .... there might be a million details to take care of .... laundry, new/old lease, car troubles (if he has one and it's been sitting for a while), celebrations with friends, goodbyes to friends whose contracts are up, clothes shopping, food shopping, and maybe a girl. Don't worry. You would have heard if he were not fine. 

My sailor is on an underway. He will be coming in to the closes port to us this weekend and has liberty Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, we already booked a weekend getaway in North Carolina and will be 7 hours away from him (and 10 hours from home). His twin sister and older brother are going up to spend the day with him on Saturday. I cannot really complain .... I saw him for a week in September in Norfolk. But I am sad. 

Paintpink, if you’ve attempted to contact him with no response, I would definitely contact his ship’s ombudsman.  They are there to provide a link between fleet & families, so never feel guilty reaching out.

Paintpink, I had to call the ombudsman once because my son had a very long lapse in contact. He too said he didn't realize it was that long since he talked to us. I wouldn't feel bad about calling either. My son was still in school when this happened and he did get chewed out from his commander for not calling home which I felt bad about .  I couldn't sleep and it was affecting me at work so I have no regrets for being a Mom, they need to learn what it feels like on the other side.

Good Morning!! I am just checking in on our Norfolk families. I heard from my DIL that there was a bad rain storm, she got caught in the middle of while driving home. 

I hope those who are able to have their sailors home for one of the holidays, have a wonderful visit and safe travels for the sailors. For those who will be traveling to Norfolk, may you also have safe travels. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I am just checking in on everyone and their sailors. I know there was some national news from the area around and I wanted to just reach out if anyone needed anything. 

i have not heard of anything ?

Hi Chipmunk.  Thanks for checking in.  My sailor is doing well and we are actually here with him now to celebrate Thanksgiving together.  We rented a house in Hampton and packed up the car, bringing the feast to him from Michigan.  It’s the third year we’ve done this and it’s a lot of work but so very worth it. 

The recent news of three more deaths is devastating.  Prayers go out to the families impacted.

WaterLily - That is love!!

Dawn, there was a shooting in Cheasapeake, at a Wal-Mart. I don't have a link to the details at the moment, but I was hopeful that none of our sailors were involved. 

Chipmunk, I thought you were referencing the 3 sailors who recently passed away.  I hadn’t heard of the Walmart shooting.  Very sad.

WaterLily - I am so sorry!! I had not heard about the 3 sailors. 

Good Evening!!

I just wanted to remind you to let your sailors know that there are several activities in the area that they can receive military discounts at. The main one is Busch Gardens where each year they can receive a 1 time free ticket, and then at other times, I think they receive military discounts. 

Good Morning Everyone!!

Happy Hanukkah - Merry Christmas - Season's Greetings!! 

I am hopeful that some of you will get to have visits with your sailors!

Good Morning Norfolk Families - 

How is everyone doing? 

Can we just have a hand wave! It has been a while and I thought we should play a little catch up. 

My son is still stationed on his ship here in Norfolk. He will be finishing up his enlistment soon, however, my sailor gal is also stationed in Norfolk and her enlistment is not over, so my son will be staying with his wife and start figuring out schooling. 

I know from some of my other groups that we have more sailors coming this direction and I want them to know we have people in this group that are around to help answer questions for them.  Thanks!! May you have a wonderful day!

Good Morning all. We have just been enjoying living close to Norfolk and seeing our sailor often.  Hope everyone is doing well.

Devonson - it is a blessing to have your sailor close enough for multiple visits in a year.

Hi Chipmunk. I'm here. My son is out at sea but returning to Norfolk in a week or so after a "fun" cruise. Luckily they're stopping along the way and we will get to see him at one of his stops this weekend. We'll get him all Saturday. It's a 2.5-hour drive so not worth it to bring him home, but we'll find something ot do. 

I feel very blessed with that and I get all the hugs I can.

I am here. Kind of. Work is insane today. Happens when the temperature swings like it has been. 

my sailor is still in Norfolk. But away for schooling at the moment. Somewhere in New Jersey. 

I'm here, my son will be stationed at Oceana but his ship is the Truman when deployed. They don't have a site for Oceana that I know of. The squadrons operate a little different from what I am understanding. Would love more information if anyone has any!

Hello my first time commenting on here. My son is in Newport News, Stennis - will likely be under maintenance until 2025. He’s busy doing his quals. Living in an apartment at Hampton. Hope to see more people on here from BC. I stopped following BC after the batch of Shanny and Katharine! Definitely i know Northwoodsmom and Chipmunk from BC to Nuke page. Hope you still remember me.

Gigi - Yes, I remember you!! Did you ever join Beyond BC - that is where most of us hang out and do a lot of daily chatter. Sometimes more of us than others, but it is where everyone can stay connected if they wish. 

I am glad that your son is able to work on his qualifications. Having the ships / boats in the shipyards can be hard. My son's ship has been in Newport News twice since he has been in the Norfolk area. 

Northwoodsmom - I do not know as much about how the squadrons operate, but you keep posting and keep asking. Remind me and we will reach out to the Norfolk ombudsman if we need to.

Shanny - May your sailor glean a lot of new knowledge that will be helpful down the road! 

Katharine - Enjoy the time when you can get it with your sailor!

Dawn - Were you trying to post your comment here? I think it showed up in the "main room" chat instead. 

Gigi of course we remember you. Your son was going through Power School about the same time as mine after one of his many setbacks.  Is he closer to you at all or further away? I hope he isn't disappointed with his ship in dry dock for a while, I know they are itching to get out to do their jobs. So happy you are here!

Hi Gigi - wondered how you were doing and just joined this group myself. Didn't realize it existed until Chipmunk mentioned it this week. I had joined a group for my son's ship but there is no current activity there. Seems like it was all back when the ship came back to Norfolk in 2015. He's been there almost a year now working on quals while ship is still in Newport News but they are hoping to move it to Norfolk in a few months. One of his roommates from Goose Creek is on the Stennis as well so maybe your son knows her. They were originally there about the same time but my son was one of the lucky ones who avoided any extra covid quarantines during boot camp (other than great wolf lodge of course!) and goose creek so got through fairly quickly compared to some. 

4kidsforfun - Welcome!! This is evidently one group on this site that I do not follow the new members joining. We are glad you are here. There are several of us that are currently active on the site. This group doesn't get much action, but since I heard there were several from other groups whose sailors were headed to Norfolk or at Newport News, Oceana, I wanted to have us do a shout out again. 

There are some things more unique to the East Coast than say San Diego. We do not have any web cams for watching our ships come in. Several of us have to rely on the local families to post pictures on our Ombudsman group page. 

Also, it is my understanding that there is no public transportation in the area, so it is almost imperative that our sailors have a vehicle, especially if the ship is back and forth between the shipyard and port. 

Also, crazy driving and accidents, as well being given tickets for things that may not be common in other areas of the country are something that I have learned about from several of the local sailors. Remind yours to mind their Ps & Qs, to watch their speed and to know what the local laws are with regards to speeding, traffic tickets and whether they might be a misdemeanor or not. 

These are no joke issues and even the best of our sailors can find themselves facing situations they had not planned for. 

This is a public group, so I am just saying this as a reminder - not everyone local sees our military as a blessing or a welcomed presence in this area, as they might be in other areas of our country. Our sailors have to be on their best behavior and do their best to remind those they are around that there will always going to be someone that is struggling with their place in life, but that is not every sailor, so may ours be the light and the good where they can be and share kindness and mercy no matter where they are. 

If there is ever an issue that you are not sure if you can address it to the group first, feel free to reach out to me and I will do my best to help guide you, as you are looking for answers to questions or situations that might arise. 

I know Chipmunk mentioned that there wasn't any transportation at Norfolk but I did find this on a Facebook site for Norfolk.

Northwoodsmom - Thank you for sharing this! I believe this is just for on base, but that is good to know. 

Good Afternoon - How are our Norfolk families doing?  

Chipmunk I am here even though my Sailor is in Oceana, close enough. It has been pretty quiet but I just got a message from my son, he got sunburn bad enough that his SLPO sent him to medical. His mom would of been all over that reminding him to put sunscreen on, he is very fair skinned and burns fast.

Northwoodsmom - Yes, Oceana is close enough. This group sort of encompasses that entire area, including Newport News. My son grew up in the south, playing outside all the time, but when we went swimming, they had sunscreen and a t-shirt on usually. My sailor can burn easily, especially on the beach, so my DIL makes sure he comes with lots of sunscreen! I am glad your son got some medical treatment. Hopefully they were able to give him something to help. 

Oh those sunburns are nasty!  Especially if they are out fishing!  I had one when we went for the family day cruise. I remembered sunscreen everywhere except my chest-I had a v-neck shirt on. It seriously changed the color of my skin permanently. That was a year ago and it still looks terrible. 

Good Morning!! I just wanted to check in with everyone. I know there were some bad storms at last in the Virginia Beach area last night. I haven't had a chance to check in with my sailor yet, but I figure no news is good news. 

But I wanted to see how the rest of you were doing and your sailors. 

Good Morning Chipmunk!  My sailor is not in port right now and we're hearing their underway has been extended so if the storms moved through his area, I'm sure they rode it out as they do on those ships.  I haven't really been tracking the Norfolk weather this past month.  Hopefully the base parking lots have not had any flooding issues?

Good Morning.  We dropped our sailor off last night and the wind and rain and seas were in an uproar. Hope everyone is ok.

My sailor was at his apartment in Newport News. He said they had frequent cloud to ground lightning, winds and heavy rain. He called this morning and said base seemed fine. Sounds like most of the damage was to Virginia Beach. 

my son also lives in apt in Newport News. However, he was on base for his duty day on Sunday. 

My son checked in with us last night, he is the Virginia Beach area and didn't know a thing about it. I heard it touched down between River Rd. And Great Neck Rd. Hurried and checked our Airbnb and everything was fine, had me sweating bullets for awhile. Thank the Lord no one was seriously injured.

My son just sent me a screenshot of a tweet from the NWS. The tornado that hit Virginia Beach was an EF 3. 

Oh Wow!! That is significant!!

I am glad to hear from everyone!! It is good to know that our sailors are fine and yes, if they are out to sea those big ships do rock n roll. 

Shanny, thank you for sharing the update. I am sure the community will pull together and help everyone out. 

Good Morning !! How is the Norfolk crew doing?

Mine son is now a civilian, but he will be staying in the area since his wife is stationed there. I think this was the first 4th of July that my son was able to watch fireworks in 7years, since before he went to BC. I was encouraging them to do something fun to celebrate the day. They did not want to get caught up in all of the traffic. I did hear that they were able to sit on their balcony and see the fireworks from a distance. I know my son was happy and DIL was as well, that they did not have to drive anywhere. 

Hi Chipmunk!  Thanks for checking in.  I'm glad to hear your son & DIL were able to enjoy some fireworks while relaxing on their own patio and avoiding the traffic jams.  That's the way to go!

Our family actually just got back from the Norfolk area yesterday.  Our sailor (son) is readying for deployment and drove his car home prior to his week of leave. Instead of flying back, my husband, our daughter and I decided to drive him back for a family road trip.  It takes us about 12 hours to make the drive so it was fun to make some old fashioned family road trip memories, like old times lol.  We rented a house in Hampton again and drove in Sunday, spent Monday together as a family and took him back to base Monday night.  It was nice to have some quality time together and overall was a relaxing and low-key holiday - the best kind!

WaterLily - Mine is "out there" doing their final pre-deplpyment certifications. He is actually closer to me than to Nofolk. A few days ago he was about a hundred miles due east FROM HERE!!! We went to the beach and waved. Marine Vessel Tracker showed that they moved, but he is still closer to me than Norfolk.

Mine too will be driving his car and some of his valuables down here before deployment. It is also a 12-hour drive (due south) but I think he intends to fly back. I don't want to do the drive back here by myself and I don't think anyone else will be easily able to take more time off after his 2 weeks here. 

Water Lily, good to hear from you and so happy you got a chance to enjoy some  family time. Wonderful memories those family road trips. Did they pick on each other all the way still. My son is in Virginia Beach area and we are making a road trip next week, 17 hours for us. We are picking our Sailors up and bringing him to his sister's wedding in Tennessee. First time our children will all be together in 17 years. Thought it was only 12 but y was corrected. Looking forward to also meeting our new daughter-in-law, first son got married in Korea last year.

WaterLily - That sounds like you had a wonderful time!! I am so glad that you were able to spend it with your sailor. 

Katharine - The Wave works!!! I am glad you are able to keep tabs on him. 

Northwoodsmom - That is so exciting, to have everyone together!! Take lots of pictures!