Corpsman Moms

Thanks TexasDocMom do you recall how long he was home for Christmas while in A school?

 I don't, I remember I thought it wasn't long enough, it was his first leave home since he left for basic training. I think it was a couple of weeks? check with the moms in the A school group, they have all the info.

Five years ago, it was about two weeks.  Christmas through New Year's.  It seems like he returned the 4th of January but that was when A school was in Chicago. 

My son was one of the last classes to go through A School in Chicago and he got to come home for two weeks in between fiinishing up A School and heading to Camp P for FMTB.  It just fell that way but now that he's with the Marine's he is basically told when he can take leave.  And it is pretty much the two weeks over the holidays. 

Last year my son had two weeks at Christmas.  I think I remember him saying Fort Sam shut down for the holidays.

Are there any discount airfares for military.My local airport is a military base..

For anyone with a sailor at A School in San Antonio, the USO and the restaurant Boudro's on the River Walk are hosting a Thanksgiving Day meal event FREE to all active duty troops, retirees and their families to celebrate the holiday.  When and where:  Thursday November 27th, 11 am to 3 pm at "Charles Court" located at 205 North Presa between Commerce and Market Street.  

If your sailor takes a cab from Ft Sam Houston, they can stop into the USO Center (open 11am-4pm tomorrow) a few steps from the event and receive a $5 voucher towards cab fare back to base.  Happy Thanksgiving!!

My daughter will be stationed at Pensacola Navy Hospital.

Is there anyone who can share some info or experience about that place? 

My son joined the Navy to get away from Pensacola.  Guess where his first duty station was?  Naval Hospital Pensacola. 

It is a smaller hospital.  I have taken my granddaughter there as a patient to both pediatrics and immunizations and sat and waited (and waited!!!) for prescriptions for both my mother (my dad was retired AF) and granddaughter.  I found the pediatrics department to be superior.

The hospital has normal hospital departments but recently closed their ER and now have an urgent care.  There are a few clinics around the base where your daughter could also be assigned. 

Pensacola is not a bad place to be stationed.  However, I don't think there is a great deal for young people to do unless it is beach season.  The beaches are beautiful, white sugary sand.  There is a historic village downtown and the Navy has an outstanding Air Museum on base. 

If you have any questions I could answer, would be glad to do so. 

We moved here over 20 years ago (my husband was civil service) and are now retired here.  Our sailor has been in the Navy for 12 years and has not been assigned back to Pensacola but I wonder if he will end up retiring here one day since his wife is also from here. 

Went to Naval Base Pensacola this morning to place wreaths at Barrancas National Cemetery on friends and families' graves/niches and had second thoughts about what I said about Pensacola not having a lot to do.   

Just as you drive on base, there is a screen scrolling different activities.  I know one was a run and the other slipped my mind.  When we got to the cemetery, there were many Sailor volunteers handing out the wreaths to be placed on the graves.  Volunteer hours are important toward promotion.  There are intramural teams on base.  Theater.  Bowling alley.  All kinds of fields.   NEX  is over by the hospital but they have a small one on base if your daughter is housed there.  Best selection of uniform necessities there. 

I see lots of young sailors at the mall which is completely cross town from the base.  I don't know if they come by taxi or they use public transportation (which leaves something to be desired). 

Guess when I am saying there isn't much to do, I am thinking more of teens who don't have much direction in life.  Our sailors usually know what they want.  I am thinking many years back to when my son was a teen and there just weren't many activities other than sports. 

Thank you very much IDCmom#1 for the information. 

I will be glad to share this with my daughter when she comes home for the holidays. You are absolutely right. Our sailors are no longer the teens we know. They are more mature now in many ways. I'm sure my daughter will love the beautiful Pensacola white sand beaches. :-) 

I just got off the phone with my son and he said he saw on facebook that in 2015 the Marines would switch to using Marine Corpsman and not Navy Corpsman.  It sounds like a rumor to me, but has anyone else heard about this?  

Doreen's right - there is a fake Facebook page that is a Marine Corps Times impostor.  Please let your corpsmen know NOT to share anything from the page with the address Facebook.com/TheMarineCorpsTimes.com.  The official page for Marine Corps Times does NOT have the word "The"as part of its name in the address bar.  I've spoken to the managing editor of Marine Corps Times at Gannett Media: their legal department is pursuing legal action and has contacted Facebook to try and get the page taken down.  Here's a screenshot of the link to the fake story (their grammar leaves something to be desired) - 

Scam artists. If you're on that page, block it. And remember....the Marines are part of the Navy, not the other way around! 

Thanks for the info about the fake Facebook page.  One thing the military is good for is spreading rumors.  I hope they stop these impostors.  

The executive editor of Military Times emailed me this morning to say that the effort to have the fake page taken down was successful, so score one for the good guys this time .  Military Times (parent of Navy Times, Marine Corps Times etc) is not affiliated with the government.  It's part of the Gannett Company, which owns USA Today among other things. The military wasn't spreading the rumor, it was corpsmen and others taking it as truth and sharing the link to the Facebook page.  It was pretty awful how far that story spread and how many corpsmen were upset by it.  Glad it's taken care of.  

Moms with deployed kids can find support here :Moms with Kids in Iraq/Afghanistan  Most of us are moms of FMF Corpsmen or Seabees. 

Amy Lynne, we are all here for you.  It is a scary time and pray you will have contact.  Where is he being deployed?  Take care.

Ladies, please remember as your kids are being deployed that you really need to familarize yourselves with OPSEC and the latest social media behavior updates from the USNavy. No dates, no destinations, no countdown, shut down your social media to friends you know only, no photos of your sailor or his buddies. Please check out the group for moms with deployed kids, a lot of experienced moms willing to support and guide you through one of the scariest times of your life. Keeping your loved one safe while deployed and ourselves safe as well is critical to all of us. 

Hi Ladies!  yes TexasDocMom good reminder!  I was told by my sailor no pictures on your smart phone either!  anything that can be accessed from the internet should not have pictures of them.  He said only on a camera.  He even asked me to remove my sailor mom magnet from my car, and not to wear my sailor mom sweatshirt out and about.  I am very careful now and don't like to post anything on social media unless its benign about my pets or myself.

Anyone have a sailor in class 095? Just arrived at Ft.Sam?

My daughter called today and said that she classed up today. She starts class tomorrow.  Anyone else out there who's sailor starts corpsman school tomorrow?

My daughter will be in San Antonio in a couple of weeks for A school.  Since military life is new for us, I have a question about purchasing a laptop for her.  Is this something she can get on base at the Navy Exchange?  I thought about getting her one to take to PIR but thought it might be best if she picks out her own to be sure and get what she wants.  Thanks!

Gabby, my son has been in the Navy for 12 years and he has never purchased a pc or laptop from the exchange.  My retired AF father never did either.  

I think you just get better deals through places like Best Buy, Office Depot, and Amazon. 

   

Was just thinking about your question "Navy Exchange" and made me wonder if there is an NEX in San Antonio.  Don't think there are any Navy bases (at least not when I was in high school there a 100 years ago) but there will be BX and PXs.   

Growing up in Corpus Christi as a Navy Brat, we called it the PX....NEX is something I learned once my son joined the Navy.  Gabby, she'll find a better deal online. Dell has had some good well priced laptops on their sales lately. Amazon will have some as well. 

Thank you all for your input.  I forget that she is not actually going for her schooling at a Navy base!  I didn't think about her being able to order one if she needed, just that she wouldn't have liberty for a few weeks (at least my understanding of it) to be able to go and buy one.   

This is my first visit to this group and wow - you're discussing exactly the thing I wanted to know. Sounds like I should wait to see what my son will need at METC before buying anything, and that we should compare Fort Sam and online retailers for the best price. Do I have that right? 

Gabby, some of us moms are from the old generation (well, not that long ago) that our children did attend corpsman course at Great Lakes so they were at a Navy base. Back when my son was in school, no one had computers so it wasn't a problem.  

My daughter is a nurse and she said what really helped her with Anatomy and Physiology was a coloring book you can buy.  She is a visual learner so it was right for her. 

TeriG, I would wait until your son talks to other students and finds out what works best for them.  When they first get to Ft. Sam, they won't immediately start class so they will have time to look around online for best product and price.

IDCmom#1 - I will check into the anatomy coloring book.  I think I saw that mentioned somewhere before as a good tool for them.  I will also tell her she needs to ask around when she gets there to see what others are recommending.  Thanks!

My son was in one of the last classes at Great Lakes - nearly 5 years ago.  He already had a laptop before he went into the Navy and had me send him that once he started A school. Technology changes so fast and iPads are all the rage now.  Good advice from IDCmom#1.

TDM - when my husband was in the army over 20 years ago and we called it the PX also. 

Corpsmen loved ones, I have a favor to ask.  If you are on Facebook, would you please go to this link and vote for the photo my daughter posted of us.  It is to win something from a local jeweler and my daughter is discouraged that her friends are not voting.  My son is the corpsman but my daughter is a NICU nurse taking care of tiny babies who only live because of the attention of the NICU.  I know it would really boost her spirits after a hard 13 hour shift if you voted.

This is the link.  The photo is a bride touching heads with her smiling mother on her wedding day (Feb 28, 2015).  My all time favorite photo.  

https://www.facebook.com/berejewelers?sk=app_451684954848385&br...

Thank you so much. 

Voted, shared with my Navy moms on Facebook and with my ex corpsman's sons friends...and tweeted.

Thank you TDM.

I'm not on Facebook but I forwarded to all I know. Good luck and Happy Mother's Day!

Voted yesterday and again today, right now she's in third place with 86 votes, behind 217 and 111 votes, so COME ON MOMS!  Let's get the votes for IDCmom#1 and daughter!  https://www.facebook.com/berejewelers?sk=app_451684954848385&br...