NUKE moms

A place to come for support and guidance for anyone with a loved one in the nuke program ⚓️.

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  • B'sNukeMoM⚓️MMN(Vet)

    Welcome to our newest member ~ Shoppinmomma!  I see you've already jumped right in to the conversation!

  • B'sNukeMoM⚓️MMN(Vet)

    Tracie - here's the link to the "Navy Speak".  I'll also add it up above in the "NEW MEMBER" section:

    http://navyformoms.ning.com/custom/media/pdf/NavySpeak.pdf

  • Tracie

    Thanks for the link!

  • soccermom19

    JayDee659 - Yikes!!!  Can't imagine slipping in to tight spaces like that.  I can't even do an MRI without freaking out.  In fact, I hyperventilate so badly when enclosed that it just can't be done.  I have tried the MRI locations where it is just top and bottom like the 2 pieces of bread of a sandwich and me in the middle and even then with my head sticking out, the tech had to hold my hand.  I'm such a baby when it comes to enclosed spaces.  I blame it all on Alfred Hitchcock.  It was an episode a long time ago when I was a very little girl. They didn't rate TV back then, but this should definitely have been PG-13. But the episode is one where so inmate pays off the caretaker with his plan to escape being that he would slip inside the coffin of a dead inmate and then the caretaker would come dig him up. So all I remember is the guy in the coffin waiting and waiting and he keeps lighting matches to look at his watch which eats up his oxygen and then finally looks at the dead body next to him and yep - it's the caretaker.  Freaked me out!!!!  Literally.  I couldn't sleep for weeks.  Still remember. 

  • Lazerguppie

    Tracie- a year! WOW! My son was in BC in 4 months after signing original IT contract, 3 after Nuke contract. It took a while for his clearance to go through, so they pushed his ship date back. Then, 2 days later, told him he was leaving in a week! Gotta love the Navy!

  • shoppinmomma

    Lazerguppie, same here.  My daughter started her process the end of September, signed her Nuke contract on Oct 3rd and received an original ship out date of March 19th.  They called her in December and asked if she wanted to ship out the next week. We already had a family vacation planned, so they changed her to January 16th. I was surprised at how quickly she was able to ship out.

  • momc

    I have been enjoying all the discussions on this site.  The weather for graduations, and volunteering for sub duty.  My son has been in the sub fleet since August 2017.  He is an ET.  He is very much enjoying his experiences so far.  He is stationed in San Diego and will leave in April on his first deployment.  They will be gone for 6 months  

    In regards to all the recruiters pushing for more nukes, my son mentioned that after his deployment several of his division will be leaving the Navy.  I am sure this is one reason why there is a push for more nukes, especially on subs.

    When my son graduated from A school, I was able to attend the ceremony and then spend the remainder of the weekend with him.  We did have plans in place to go to Power School Graduation, but Hurricane Matthew had other plans.  Charleston is such a wonderful city to visit.  It is hard to believe that they were so cold and had all the snow this year.  

    Have a great week everyone.  I need to work harder at getting on this website and sharing.

  • Tracie

    Lazerguppie- my son had to wait a long time for clearance to come back. He used his Dep time to help recruits get into physical shape prior to leaving. Was a really good experience for him but I was all mmmhmmm are the recruiters holding ya back cuz ya keep bringing in new recruits? Haha 

    Soccermom19– umm thank you for my future nightmares and every time I have to get mri I’m going to think of that now!

  • JayDee659

    Momc, it sounds like our sailors had the same power school graduation date. My sailor was also getting married the next day. Lost my money on a wedding cake. :(  The good news is that my kids came here and since her sister had time off she came home too. Last time both the girls have been home together. 

  • JayDee659

    Well that's creepy but the guy was trying to escape from prison. Hmm. 

    I hate to be the one to tell you but the racks on a carrier are very similar to stacked coffins. Despite this I can report that I slept like a baby, and I even had the dreaded middle rack. 

  • kai cat

    On a totally unrelated topic - I am curious - my son is a single guy - if he's in for 6 years he'll be about 25 when he comes out - but he may stay for quite a bit longer (my cousin just retired nuke out of NY after 20 yrs the same day my son went into BC!)

    How do they meet girls? Or girls - how did they meet boys?

    My cousin was already dating the girl he married before he went in.

    I know it's crazy - but I would like to see him married some day! LOL

  • JayDee659

    kai cat, my daughter met her husband at boot camp. They didn't start dating until after A school, but they knew each other at bc. A friend of theirs married a lovely young lady who worked at GC. My daughters roommate at GC married another Nuke that she met at GC. Worry not, opportunities abound! 

  • kai cat

    JayDee659 - lol thanks for sharing! You definitely relieved my mind. I just realized too that question probably sounds pretty creepy like I'm trying to pick up chicks or dudes from this web site! Lol..not my intention...

  • kai cat

    What is THU? Sometimes you guy's use it to talk about a location? Or boot camp? Or an airport?

  • Chipmunk

    kai cat - THU is Temporary Holding Unit - I assume it is a term used in various places, but at least here it refers to sailors being held at GL before they are transferred to their A school.

  • NonnaB

    kai cat, my son met his wife in the Navy; she was also in the Nuke program.  Things did not work out for her in the Navy, but worked out well for she and my son.  They've been married 7 years.

  • JayDee659

    kai cat it's not creepy at all.  Nukes can be a little introverted sometimes and it can make one wonder how they meet people.  In high school my sailor could not make a phone call to order a pizza or make a hair appointment, but put her on the band field or the ROTC drill deck and put her in charge and it was a totally different person who showed up.  She could manage those other kids like nobody's business.  Both her high school boyfriends were also in ROTC.  Birds of a feather flock together.

  • Mammagoose

    So....I had that dating thought too.  I asked my son if I could find him a church in the area (he is a pastors kid so being in church in normal).  Contacted churches that listed a young adult ministry and he went to one last Sunday.   Said he had a blast and that he spent the afternoon with a large group of young people having a bbq!  Kat it isn't weird at all.  The girl thing (and a homecooked meal) was how I got him to consider going at all.

  • JayDee659

    Mammagoose, my sailor and her husband joined a church in GC also.  The chaplain at BC was kind enough to give my daughter a list of churches in our denomination in the GC area. The congregation was mostly older folks that practically adopted them.  I did get to attend church with them before they left and pastor said he everyone was very excited to see the "younger kids" come to church.  This was the church they were going to be married in if Hurricane Matthew hadn't crashed our party.

  • Chipmunk

    Mammagoose and JayDee659 - we might have to swap some church information. My son doesn't have a car, just his bicycle, so getting to a church is not easy. We have talked about it, but he usually goes in an does his studying on Sundays, it is not even easy to get ahold of him on Sunday. He tends to be freer on Saturday. He mentioned that they (some of his friends I guess) were doing a Bible Study on Wed but I forgot to ask him the other day how that was going. I know one of his good classmate friends is rerating and I don't know if he was part of the group or not.

    As for dating - he basically told me they were strictly advised to not pursue much. I don't think they were told not to, but I just had the impression from him that everything would stay - friends only. He is also just out of HS, so I am okay with him not dating anyone at the moment. There are 3 females in his ET class, which I guess is more than the average.

  • JayDee659

    Chipmunk, they're not allowed to date in their chain of command.  So if they're in the same A School class they either cannot date or one of them might get rolled back, I think there are a couple of ways to handle it.  They want the kids to concentrate on their studying, not on studying each other.  That doesn't mean they're isolated and don't notice each other.

    My sailor attended church several miles from the base.  Since she had her car she had the luxury of picking where she wanted to attend.

  • bigsky21

    My son did not have a lot of luck dating in high school - there were girlfriends, but they never lasted long. He has met someone already at GC that he really seems to get along with...nothing serious yet of course, but I'm actually relieved it's another Nuke. I was telling my sister the other day, at least this way it is someone who understands what his priorities need to be and what pressure he is under - it won't be some girl complaining because he doesn't spend enough time with her lol

  • JayDee659

    bigsky21 dating another Nuke definitely has it's advantages.  My daughter went to BC still "with" her high school boyfriend.  He was all about waiting for her and got her a ring for Christmas.  Over New Years he told her he didn't want to wait home alone while she was deployed, at school, whatever.  She dropped him really fast.  The Nuke/Nuke thing has worked well for them. They understand each other and more importantly understand when they can't talk about work.  

  • NancyJo (NNPTC)

    My son broke up with his girlfriend when he went to boot camp thinking it was impossible to maintain a long-distance relationship especially with the conditions that exist being in the navy. Long story short, he married her between A School and Proto. True love will prevail. I worry that they married so young but here they are 6 years in and holding strong through deployments, cross-country moves, and family drama. 

    Meanwhile, my son told me via email today that he took the Chief exam! It's his first time taking it so I don't expect him to make chief right away but you could have knocked me over with a feather. Mamas, let me just say that as nukes advancement is good. They enter the fleet as petty officers and that gives them a step up. Naturally my son only told me that because I had asked him if he was able to call home one day when I saw on FB that all the sailors were in the hangar bay making calls b/c they were in a place where their cell phones worked. He said no he couldn't call b/c he was taking the chief exam. He always acts like no big deal. I guess in fairness it isn't unless he passes.

    Meanwhile also, I'm having terrible flashbacks of that Alfred Hitchcock show. I had happily pushed it back into my subconscious and now it has returned. <sigh> Navy moms just give and give. ;D

  • Lazerguppie

    Soccermom! I remember that episode!!!

  • B'sNukeMoM⚓️MMN(Vet)

    Hi all - Happy Tuesday!

    On the dating topic - my son also went in with a long term GF (6 years) and they broke up during power school.  Fast forward a few years and he met his now GF who was also a nuke.  They are both out now, going to college.  He'll be moving to MI where she's at in May and they do plan on getting married but no date set yet.  It's fun hearing them compare Navy stories!  And the way I see it, I have 2 sailors I get to love now!

  • JayDee659

    Never saw that movie but here's what I think of:

    The Mistletoe Bride - Carol Ann Duffy

    The December bride who, bored with dancing, skipped from the castle hall to play hide-and-seek, a white bird flickering into the dark... 

    The groom, who searched each room, calling her name; then the bridal guests, flame-lit, checking the grounds... 

    The fifty Christmases till a carpenter jemmied an old oak chest; the skeleton with its unstrung pearls, loose emeralds, its rings of diamond, sapphire, gold... 

    The running feet, the shouting for others to see what he’d seen; mistletoe in the loose bones of a hand... 

    like love, patiently green.

  • Lazerguppie

    My son is  20, never had a GF, only went on 2 dates in HS. He was told in BC to NOT date Navy women! LOL. His recruiter also said to avoid Navy women as some only want to avoid a ship tour and "forget" birth control. Darned if you do, darned if you don't. 

  • Besties4dogs (NukeMM)

    Wow, as a mom of a Sailor son and two civilian daughters, I am actually a little miffed that the recruiter said that to your son.  I am definitely standing up for all those women who chose to become Navy sailors and I am pretty sure none of them were thinking about getting pregnant to avoid a ship tour.  My son is also dating a Nuke and she is the best thing that ever happened to him :-)  He is older though, just turned 28 years old.  Hooyah, go Navy!!!

  • JayDee659

    My daughter is a Nuke and she has no plans for getting pregnant and the thought of missing a deployment or underway is out of the question for her.  It's unfortunate that some go in to the the Navy with the attitude of "how do I get out of..." but sadly some do.  BUT there are lots of incredible ladies in the Navy and I like to believe they are the majority.  All that I have met have been awesome!

  • soccermom19

    lazerguppie - wasn't that a creepy episode.  It really scared me to the core.  Of course I was only 5 or 6 when I saw it.  I am sure of that timeline because I remember seeing it in the first house I lived n and we moved to a new house on the day I turned 7.  So way too young to be watching that.

    And to everyone else who I have now given a creepy visual or flashbacks. Sorry!!!  I just had to share with my Navy family. 

    And saying Navy family is really special for me.  My son is the one who joined the Navy but has pretty much remained a loner, like many nukes who can be introverted at times..  I on the other hand seemed to be the one that gained the family. Something I always wanted to have - a really big, sharing, caring family Love ya all!!!

  • B'sNukeMoM⚓️MMN(Vet)

    I agree - that was a little uncalled for for the recruiter to say that about women wanting to get pregnant to miss a deployment.  I'm sure there's good & bad of both sexes but there's also many more amazing sailors of both sexes.

    Of course there is another saying in the Navy that goes "if the Navy wanted you to have a spouse, they would assign you one!"  (It's a joke - not trying to ruffle any feathers ;-D)

  • Tracie

    Yea as a female I’m kinda annoyed about the pregnancy comment...my sons recruiter tried a different route to discourage relationships with female recruits in BC he reminded them females do exact same thing males do and have exactly same amount of time for personal hygiene no matter what, so they are going to be just as stinky and foul as the males...

    So much more non biased approach I think and kinda funny.

  • NancyJo (NNPTC)

    Tom, wise words as usual. My son has had no problem working with women. He grew up in a house of women (he was the only male once dad left) and he treats us with respect, and I expect that translates to the job. He also appreciates strong women. He married one. My advice is for the moms of the young sailors, if any of you haven't had the sex talk yet, it's high time. People will be human.

    I feel like this is my navy family too, soccermom. I have tons of family but you ladies (and men) have been my support for a long time and I appreciate each of you.

  • NancyJo (NNPTC)

    B'sNuke, it's so wonderful to hear about B since he left the navy. He's found love and is building his future. It warms my heart. Thanks so much for letting us share his journey. I have never met the man but I feel like I know him a little. He is a gem, as is his mother. <3<3<3

  • topdog1p

    My son enjoyed Metro North church in goose creek while he was there. He then moved to NY for prototype he did find a church there i just am not sure of the name. He too was one that had not dated in high school and college before joining the navy. He says he sees girls he would like to ask out but moving around stopped him. I told him at Christmas in 2015 ask them and let them decide if they would be interested in a Navy man.  Little did mom now there was a girl he had in mind at the church he was intending in NY. They had been an item now since last April. She in NY and him in Bremerton WA. Time will time if it ends in marriage.  He did go visit for 2 wks last month.

  • Chipmunk

    Wow, some days we chatter a lot and others it is pretty quiet. JayDee a few pages back you clarified what I think my son was trying to tell me. They aren't allowed to date in the same class or such so they aren't distracted.

    B'sNuke - my son also told me the same joke "if the Navy wanted you to have a wife, they would have issued you one."

    NancyJo - my husband reminds our children all the time, if you do what hormones tell you to do, the hormones will win all the time. In one of my first long conversations when my son arrived at GC he thanked me for several things, teaching him to always tell the truth and fess up if he was in the wrong, treating others with respect, and a healthy understanding of sex, drugs, and alcohol and also how to handle money. That came from dad as well and most lessons are learned as the results of various life experiences, but recognizing how to stand in wise counsel and Godly wisdom is usually beneficial to all.

    Thanks for the suggestions on churches, and all the chatter. It is good to see lots of responses. Soccermom19 - glad to be a part of your extended family.

    Now it is off to help out one of my children. Just because they grow up doesn't mean I don't still get two phone calls at once, or help with an earache, or I still need you to come see me for some reason. I love them all!!

  • JayDee659

    Chipmunk they can't date in the same chain of command for the same reason many companies do not allow coworkers to date. There's favoritism, influence, distraction just to name a few. 

  • Pooh'sMom

    Lazerguppie - That's funny!  My son was also told in BC not to date Navy gals.  He had a saying, "If she's in blue, she's not for you!"  

    That being said, none of his friends took it to heart, and dated fellow Navy gals.  They are the only ones who understand what pressure they are really under.  

    My Nuke didn't date in high school because he said he couldn't afford girls, and he planned to move away.  Said he didn't want to invest in a girl and leave.  LOW AND BEHOLD!  His Senior Prom, he asked a Freshman who had eyes for him.  They have been together ever since and now she's a Senior.

    I wish them all the best, as some have turned into lovely adventures.

  • momc

    Pooh’s mom -my son heard the same thing about Navy Gals

    when my son left for BC he did have a girlfriend from high school.  They stated together for about 1 1/2 years, but the distance just didn’t work for them.  They are still friends.  He has decided that for now having a relationship would not work for him.  No women on his sub, so no romances will happen for him for sometime.   These young people are mature beyond their years 

  • Pooh'sMom

    momc - I agree!  I'm so impressed with these mature women and men.

  • Lazerguppie

    So, I shipped the phone and got a tracking email that said it was at the post office for pick up. How often are they able to go to said post office and pick up mail? Do they get notices that a package is waiting for them? I know in BC, they got mail call. Is that the same as in INDOC and A school?

  • Chipmunk

    lazerguppie - It is my understanding that the PO (mailroom) will send your son a notice that he has a pkg to pick up. Unlike at BC they are allowed to go to the mail room and pick up their packages, that said, I am not sure of the mailroom hours so some times it can take a few days before they are able to get over to pick up a pkg.

    Other than pkgs, I am not sure how may call works. They are usually in class from 8 AM - 4:30 pm approximately.

  • Chipmunk

    Do any of the veterans know anything thing about the Dash for Cash - In my very short call today, my son said something about it being either the PFA or PFT (I forgot) that they have to pass in order to advance to E4. It is evidently coming up shortly, at least for his class.

  • soccermom19

    What is a Dash for Cash? 

  • NNLori

    Never heard of a Dash for Cash. I have no idea. I'll be anxious to see if someone else can explain what it is. :)

  • SailorsLIMom

    It’s the nickname of the qualifying physical test that they have to pass ( along with other standards) to move up to E4,  which comes with a pay raise.  Most of them pass it with the qualifying run, exercises, etc.,  just regular PT stuff, but if they have any kind of limiting physical condition there are alternatives, like stationary biking up to a required energy expenditure. 

  • ProudOfK

    Chipmunk I saw your post last night but was just too tired to respond then. Ditto on what SailorsLMom said. I believe my son had his dash for cash about a month before his A school graduation. Passing the dash for cash along with passing A school qualified him to advance to E4. 

  • Chipmunk

    SailorsLIMom and ProudOfK - Thanks for explaining the Dash for Cash. This is what I understood from my son but didn't know exactly how to explain it.

    It sounds like only certain classes at A school take it then. In other words not everyone there is doing the Dash for Cash at once. My son is 1801-T and scheduled to graduate A school April 6 (new date from snow days) - He just sounded very busy, big test today. I think it is ICE - not sure.

  • B'sNukeMoM⚓️MMN(Vet)

    Hi all - Happy Wednesday!

    Guess what day it is? It's Fiona the Hippo's first birthday!