NUKE moms

Temporary Holding Units - since I mentioned that a sailor can be held at RTC - this is from the FAQ page - U.S. Navy Recruit Training Command > FAQ - 

Q. My Sailor is being placed in the Temporary Holding Unit. What does this mean?
A. Sailors placed in this unit, are Sailors who have graduated from Recruit Training Command and are awaiting follow-on orders to their school. The reasons for placing a graduated Sailor on hold can vary from clearance issues, needing a special physical, or sometimes it is as simple as waiting for a class to fill up.

These Sailors, however, are not just waiting around. They follow a daily schedule. Many maintain work assignments while awaiting their follow-on orders, to include: manning the Ship, acting as escorts for recruits transiting to medical or legal appointments, or performing office duties at locations throughout the base.

They are also housed separately from other recruits and have the ability to enjoy liberty, and are permitted to leave the base for recreation or for visiting with family members. They may also call home during their non-duty hours.

Dani_NukeMom - Ditto to what the others said about not needing much at GC.  The one thing I gave my son that he LOVED is a fleece Navy blanket.  (I ordered it from The Lakeside Collection and gave it to him after PIR.)  I kept it for him after PIR and then took it to him at GC once he got there.

Pizanche - congrats on your sailor's Prototype graduation.  I hope you have a wonderful time with him!  (And once the dust has settled, will you please share your experience at graduation with us?  My son should graduate late September or early October.  I'd love to know what your experience is and any suggestions you have!)  

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday!  So little Oliver ended up weighing in at 9lbs 3oz (smaller than they anticipated!) and 22.5" long!!!  They aren't posting pics on social media so I'll have to wait and see if there is something I can share at some point.  But he is adorable ;-D  They came home Mother's Day afternoon and they are slowly adjusting to being home.  Everyone is doing great!  I can't wait to head to MI on 6/10.  Lolli needs to see her Oli!

Good morning everyone!

Pizanche- Congratulations on your son’s graduation! Enjoy you vaca to SC and your time with him! I plan on visiting as much as possible when my son is there.

Joe-Mom- yes, I treasure each and every letter and so happy he has found the time to write me as much as he has! Enjoy your time in SC as well, I will probably be there in early July.

Chipmunk- Thank you so much! That was the thread I was looking for. I had no idea that they sometimes are temporarily held, but makes sense. I know they can’t take much with them right away so I was thinking maybe he would like some new skivvies, socks, a new portable phone charger… small things like that. That other list will be helpful when I visit and bring/buy things for him.

MomofJoseph- Thank you, I will add on a fleece blanket to my list even though the only thing he wants is his cat! :D

B’sNukeMom- So sweet and happy to hear everyone is doing great! <3 Wow, little Ollie is such a big boy already! ;-D

One question… do they have enough room for a desktop in GC or should I plan on buying him a laptop? 

Congratulations Pizanche, enjoy your time in SC. I am so happy I had a chance to enjoy it. 

B'sNukeMoM, wow that is a huge baby no wonder she was in labor that long. Enjoy your trip to Michigan to visit Oliver!

Thank you for the well wishes. 
momofjoseph  - I will definitely let you know. I have gone to his A school and power school graduations. But this time I will be going to the grad but also be s tourist , with my sailor. He did say to me, they are so busy that they don’t get a real chance of being a tourist. 

Happy Late Mother’s Day to all! And Congratulations to the new mom C so happy for the whole family. I know Lolli B’sNukeMom can’t wait to see and hold Baby Oliver 

I got an Edible Arrangement delivered at work from my son said sorry it’s late but better than never (lol exactly)

Dani_NukeMom - underwear for sure. The ones from BC is not the kind that they like 

Pizanche - Congratulations and BZ to your son! It has been 2 years wheeww. Where is he going next? (Just the state if not comfortable for you) Mine is in VA, his ship is under maintenance til maybe 2025.

Dani_NukeMom - I would recommend a laptop and maybe let your son pick it out & buy. You can always supplement, but they can often get a military discount that you can not. My son bought his laptop the first 3 day weekend he had in GC. He ended up going to Best Buy in Charleston, I think, because it was cheaper than at the big NEX. He did some research online first. He did have access to come computers for looking things up, but he has had his computer for almost 6 years now and it has traveled with him on the ship and is still working great to my knowledge. His is a smaller sized one, but he has flown home with it, etc. You can't do that with a desktop!

They can not bring any study materials out of their study area, so the computer is primarily for leisure. My son has done fine with the smaller one, but he is also big on saving money, not spending it. 

Dani_NukeMom - My son has finished A School and Power School and he did not want his computer until last week.  (Apparently, when you are forced to find your own housing, you qualify for a $1400 stipend and he wanted his computer to be able to apply for that.)  

Like Chipmunk said, they can't bring any study materials out of the study area (and they can't bring any electronics into the study area) so they have no need for one for school.  My son brought his PS4 to his room, so  that was his mode of entertainment.  :-)

Thank you ladies! <3  I’m going to just let him figure out the computer situation. He is a huge gamer and built his desktop himself and would really like to have it with him. Just not sure about the space he will have available in his room.

I am curious about the housing options after power school. Anything affordable in the area? Where do most usually stay?

Dani - I "bumped" the discussion on prototype housing up above.  It's kind of old info but there are quite a few things listed so it should be a good start. And when your son gets closer to that stage he'll have a better idea of the areas and he might even know of something with a friend by then. My son did prototype in New York so I'm not much help lol!

Thank you B’sNukeMom! 

Dani - My son sent me this picture when he was in A school because he wanted me to see his videogame setup (smh).  JD%20room%20A%20school.jpg  Hopefully, it will give you an idea of the space.

MomofJoseph- It does, thank you! Not much space… but he will have to adapt. Boys and their games… lol! 

Dani - YES -- boys and their games!  But I guess they need an outlet for all that studying!  :-)

Dani - Boys and their games indeed! My son was also a huge gamer in high school, but he decided to sell his gaming computer a few weeks before leaving for BC. Shocked the heck out of us! He did what Chipmunk's son did - bought a laptop within the first couple of weeks of being in Goose Creek and uses it primarily for personal things (and maybe some gaming - ha). It's not necessary for school.

MomofJoseph - Love the pic! That's about right.

My son knew he was going to want his PC, so packed it all up before leaving for BC and had me send it to him when he got to GC. His way of de-stressing was to play games with his friends from home. In fact, 7 years down the line it's still true.

Dani, that is the right call letting him work out the computer situation himself. My son has been in over 9 years now, and I think he is on his 2nd or 3rd high-powered gaming laptop. Some may prefer a console or something like that. I don't keep up with the best hardware. My sailor or his older brother would know such things.
That said, a "desktop" isn't all that big these days. I am writing this on a reconditioned Dell Optiplex 7070 that is something like 7"X7"X1.5". It isn't sufficient for gaming though. It doesn't have the right graphics card, CPU, or cooling system for that. I was going for small, quiet, and energy efficient. My work laptop is a development machine, lots of memory and CPU, but mediocre graphics. It puts out a lot of heat.

When my son was in Prototype, years ago, he shared a rented house in Summerville with 3 other sailors. It was pretty convenient to the prototype subs that are down on the far end of Red Bank Rd. 
When sharing a house like that, they can pay the rent and utilities easily, and still have some extra to put in the bank. My sailor currently rents a 1 Br. apartment in Va. Beach for less than his BAH. A frugal sailor, especially a submariner, can do very well.
The weird thing about having to do off-base housing in prototype is that most fleet commands require unaccompanied junior E4s to live on base. They won't want to accumulate a lot of furniture. E4+4years, it depends on how much base housing they have. Nobody has on-base BEQ for E5 and above.

Thank you everyone for all of the information, I really appreciate it! I will probably end up driving his desktop to GC for him. He is picky about graphics, memory, internet speed, etc. always talking about lag… blah blah ;D

As for it being a de-stressor, it definitely is. He has many close online friends. Just doesn’t sound like it when he’s yelling into his headset all the time, lol!

Dani_NukeMom - Are you close to GC?  We are 4 hours away and that has been such a blessing!  I dread when September comes and my son moves further away!

And that is so funny about "yelling into his headset".  That made me chuckle.  (Boy relationships are so DIFFERENT from girl relationships!  LOL)

MomofJoseph- I actually live about 1/2 hour away from Bootcamp, lol. But my Mom is in eastern Tennessee (5 from GC) and I will stop and visit her on my way there and back to break up the drive.

 Dani_NukeMom  - that sounds like a great plan!  And you get to see your mom AND your son all in the same trip!  

Welcome to our newest member ~ MomofK!

Please be sure to read the ***NEW MEMBERS*** info at the top of the page.  Lots of good info there.  Also take a look at the Pages (20) to the right under the member profiles - be sure to hit "view all".  And the discussion forum above has some good info too - be sure to read Chipmunks "Nuke A School Daily Schedule".  And of course, feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Hi, MomofK!  You're in the right place!  This group is amazingly helpful with navigating life in the nuke pipeline!

Welcome to all of our newest members, MomofK and others. Almost 6 years ago, I found this site the week before PIR. I gleaned a lot and I have shared a lot over the years with many of you. My style has always been to be very relational and to spend time in private messages offering information and encouragement. I knew though that the time would come when I could just not pour that same time and energy into this site.  I am thankful for the few discussions and things that I have contributed that I can link you back to. 

I read comments as they come into my email and I post when I can, as I have another local ministry / work and family that still needs my attention. For those of you in the midst of Nuke Life, I pass the baton on to you!! I am still around, I am still watching over my various other groups here, but the chatter, questions and responses will come more from those of you in the trenches. 

Here is the link to my son's discussion on what A school was like when he was there. I did add comments as we progressed. - I also included information on T-track & homework, as well I think on Power School.

Nuke A school daily schedule - sailor's perspective - Navy For Moms...

This discussion is from the BC Mom group, but it pertains to Nukes - again, if you have any new experiences after PIR, always feel free to add to the replies at the end. 

What PIR weekend may be like for those flying out of GL - Navy For ...

Here is my discussion on Prototype-Graduation - be sure to read through it as well for those of you getting ready for that. And feel free to add any additional information if you have recently been to Prototype-Graduation. - Prototype Graduation - Goose Creek - Navy For Moms (ning.com)

Remember that the discussions in each group have a search engine as well. Sometimes your responses are better than others, but you can at least look for previous posts. 

Chipmunk- Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge and your support!! It is appreciated more than you know! <3   I will definitely be going back and reading all past relevant posts as I follow my sailor through his Nuke journey! 

Oli had a check up this morning.  He's not quite 2 weeks old yet and he's weighing in at 9lbs 13oz!  I better start working out my arms before we visit or I'm not going to be able to lift him lol!

Just received my after Battlestations call. He passed, He’s a sailor!! I m so proud and can’t stop crying!!

Woohoo Dani!  That's great news.  Just keep in mind he should still have his final PFA to pass next week.

Dani_NukeMom - That's a great call. Congrats to your son!

Dani - I'm crying happy tears for you!  Congratulations!!!  That is such great news!

Dani_NukeMom - Congratulations!!! Once he passes his PFA, be sure to post this in the BC Mom group, if you haven't already.

Thank you all! I’m so proud! 

Chipmunk- I’ll be sure to post there as well! :)

B'sNukeMom - I always appreciate you sharing the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran's Day, and then my DIL reminded me that we also have Armed Force's Day as well. 

Hi all - Happy Tuesday!  I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.  We watched the "West Coast Thunder" ride yesterday near our house.  It's a big motorcycle ride that honors members of the US Armed Forces.  It goes right near our house but it's been on hiatus the last 3 years due to the pandemic.  Nice to see it back - they were expecting 5,000 riders - I'm not sure how many there actually were but there were quite a few!  

I'm counting down the days to visit my little Oli.  We've FaceTimed with him a number of times but he always seems to be sleeping.  I guess a 2 week old doesn't do much else lol!I  It's basically eat and sleep and poop!  He still sort of has his days and nights mixed up so I'll be glad for C's sake when he can get that figured out.  And B is still home with them too so it's been nice for all of them.   I can't wait to love on him ;-D