NUKE moms

WELCOME to our new members!  This is such a great place to get answers to your questions and to get support in this adventure!  :-)  I'm still relatively early in all this.  My son JUST finished Nuke School and is on leave.  He will head to his home port in a few weeks, so we are enjoying our time with him at home!  (But I really had hoped the Navy would train him to keep his room clean, but so far, that hasn't happened! LOL)  But it's good to have him home nonetheless!

Just want to let you all know if your sailor has a "family day" it is well worth the travel and time to go. We spent last Sunday on the George Washington, went out to sea for the day, saw an air show including jets landing and taking off from the carrier and had a tour of the ship. Of course, we cannot see where our Nukes work but can see much of the ship. It is a very long day but worth it in the end to get a feel for where they'll be and how it all works. There were complaints about long lines ( hours for tshirts and they were sold out of family day ones and all sizes other than small and medium before we got there) and lunch hours ending up almost 2 hours late but everything was worth it in the end. Things happen but we still got to go out on a carrier! 

That's all I have - do what you can to attend if you ever get the opportunity!

MomofJoseph - Enjoy the time with your sailor, even if his room is messy!!

Welcome to our newest members - Glad to have you here with us!

4kidsforfun - I am so glad that you had a wonderful family day!! I was not able to attend the one on my son's ship, but I really wanted to go. They also had long lines and such, which we did not have when touring with just our sailors, but we were in port. How I would have loved to have been out on the ocean!

Because there has been discussion about the government shut down and NFCU possibly covering paychecks in another group on this site, I wanted to share this information which I just received from my sailor gal. 

UPDATE: - NFCU Loan assistance for Gov't shutdown!!

My sailor gal just shared this with me - Government Shutdown Assistance | Navy Federal Credit Union

This 0% loan has to be applied for and then will be drafted back out of sailor's accounts, once their DOD deposit is made. There is a deadline for application, before their missed paycheck. 

Be sure to have your sailor check this out and let them know about it, make sure they read the fine print. If they are deployed this may be more difficult for them to deal with - it is not automatically covered as they have done in the past. If you are on their bank account, you might be able to apply for them, I am not certain. 

I am not going to be able to reply to questions about this, but I wanted to share the information as soon as my DIL told me about it, since I know we have discussed this recently in other groups. 

We are concerned about the sailors on deployment who may not be able to access this application, so I am sharing it with you as soon as I found out about it, so maybe you can reach out to them. They do have to have their access code to apply at least through the mobile app.

From other discussions, I don't know if there has been an actual loan application necessary with NFCU, but there is this time. 

4kidsforfun - I completely agree with family day! My kid is on one of the fast attack subs - USS Jimmy Carter, and the tour was fantastic! We obv did get to see many parts of the sub but I did get to look up periscope and sit in one of the navigation seats. Note of caution though… this is a pretty physical tour. To get out, I had to climb two stories straight up on a metal ladder! Great fun though… five stars!!!

Happy Sunday everyone! Yepp I am still here just reading always 2-4 weeks late. Whenever i wanted to chime in topics were long gone. 
Mom of Joseph so true about our son’s room. He’s home for a 10 days vacation. Whenever we’re out of town or visiting relatives house his room/bed was always tidy. But when his home he was in his old self. Never utilized closet so luggages were just wide open. 
4kidsforfun - glad you experienced family day. Mine might not going to happen his carrier is on dry dock til maybe 2026.

he was chosen to join another carrier to experience deployment and will fully qualified everything he quals. Only 2 of them in his division.  Question moms with deployment experience: how’s the communication looks like on ship? Only thru their navy email? Is there a wifi where he can use his laptop or maybe phone or the ship’s computer just to open his bank account and pay bills during sea days? I understand that communication is limited but i’m concern more of the navy fed bank website if he can access it. Thank you all 

Hammer - going on a sub sounds exciting! Glad you got to do that.

Gigi - my son's carrier has not actually deployed yet but they've been qualifying during several underways and have been out a couple weeks at a time so far. We've been able to get through to him via Facebook messenger or a message through snapchat - something he can access with wifi. Regular texting doesn't get to him. Their navy email is a great way as well but my son has something wrong there and so far has not gotten it straightened out. We are hoping he will before they actually head to Japan!

Gigi, Your son should get his bills set up for autopay. Also he should set up his account with you as an authorized user. Even on his NFCU credit card if he has one. It would also be wise for single sailors to have a parent set up with a POA or on their accounts so you can act on their behalf. I was on my son's bank but not his NFCU credit card but my phone was a notifier for fraud charges. Even though I was on his bank account I was not attached to his cc and the bank had to close it down. 

Also the last I knew NFCU has their own POA form that has to be filled out and approved.

4kidsforfun - make sure your son has cleared his email messages. That can bog up their incoming mail. Also they have to get all of the approvals down on the paperwork. He can check with IT - and stay on their good side. 

PacNWmom, did you see that the pictures from graduation were posted on the NPTU Charleston FB page yesterday? I just noticed them today.

Thank you 4kidsforfun for the info, good to know about the Facebook messenger and snapchat. Hoping they’ll fix your son’s email before he leaves.

Chipmunk- thank you but those weren’t our options now. He flew out today to VA. His other bills were already set up autopay, only the credit card his worried about. He’d given me his online password our last option.

Anyone knows if they can access the navy fed account And other bank while on the fleet? Thank you 

MomofJoseph - Thanks for the head’s up! I’m very rarely on FB. This will surely make me log in.

I’m still enjoying the hugs I got from my son and his wife while I was in Goose Creek. It’s great to see them thriving and excited about the next chapter in their Navy lives.

GiGi - My apologies, I have been "Out to sea" so to speak. 

As for bank access on the ship, I think it depends. I do recall my son fussing about the extra authentication requirements that banks usually have for accessing things, because if you can't get a phone signal, you can't get an authorization code. Also, while they are NFCU, it seemed like my DIL or I were constantly having to explain, "they are out to sea, they cannot access anything."

This reply just came back from my DIL - "If the internet is good enough. You have to know your password (she may mean the access code - NFCU has several different things) and be able to log into your email for the one-time password."

As for credit card, he might ask NFCU if he can pay ahead on the card, to make sure there is money in the account to pay off any charges that come through. That is not common with most credit cards, to my knowledge. 

If your sailor is headed out to sea, the ombudsman should have shared a deployment pamphlet. And your sailor will likely need an active ship email to get you authorized for access to the Ombudsman FB page, if that is how they communicate. Your sailor might also be able to directly email the ombudsman with his rate / rank and department chief's name, if he doesn't have his ship email set up, with a message to the ombudsman to please accept any contact from his parents. My son was able to do that with ours while our ship was still in dock, and I am not on FB, so if I did send the ombudsman an email, she still knew she had permission to talk to me. 

Thank you so much Chipmunk. I guess we’re all set with his banking arrangement. He will be using the one that i am on it and not the Navy Fed. I have no idea about the ombudsman, i will tell him about giving me an access. And as of now he is not set up yet with this new ship, but he will eventually he was just invited to join this ship. Again thank you 

For those of you with sailors getting ready to head to the fleet, you might find this information helpful - Naval Sea Systems Command > Home > NNPTC > Ombudsman (navy... - It is a description of the Ombudsman's purpose and duties. Also, for those of you with sailors at NNPTC, the ombudsman contact information is listed directly above in our group page information. 

Some more deployment information if anyone needs it. 

Ombudsman & FRG Bifold Color.indd (navy.mil)

DeploymentSupportHandbook.pdf (navy.mil)

Thank you Chipmunk. I don’t have desktop access right now, i’ll check everything out tonight at home. Yes I have Facebook 

Gigi - That sounds great!

Gigi,  late to see this but last year my son gave me some access to his NFCU account.  I never needed it since I also have access to another account that had enough funds to deal with what I needed.  But this does mean there is some way of doing it.

Mine is on subs so when out zero access to anything.  My conversations with the ombuds lead me to believe that so much is focused on the sailors families on land, which I get, but there are many single sailors who parents deal with everything while they are deployed.

When yours is back on land get a power of attorney done and have a good conversation about when you can use it so you are both on the same page.  I had to use it  for taxes once.

automatic payments set up before they leave is best, as long as they have enough in the account to cover them.

Thank you New Adventure:) This is all new to me, to us. i think we are all set when it comes to bills and banking. He called yesterday was out shopping for what he needs. He seems pretty excited about his deployment. I’m really praying for his email to be set up before he leaves 

Happy Birthday Navy!

Proud Momma - So true!!! Thanks for sharing!!  How are you doing? 

Proud Momma - YES!  Thank you for sharing that ;-D

@Chipmunk and all . . . Good Morning! Happy Wednesday!

Chipmunk, I am doing very well, thank you! :) Enjoying the cool pines of Arizona!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Proud Momma - I am doing well, thank you!  I am glad that you are having a little bit cooler weather. Ours has cooled down as well, but I don't like it being too cold. 

Reminder: Once your loved one has made it to A school - please be sure to update your profile page to sailor's status as: Enlisted. - it really helps out those of us who are keeping an eye out on members in various stages of their time here on the site. 

As well as updating your status if they have finished with their enlistment. Thanks!! 

Q's Momma, may you have safe travels!!

Q’s Momma, I just saw your post.  Hope you made it safely to GC!  Please let us know how graduation went!  It is such a special occasion - so happy you get to be there!!!

Q's Momma - have a great time in Charleston!

At the pumpkin patch!

Good Morning everyone!!! 

B'sNukeMom - what a wonderful family picture!!!

I have been busy with my sailor family and issues that they have been having with the preemie baby. But hopefully a recent surgery is the answer to all of those issues, and our precious little one will continue to grow and be able to go home soon.  

FYI - For those of you with sailors getting close to heading to the fleet or are already out in the fleet -- Please, Please stress to them how important it is for them to share your contact information with their ombudsman - to find out the ombudsman's email address and phone number, to make sure you know their Rate, Rank, and Department information (I think I got that all correct) and how important it is for them to get a ship email, to make sure they share that email with you, and to pay attention for notices from the Ombudsmen who might be trying to vet your information. To make sure they keep their ship email cleared of all unnecessary messages so it doesn't fill up the storage and they are not able to receive incoming messages from home. The first priority for their ship email is communication within the ship, outside communication is secondary. 

When my son reported to his ship and had the contact information for his ombudsman - they were still in the shipyards. But he still reached out to her and gave her all of mine and my husband's contact information (email, phone, address) and let her know that we had his permission to share information with us. He informed her that I did not have a FB account and there were several times when I communicated with her via her ombudsman email or called her. Sometimes it was to help another new mom with a sailor heading to the ship. 

My point - Your sailor has to know they are the primary link - so that you can stay updated for their benefit as well as for your own. 

That message was not intended to be harping on anyone. I just know how difficult it is to sometimes get our sons especially to figure out and share information with us. Because of our large family and going so many different directions, with their schedules mostly in my head, my kids and especially my sailor, seemed in tuned to knowing that he had to double check with me and the calendar on everything. 

Not every child is as inclined to think like my son, so I am just encouraging you to be as proactive as possible, so that you are not scrambling to get information after their ship has left port. Especially if you are not on FB, since most of the private ombudsman groups are handled through FB, it can be difficult to get the contact information you need, even though one of my ombudsmen told me their contact information was public knowledge. It can just be tricky to locate. 

If any of the other "seasoned" moms can chime in, please do. 

Thinking of all of you with deployed sailors - mine is still doing sea trials but the time is coming faster than I'd like that they'll be heading out for good. It's good to have this mom's group as most of the facebook stuff seems geared towards families rather than parents of single sailors. It makes perfect sense since they are all adults but it's still nice to have people in the same "boat"! 

4kidsforfun - There is definitely a different tone on the FB ombudsman pages for the ships. As much as I understand the separation issues with married sailor families and their children, I struggled at times reading the posts by some of the sailor wives. I think part of it, I am older now, I did my days of dealing with little ones when my husband was away for months at a time, not all military related, and living halfway across the country from my family, when internet was not really accessible to the masses. When you had to pay for long distance phone calls - although, those were still cheaper than our cell phone bills or phones are now. When sending pictures of the grandchildren to your parents might have meant loading all of the kids up in the car and driving to the next town where there was a K-mart that offered 2 prints for the price of one, so you could keep a copy and send the other. But then you had to date and put notes on the back of all of them and then load up the kids and drive them to the closest post office, because you did not have any idea how heavy the envelope was and how much postage you needed. 

It is hard to believe that in just a little over 30 years, so much has changed with our communication and our young ones do not understand what it means to wait for any news, even the nightly TV news. 

I agree 4kidsforfun, I truly appreciate this site and being among other moms who have different experiences with their single sailors, than most of the families who are represented on the ombudsman page - I will say though, I did appreciate when they would share their pictures of my son's ship coming into port. They could take their families to the beach and watch for the ship, and I got to participate as well. 

Chipmunk, I thought about this when our son was stationed out at Pearl. He would call us about every week. One time he even called from the deck of the submarine when they stopped for a swim call a couple miles west of Oahu and the connection was like he was next door. He even called us from places such as Guam, Singapore, and Tokyo because cellphones work about anywhere now.
When we visited, we of course went to the Pearl Harbor Memorial and the USS Bowfin. The sub base is across the harbor from the USS Arizona and, when they did a ceremony for the 75th anniversary, I could see the BEQ apartments in the background. For the families with sailors there in the '1940s, phone calls would have been difficult to impossible, and very expensive. All they would have would be mail, and that would take weeks. It is hard to even imagine.
BTW, the Bowfin is the best-preserved WWII submarine I have ever seen. It looks ready to set sail. It is part of a monument to US submariners on Eternal Patrol, so modern submarine sailors periodically go there and give it a "field day" cleaning.

Welcome to our newest member - Submersiblemom!  I see your son is an Officer.  Feel free to ask any questions you may have....we have a few officer mom's on here...

I haven’t been on in a while but had to share a couple calls I got. I am a customer service agent for USPS and spend most of my time apologizing and not actually being able to help. So when I can really help my customers it makes my day worth it. I had 3calls the same day from Navy moms who were feeling lost. By the way I have sent them to this site for support. One mom had sent her son who is on the Eisenhower a package and needed help tracking. She was crying and I admit I cried with her and by the end of the call she was laughing and told me how grateful she was she got me to help her. The next call was a boot camp mom also lost sent her to this site another smile on my face. Final call a dad also with a kid deployed and he couldn’t figure out how to format the address. I was able to help it did take awhile but we got it. I feel like sometimes god just wants to make you feel helpful and I did. What a day!