NUKE moms

NickSydmom - Thank you so much for sharing that!  I love, love, love that!!!

NickSydmom - Thank you for sharing!! I have had a few conversations with USPS customer service. I am glad that you were able to help these people, even if there were difficulties with their packages, you could still steer them to N4M. It was a blessing to them to have reached you when they called. It sounds like you were blessed as well! 

Good morning everyone!! Life has been busy. I mentioned my son's bicycle at A school elsewhere and thought I should share some things here, especially for those with loved ones either getting ready to head to Nuke school, thinking about a Nuke rating or otherwise. 

NNPTC where Nuke A and Power school are located is a nicely little wooded area, but there are paths where the sailors are allowed to ride their bicycles. My son did not have a car when he first arrived at GC and so he bought himself a bicycle at the NEX. Sometimes, there are sailors who are ready to sell their bicycles as they keep moving through the pipeline, but he just bought his new, kept his bicycle and eventually bought a bike rack and transported it with him to his duty station. After 6 years, he still has his bicycle. My son was able to ride his bicycle on the paths at NNPTC as well as ride to places like Wal-mart and such in GC. 

For A school and Power school the sailors are housed in BEQ's (Bachelor Enlisted Quarters) on site, all housing and food is provided for them. For Prototype, however, they will be expected to find their own housing, pay for it out of pocket, and find their own transportation to Prototype which is located farther down the road at the joint base. Your sailor will receive BAH - Basic Allowance for Housing. However, that is a reimbursement and can take a bit to be added to their paycheck. Your sailor may be required to make a 1st and 2nd month deposit, or a deposit fee, a utility deposit, and such expenses that they may not be prepared for (even when they tell them at A school and PS to prepare.) So, as proactive parents, we can also be aware of what their needs are going to be. Many of the sailors will look for roommates and split the expenses, which does allow them to pocket the extra BAH. They will also be expected to cook and provide for their own food. When my son was there, the lunch area at Prototype was undergoing some changes, so he had to pack his own lunch as well, and I do not know if they had access to microwaves or refrigerators. 

When your sailor is setting up arrangements for Prototype housing and possibly planning to room with other sailors, they all need to keep in mind how they will deal with the rental and utility expenses if someone is left behind, not getting their orders immediately after Prototype. I know this happened when my son was leaving GC, and it has happened to other member's sailors as well. Sometimes one person is left behind and if another sailor is paying the electric bill, another one was the sole person paying the rental (even if others were paying them), there can be issues with breaking the leases, etc. - Your sailors should be able to break their leases with their military orders - if I am recalling correctly. Someone can get left holding the entire bag of expenses, when they were not planning for it. So, there should be an agreement and understanding before the initial rental is planned on. 

I realize this is a lot, but put it on the back burner, be aware of the housing situation, and especially the need for a vehicle and a driver's license for Prototype. And never hesitate to ask questions. 

TIME Change reminder!!! 

Happening this weekend! We FALL back!! 

B’snukemom so true!! 😂😂

Hello everyone!

My family and I are opening our rental home in Ladson for ANY sailor at NNPTC and NPTU, actively in school or not, for Thanksgiving weekend.  This includes Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  We also have a game room with cornhole, ping-pong, basketball, card and multi-player video games. My son is in the new Prototype class that started 11/7/23.  I hope to meet some of your sailors and give them hugs and fill their bellies with homemade cooking.

JNMnavymomOH - This is incredibly generous of you! My son is in the same Prototype class as yours. Haven't heard from him in a long time, but if we do, I'll mention this and reach out to you for details. Thank you for your kindness to our sailors.

JNMnavymomOH - Thank you for your generous hospitality to our sailors at NNPTC and NPTU. My son spent both of his Thanksgivings in GC as it was just not practical for him to fly home for such a short time. The first year, he went to dinner at a married friend's house. The next year, during Prototype, they had some of the instructors who hosted a meal and game time, someplace, which he enjoyed. 

NickSydmom - I loved your story about helping the Navy moms with USPS questions!  I remembered it today when I had an issue at USPS :-)

My son's friend is in the Marines, and I tried to send him a package overseas.  The man at the post office said the system wouldn't let him proceed without having a 4-digit code at the end of the zip code.  Any chance you can help me know how to get that info?  Can't text the Marine to find out (and his mom has the same address that I have).

MomofJoseph - Hopefully NickSydmom can help you, but I had the same issue with our post office when trying to ship a package last year to my son's ship. Interestingly, not every PO seemed to have the same issue either. 

If you have the address with the Unit and Box #, I think it is, go to the USPS website, then to their Zip Code look up. With my son's ship there were a range of box numbers for one 4 digit extension. 

I believe the primary ship address will be Box 1 and so when I did a search of just the FPO it gave me the listing for all possibilities and that is how I saw there were different 4 digit extensions for groups of Box #s on the ship. 

Our ship just generally had you use Box 1, but I think above the address underneath the Sailor's Name they wanted you to put the Unit # Division or Department name. The Zip code only helps the box get to the delivery point for the Navy and then from there the Navy transports it to the ship and so the Div & Dept #s (if you don't have a box #) help the ship's mail room sort the mail. At least, that is how I understand it to work. 

The automated process with the USPS seems to need the 4 digit but some of the moms in smaller towns did not have the same issue that I did with the system accepting their address. 

I can't believe my (not so) little Oliver turned 6 months old yesterday!  He's just over 21 pounds!  Tickets are bought and we are heading to MI 12/29 for a belated Christmas.  It can't get here soon enough.  We facetime often but it's just not the same lol!

Happy for you B’sNukeMom, Baby Oliver granny’s excited to see you :)  How are you gonna be called by Baby Oliver?

MomofJoseph - with my fresh experience of sending boxes to FPO (my son’s first deployment last month) The last 2 numbers of the unit number and the first 2 numbers of his box numbers are his -4 zip extension numbers. (If you have a unit # and box #). Second option- We can order from Amazon to ship it to Fpo (free shipping and faster than usps) so try to add his address there just add even you’re going to buy anything then Amazon will automatically gives you the last  4 extension numbers. Hope this helps 

**even you’re not going send thru Amazon** - was just on celphone 

Gigi - They are calling me "Lolli" and my husband is "Pops".  So we are Lolli and Pops!  I love it ;-D

B'sNukeMom - I am so excited for you!! We took a quick weekend trip to see our older grandchildren who are all turning another year older. Our sailor baby is still in the NICU. We just have to look at pictures for now. 

Gigi - Great advice on the packages. 

Lolli and Pops!! I love that too :)

Chipmunk- I didn’t know about your baby sailor in NiCU, as we DM back and forth, hope she will be home very soon. And Birthday Blessings to your other grandbaby 

Thank you so much for the package advice, Gigi and Chipmunk!

This is the best group of women EVER!  

Happy Monday!

Happy almost Thanksgiving!

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We had our Sailor home for Thanksgiving, and he will be able to be home for Christmas. He is in the process of doing a PCS back out to Bangor, WA.

He sang with us in the choir on Sunday, which he used to do before he joined the Navy. We almost drafted him to fill in on handbells (a ringer ringer). It was so nice to sing with him again. I keep telling him to find a choir to join, because I have never heard of a choir that wouldn't welcome a Tenor who can sight-read.

WLH - sounds like a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Wednesday!

WearsLargeHats - What a wonderful time to have your sailor home during the Thanksgiving holiday. I am sure it warmed your heart to have him singing in the choir. I love to hear my husband and kids sign - they were blessed with beautiful voices. I just make a joyful noise!! 

All the best to him as he prepares for his PCS and another trip home for Christmas. 

How are our Pipeline families doing? I hope your sailors are going to be able to come home during holiday standdown. When my son was in Prototype, he was not able to fly home and be with us, because of his rotation schedule or something. He was able to go spend a few days away from it all with one of his roommates' family. I was so disappointed, but I knew how difficult it was to travel. I stuffed his stocking with goodies and mailed it to him, all tied up and he could not open it until Christmas morning. We were able to Skype with him and he opened his stocking and his presents so we could see him.

I have a feeling we are going to have to figure out doing a Skype call again this year. The grandbaby is still in the NICU but hopefully home for Christmas, but flying with a little one at this time of the year is out of the question. 

Chipmunk, thank you for asking about the holidays and for sharing about your experience.  My son is no longer in the pipeline, but this was our first Thanksgiving without him.  He graduated BC the day before Thanksgiving, and we were able to see him at Thanksgiving while at GC because we were only 4 hours away.  But this year he is 11 hours away and only got one day for Thanksgiving.  We thought he would get 6 days leave for Christmas, but his leave has been cut short (needs of the Navy).  We are grateful we will get to see him for a few days over the holidays, but we had to rearrange lots of schedules.  My sister said, "When one person is in the military, the whole family serves."  I told her, "Yes, but I thought it was just immediate family!  I didn't realize it had an impact on the whole extended family!"

MomofJoseph - it is true, once our kids leave home and go off to do a job they are beholden to that schedule, and with the military it can be even more unusual than what a normal job will be like. It can affect the extended family as well. 

For me, I think it was a little easier to realize my son would not be able to do the holidays because one of his siblings had worked a job that required them to be on the job for all of the holidays as it was their busiest time of the year. We quit doing as many trips to extended family for the holidays as we used to. But I sort of had the idea that now that my son was out and only my DIL in the Navy, maybe we could plan for the kids to all be home on the Thanksgiving or Christmas rotation of the married kids. My son said, "Mom, we are still needs of the Navy!!" So much for my lofty ideas.

Chipmunk - Thank you for sharing that.  I am actually grateful for my husband and his family because they are less traditional and that has helped me a TON!  Maybe because his dad is retired Air Force, but they've helped me be okay with celebrating any time (and not just TGiving Day and Christmas Day).  But we still try to do extended family, which is getting trickier.  One nephew is a firefighter and his schedule is crazy, too.

But your message helped me so much!!!  I realized how much I have to be grateful for.  God worked it out that my nephew and my son have time-off that overlaps by two days, so we will at least get to get that set of cousins together.  And for that I'm truly grateful!  <3

Hi all - Happy Monday!

So you all know my DIL is a Veteran and she had our first grandchild in May, well she got a call from the VA office (she delivered through the VA and delivery/hospital was covered 100%) and they were inviting her to a baby shower for everyone who delivered in 2023!  Turns out it was a "drive-thru" shower and they asked if she would rather have a stroller or a pack n play and what size clothes/diapers they want.  They went on Saturday and they literally loaded up the back of their car with all kinds of goodies.  Everything is donated to the VA and they did this for everyone in their Michigan area VA that delivered in 2023!  That is just the sweetest thing ever!  I'll post a picture from my phone so you can see what they got.  And they even got some gift cards, games, a quilt, Boppee pillow, some outfits, bath tub....just so much stuff.

B'sNukeMoM, that is absolutely awesome. What a great way to show appreciation for our military for their service.

B'sNuke - that's awesome!!!!