Frigate Moms

Anyone have a sailor on USS Robert G Bradley?

Hello Mombychoice,

My son will be joining the Robert G Bradley in July. I was glad to see your post here and thanks for the invite. I think our sons PIR'd on the same day-10/21/11? What is your son's rating?

He's coming from Corry, Pensacola. Finishing IT A-School Apr. 6, then taking a few days leave before reporting to Mayport/ship. Son was in Div 349 at GL. We may have even met each other before. I need to get my Navy info folder out and check. Where is your sailor now? Did he report there right after GL?

Found your personal email in my folder, ThunderD's Mom. I will send you a personal message on there. Yay!!!

My son was in 349.  He is currently in San Diego.  Will be heading to Norfolk, VA mid June or so.   He will be on the USS ElRod. 

MBC, I think we have spoken before too. And I surely have spoken with bodie5(my son and hers are buds). My son was div 949. He is currently in San Diego.

I think I met MBC at a Meet and Greet.  Can't be positive though.  I showed B a beanie I made for him and now I am making some for D too. :)

Bodie5 thanks for reply. Ues we did meet before. I sent you a private email on your personal site.

That is so sweet. Thanks. His mom isn't crafty like you. :(

I am not that crafty.  I can make a few things.  I enjoy sharing them. 

I meant crafty in a good way. And I saw those beautiful scarves you made-you got it going on.

MBC, do you have a facebook page?

My son was in Div 949 will finish A-school on April 12th or 13th and has not received orders as of yet.  Nice to hear from some of the moms from PIR 10-21-122

Hello! Thank you for the invite!

Hey Carebear, welcome and glad to see you found this site. Guess many of our guys/gals are about to complete A-Schools and get written orders. Think I met you at GL night get-together. What is your son's rate or A-School; when does he finish? Good to hear from some of the ones we've met before when we were dragging each other tearfully through those loooonnnnggg 8 weeks.

Carebear, I sent you private message following the post below. Everyone have a great day! We are here in HOTLANTA.  Where did winter and spring go this year? Certainly not here!

Hi Carebear,  hope all is well with you.  Is your son going to be on a Frigate too? Where will he be stationed?

Hello ladies My son will graduate April 12th from Corey Station his rate is in IT.  No orders has been given to him.  So we are all waiting paitently

Well by the time I looked at this group Robin, you had already joined here too. Great.

mombychoice I have sent you an email.  I have a little time off for myself this evening.

Hi Everyone. It is nice to see someone started this group. You don't see many Mom groups for frigates. My son is on the USS INGRAHAM out of Everett Wa. He is about to end his first deployment. Thank goodness this deployment is about to come to an end. I've missed him so much. Everytime the Ingraham post pictures I am going through them with a fine tooth comb trying to find him in any picture I can. When I do it just makes my day. My husband and I live in Huntsville, Al on Redstone Arsenal. We just moved here from Atlanta Ga. Chris went off to Boot Camp end of May of 2010. A lot has happened in his short career in the Navy. Now his is about to end his first deployment. 

Ladies I found out the other night he will be on a Cruiser off of Norfolk, He will Graduate around April 12th

My son is on his 1st deployment. He is on the USS Curts. I am hoping to find another Mom with a Sailor aboard the Curts.

My son is also on his 1st deployment on the USS Curts.  My thanks to gabrielsmomma for finding me and leading me to this group.

Hi, mombychoice. Thank you for the invite. Our son won't be on a ship, but I still would like to me a member. He may be assigned to one later. Not sure I can share more right now. He will graduate from A school on June 29.

Does anyone know anything about rules for mailing "canned" items to our sailors? I'm aware of the "cakes in mason jars" but what about other fresh foods - anyone know if this is ok?
Thanks! Gabrielsmomma

Hi everyone! My son just arrived at his FIRST Duty Station a few hours ago! He is in VA, and will be joining the USS Nicholas. We are very excited about the next chapter for him.

However, I have a few concerns and questions some of you may could answer. He was told that since he was on a frigate there would be no means of communication. No internet, etc. I can NOT imagine NOT communicating with my son for such LONG periods of time. I have loved ones in Afghanistan and even they get to talk to their families near daily!!! UGH!!!! I am also worried about getting certain goods shipped to him. While he was home on leave, we ordered him contacts, and of course they didnt arrive in time, so now I will need to ship them to him, how in the world will I do this??

NERVOUS MOM HERE!!!

Thank YOU for understanding and your help!!!!

Hi Wadesmom,

My son is currently on a frigate an is "underway", meaning he is at sea. He has not deployed yet, but has been at sea for a couple weeks. He has access to internet but not phones. I completely understand your worries about not speaking with him on a regular basis, but it's something that we need to get used to. (And that was as hard for me to type as it is for you to read)

You may find that your son will not be leaving port for a while so he may be able to receive his packages prior to going underway.

His ship should have an ombudsman that you can contact for shipping information. Best of luck to both of you.

Hi Moms, I haven't checked in for a while, but I see there is another Robert G Bradley mom here now. Welcome.  My son is on the same ship.

Welcome WadesMom, My son is on the USS Curts stationed in San Diego.  When they were in port he would walk to the hall with his laptop & phone.  He would call us from there, skype from his computer, email & check facebook.  As ThunderD'sMom said when they are underway there is no internet.  Going underway is when they do practice exercises for deployment.  My son is on a 6 month deployment right now.  We have received a few phone calls when he has been in port.  We shut his phone off & he has purchased an international cell phone that he adds mintues too.  We have emailed alot and he is able to have limited internet service getting on facebook.  You will adjust to all of this and enjoy the times you hear from him.  Best of luck.

Hi WadesMom!  My son is also on the USS Curts, a frigate out of SD.  He has been able to send us periodic emails.  Internet service was sketchy while at sea though.  Our son also put his phone on a military hold - its my understanding that using them internationally is VERY priice so the phone cards are a really good idea.  They may be able to call when they are in ports.  They can receive mail, including packages (use the flat rates from the USPS).  You'll need to complete Customs Forms with pkgs - no biggie.  They'd usually receive their mail when they made port or were replenished @ sea.  It was kind of a PIA for the sailors to send mail out but it was possible.  Careful sending Care Pkgs when they are out & about...VERY little room to stow things.  Seek out a possible Facebook "group" associated with your sailors vessel, his home port & his job.  The Curts "group" on shore is great!  They are an absolutely wonderful group that I am very glad I was able to connect with.  That is how our ombudsman on shore can be reached, they've always been able to answer questions, they've been a source of information from the ship if there were any problems (i.e., when the Internet was down), they coordinated fun stuff to do for our deployed sailors, etc.  Connecting via Facebook with my sons ship & the on-shore group allowed access to pictures taken by the crew & posted to these Facebook pages (hoodathunk  :p).  It's amazing when you get an opportunity to see the crew doing various activities, etc.  This deployment has been an indescribably wonderful experience for my sailor - he loves it!  Good luck to you & your sailor!  Contact me anytime!  ---gabrielsmomma

Hi Denise - browns57, 1st things 1st.  GO BUCS!  BEAT STATE.  :p  Have you found the Facebook for the Curts & the Curts on-shore group?  Awesome photos being posted, links to arcticles, amazing resources....  ---gabrielsmomma

Hello, I just joined this group. My son is on the USS Elrod in Norfolk, VA.  We will be visiting him at the end of March!

I am going to leave this group now since my son is no longer on a frigate.  His ship was decommissioned and he is now at his new comand on a mine sweeper in Bahrain.  Good luck to all of you and god bless your sailors.

My Sailor/grandson is deployed on the Samuel B. Roberts This is his first deployment so we are in the learning phase. 

Hi Everyone! Our Sailor is just about to finish up A school and his orders are to go to Mayport Naval Base in Florida and he will be on the USS Robert G Bradley. We are newbies in training. LOL, we will have lots of questions! And here is my first one. Our sailor said the Bradley is to be decommissioned in December, so he will get new orders but they told him to get this warfare book and study it so he could take a test and get the warfare pin when they decommissioned the ship in Dec... any ideas where he could get that book? or how does this work... like I said navy newbie mom here so any help would greatly be appreciated. Thank you.

HI Teresa81!  I recalled My Sailor earning his SW during his 1st deployment last year so I reached out to him.  His response was:  "Have him contact someone on the ship like his sponsor and ask for the exact version of the common core and ship specific book he needs. Study material will be hard to find if he's not on the ship and I'm not too sure how to mitigate that issue. I got all of my information from the sharedrive on the ship and talking to each shop."

If memory serves me, he often described this as needing to know everything there was to know about his particular ship so the "talking to each shop" would be key.  I'm not sure if it's too early to try but I received HUGE amounts of information by locating a Facebook Page associated with My Sailor's ship.  As they were an on shore group directly connected to the ship (President, Ombudsman, etc. available), they had access to the most specific information/photographs/group care pkg activities.  They knew when & why ship's email was down, etc. ~ indescribable resource.  They were an amazing group of people...mostly wives, moms, etc. & I remain in contact with several group members...  Look for a FB group as your sailor's deployment draws nearer...  Good luck with the Surface Warefare!  I have every confidence in your sailor. 

Hi Teresa 81 - I don't get on this site very often now; incredibly wild summer of family mastectomies, birth of grandchild # 7, 5 weeks pet sitting for some of our 7 children's families while they were away on vacation, son home for 2 week leave, meeting his ship when it arrived home from Mediterranean deployment, company from Boston, company from Florida...and now, just as we were ready to leave for 2 weeks in New England my husband had a severe break to bone in his foot - hospitalized Sat. - Tues. dr. apptmts today, tomorrow, Monday pre-op, and if all levels are good, surgery on Tues. to put plate, pins, and external bar in his foot....UGH!  6 month recovery. WELL, enough said about that. I do recommend this site; it gave me lots of good info when our son went in two years ago this past Aug. 23. He is on the Robert G. Bradley. He went to A school in Pensacola and then he joined the ship in Mayport April of 2012, deployed October 2012, returned home end of May 2012 and will be attached to ship/Mayport until probably March 2014 (decommissioning begins in Dec. but it takes a while to finish up all the tasks.

We live in the Duluth area, just about 17 miles north of Atlanta's I-285 on the north end. WHERE do you live?

Our son passed his ESWS this past summer and is IT-2; we are very proud of him for achieving that in less than 2 years.

Can't even remember how to send personal info (not posting publicly here) but would be willing to touch base through private email (jjaustin48@aol.com) but please ID self in subj. I do not open mail from those I do not recognize. Have a good finish to the work week. Best wishes!