»» Welcome to the MEPS and DEP group ««

Kathryn you are so rigth!! Welcome to the Navy!!

Sally..my first sailor is an AO he went to bootcamp feb 08 and spent the summer in Pensacola. He is now on a carrier.

Sally My Sailor was ready to go but he was in a different situation in his life. He graduated bootcamp April 25 08 went to Pensacola and was on hold for a little over a month waiting for the next class to start. A School was 6 weeks and he also went to C school for 10 days. Ao can be attached to a ship or attached to a squadron. My AO is attached to the carrier. Whe you are attched to a squadron you go where ever that squadron goes which could be any carrier or on land.

My son did alot of painting, cleaning and watch duty. He volunteered alot for things so he woulnd't have to clean...many times he would be the ship's secretary, for lack of a better word and can't remmeber the real title,during A- school gave him something else to do. Volunteering to things kept him other yucky jobs. Right now my son is on a carrier and kind of doing his duty..He help with the weapon dept. and runs the elevators that bring up the ordnance. He also has to keep those elevators working at all times as they use them for other things too. He does alot of taraget practice on thhip when it is out to sea and on the base. Yes there is a lot of hurry up and wait in the Navy. Welcome to the roller coster of the Navy!! LOL

My other son, that is going in July, musters every monday too and his recruiter goes to school to " check up on him" too. We told the recruiter if you want this kid to stay in he needs to ride his tail..because anything that acomes from us as parents go in one ear and out the other. LOL

usually they get to come home..more often than not depends on their orders to their duty station

I have a friend whose sailor was on hold for 4 months for A achool to start. There has to be an opening for them and sometimes if they arrive where their A school after a class has started so they have to wait until next class begins which depends on how long the classes last..

Donna, these statements are so true: "He not only volunteered for different trips, jobs and projects, it helped him get to know his peers, and his superior officers. The Navy life is what ever you put into it. If you want to sit around a wait you can but you don't have to." I would add that you should not wait around, but volunteer and make use of your time to better yourself. You will get out of the Navy, what you put into it...Study and be proactive. As a DEPPER, if your recruiter is not doing PT on a regular basis or requiring it...I recommend that you find a partner and do it on your own. If you aren't ready it delays your grad from boot camp. My son got himself a membership to the local pool and found out what was required to pass the swim portion of boot camp, then went ahead and worked on those requirements on his own until he could do it with ease. He also went out on runs to increase his endurance. When time came for boot camp, he was physically and mentally ready. And again...sailors-to-be...be proactive whether your recruiter works with you or not!

Keeping dress blue and dress whites, adding piping to the dress whites and cuffs to the sleaves...getting rid of working whites and utilities (working clothes) here is aweb site to check it out
http://www.new-navy-uniform.com/

they will still graduate in dress blues for oct -april and whites for summer

Suzanne...No be because they are not "official" until they graduate bootcamp. Most places will not give you a miltary discount unless you have military ID.
It never hurts to ask!!

I beleive she will go to Grotin Conneticut....Karen Gallagher would be the one to tell more about it..I believe that all three of her sailors are Nukes.

sorry for the spelling my brain is way ahead of my fingers!!LOL

Niether my current Sailor or my depper had or have DEP ID cards!! Guess thats why they can't get any discounts!! LOL This Mom will be having a discussion about that with the recruiter!! Poor guy! LOL

will be thinking of you sunday and monday!! I have been there and done and will be doin it again!! Remember everything you are feeling and thinking is normal!!
Everyone of us moms have felt all the feelings and emotions from one degree or another.
Hugs~Angie
Hooyah Justin!!!

I will be thinking of you too Sherrie! Hooyah to you and your future sailor!!

Hi - Just dropping in - as of 1/6 I became a Boot camp mom :) - Yes, Thank you Michelle for starting this group! it has helped me so much in the past few months! Congrats to Justin for passing the tests! I also drove Aaron to the hotel, (150 miles ) we stayed at the same hotel, had dinner and were told we could have breakfast at 5:00 AM with him if we wanted. we passed on the breakfast.... lol but went to the swearing in and then sat with him until he was about ready to leave for the airport. I will be thinking of you! - Jor-Jean, whenever I had questions I went to the recruiters office. Aaron didn't seem to mind me going along with him.

This web site is great for explaining all the enlisted jobs. May be a handy resource to have around...it is dated 2003...so some of the info may be out of date, but for the 'what does that rate do' question, it seems to be helpful.
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/enlistedjob1/a/navyjobs.htm

Jennifer,Sherri and Susan... thinking of you all !!

Michelle, I love to see the ship-out dates for Boot Camp....I'm always checking to see if anyone is leaving when my son does. Thanks for coordinating this! ~Kerry

Michelle..you a re doing a fabulous job I wish I had half of the info when my first son shipped out... Keep up the good work.

That has happend before The hotel should extra toiletries if the they ask and in most cases but not all they will give it to them for free.

All you can is smile...welcome to the Navy Mam!! LOL

Hey Jennifer! Glad you heard from Justin........I've been meaning to tell you that gosh, you have been on my mind! Just feeling a tad crummy from allergies, but when I read about the cell phone call, it prompted a memory from when my oldest was at BC in December '07. He took his cell phone with him and it came back in the "box" that returns their belongings to you. Get this, the cell phone was taken apart and was in pieces. It was so sad! LOL! My son's cell phone was (is) such a big part of his life........we all looked inside the box at those cell phone pieces and said "ohhhhh, that's sad looking!" (It did go back together.)

Memories. And to think I get to do this again in July. Hang in there, Jennifer!

Well I don't know if this will work for family members..but one person gave us a bad time about it and I asked them "what are they or their son or daughter doing to protect you to have your freedom to say those things and to protect this country from those who wish is to harm them and to continue to live with out fear of harm for saying the things you are saying? So what are you doing to defend your freedom to say this what are you doing to protect me....My son is joining the Navy so you can have the freedom of speech to insult me,my son and his choice to protect you and lay his life down to protect you. What are you doing for him???" They did have anything much to say and we never heard a word about it again. I would and will say the same thing to any one who questions my sailors choice.

Jofsra, I'm amazed that people feel they have the right to question someone's choices in life. Even family members. I haven't run into this with my family because we have a lot of military in our background. BUTTTT, I have run into it with my husband's family. What I say to them when they start to question Jeff's decision........well, actually, I don't allow them to say anything any more.

What I do is interrupt because, truthfully, I don't want to hear it and I stop them short and what I say is "This is Jeff's decision. I support him and we all need to support him. You may not agree but he needs your support as do all our young men and women." If they start up again, I do the same thing, interrupt and say "This is Jeff's decision. Not your's, not mine." They are now at the point where they don't say ANYTHING to him about it. Which is hurtful, too. When we see my family, he gets slaps on the back and questions such as are you excited, are you ready?

Jofsra, don't respond to their emails nor their calls. Or if you feel you need to respond, then respond with "This is my son's decision, not your's. He needs your support." Be a broken record. Say the exact same thing each time. Tell your son to say the same thing. If you differ on what your response is, then the door opens for further discussion/arguments. Eventually, they'll quit asking when they realize all they get is the same response.

Jeff says that even some of his friends question his decision. He is the type of child, uh, young man that will stop them and say "What are YOU doing for your country?" He says this stops them every time. And these are friends of his who don't have any plans for after high school. It'd be different if they had college plans, but they don't. So he feels pride in knowing that he has a plan.

I have felt, at times, it necessary for me to defend his choice on behalf of him but I found myself getting into debates about the war, military, yada yada yada. I finally decided I don't owe anyone any justification for Jeff's decision and came up with what I said above. It works. It avoids discussions.

My husband's family, the ones who don't agree and don't say anything at all to Jeff about it..........they have sons who are 22 and 20 who live at home. Who take one class per week of college. Don't work. Sleep all day with no contribution towards upkeep of the house. Their parents pay for everything, cars, insurance, spending money. They don't pay rent to their parents. Sigh. I'd like to compare all of their lives 5 years from now and see who is where.

Oops. I'll get off my bandwagon..........

To you Heather!! I will be thinking of you!!

Jor-Jean, did you check Costco? I can't remember how many minutes, but htat is where we got Aaron's. - I'm thinking it was for 1000 min.

Can anyone tell me after their PIR if our Sailors will get to pick where they want to be stationed at? Are they usually sent to a station near their home or does it depends on where they are most needed?

Jor-Jean and Kathryn, thank you for clearing this up for me. My son has shown an interest in the past of wanting to go overseas but I don't know, I can't imagine not seeing him for such a long time. I guess I will just wait and see what happens when he goes to A school.....we got to get him to bootcamp first, lol.

Almost everybody gets "Ricky Crud"...Just think everyday a hundred people come into boot camp and bring with them all the viruses they have and they share with everybody else. They are in close quarters with each other all the time. My son ended up with bronchitis (SP)... soem recruits end up just a cold the entire time. When we went to PIR and the church service on sunday with our sailor, we were in the balcony and the recruits were below and it was a continuous cough going on...I encourage you to pump the vitamins including a daily, Vit C and right before they leave Echinacea a week before they leave...(it helps build the immune system). We didn't do this with our first sailor but we will with our next one.

Those of you who are reading the book " Honor , Courage, Commit ment" just an update..they don't do service week anymore, battle staions are all in one building now and they don't march every where, all of the there classes and eating are in the same ship ( building) They are self contained ships (buildings) they only march to the NEX, Church and PT. Most of the buliding are new now.

Hi everyone :) Just got a letter from Aaron - he has been at BC since 1/6 - This site helped us both before he left, he would ask me to find the answers to the questions he had, I usually could find what he wanted :) anyways he asked me to pass along some stuff. He said " Tell everyone on N4M that the best things they can do is:
1) know General orders
2) know Military Bearing
3) Only do exactly as you are told
4) Know Sailors Creed
5) get in shape
6) know rate and rank
do this and people will excel "
It was a great letter, he sounded upbeat - seems to be doing well!

Recruits arrive everyday a couple times a day. They arrive at Ohare and go to the USO to wait for the bus to arrive to take them to Great Lakes. Not all people arriving together end up in the same DIV/ Ship (Division is a group with in the ship/building and several DIV are in one ship) My son went to a different DIV than the other two guys he went with from here. Some DIV are preforming DIV preform at PIR. Their week will start when their DIV is full and processed through no matter what day of the week it is they are filling several DIV a day. some times 10 or more Divions of 80+ sailors graduate on Fridays...hope this isn't too confusing.

Thank you Angie, you really clarified this for me. I will definitely stay in touch with all the moms and I know wherever he is sent he will be just fine.

Yes he will be sworn in after his physical and he choses his job...The papers you signed are giving permission for our son to "act as an adult" to decide to and to join the Navy. He will be sworn in again the day he leaves for bootcamp.

Jennifer... Grad and Go is just that ..they usually grad on fri. and then they are sent to the airport wit in a couple of hours of graduating...Many families go to the airport and sit with their sailors until they leave .

Michelle - There is already a huge thread on funny things the recruits have written from boot camp. I tried to look it up just now, but can't seem to find it. If you are ever feeling down, it will make you laugh. If I find it I will post it here.

Lynn - That is the link I was looking for - for Michelle. Thanks!! Melody

for you Rosemary!! I will be thinking and praying for you and your recruit!! These next 8 weeks will go faster than you think!!

Rosemary I will be saying a prayer for you and your so.....from all that I have read here the time at bootcamp goes by quickly and you will have PIR to look forward to. I will be in your shoes soon, my leaves in two weeks.

Stay strong we are all here for you.

I hope this isn't a silly question but my son leaves in two weeks and I am trying to think of everything he needs to take care of before he leaves. My question is.....I wanted to schedule him for a dental check up and cleaning before he leaves should I go ahead and do that or is that something that will be done in bootcamp?

Michelle, I think your message was for Debbi but I completely agree with everything you said. You gave her some great advice and your son is very blessed to have such a wise and caring mother. My son will be leaving in two weeks and he is excited but also starting to get a little nervous. It will be his first time away from home so it will be very difficult for all of us. I pray that with time it will get easier. Thanks for all the great advice.

Jeannie, I understand how you feel. My son leaves on the 18th and I am already having a hard with it. I will keep you in my prayers and know that he will be alright. He is off to the start of a wonderful adventure and you just have to keep positive thoughts. Let us know when you hear from him. We are all here for you.

For Jeannie!!

Vickie..when myson was in MEPS there was another kid who had gotton a ticket a day or two before he went to MEPS and they would not let him swear in until the ticket was paid for...theykid had to call someone at home and they had to run to the court housepay the ticket and send a fax with a receipt from the county office that it had been paid. So I guess the answer is no.

Yeah my first sailor is home!! Got to tell you he had a lay over in Chicago O'Hare and went to the USO he said he talked to some of the new recurits getting ready to head to GL for boot camp he gave them the Hooyah and told them it's not as bad as you think but be ready for no sleep!! So any body who had a recruit that left today my sailor might of talked them.

To You Patty!! We will thinking and praying for you the next eight weeks!!

Donna...I am in the same situation...except I have sons...my youngest leaves in July too.