wranglermom

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-Colleen

Congratulations on your son entering the navy!  My son is graduating from boot camp this weekend, so will be happy to fill you in when he gets back.  My son is older (23) and went through some back-and-forth with working & college before deciding on the navy career.  I am fortunate that 2 of his buddies enlisted about the same time & went in before him, so I got lots of good info from their moms as we went.  Some basics about boot camp that I know so far are that you can see him off (with his phone if he has one), and he will call you when he gets there.   Then they mail the phone and all his belongings back to you, and you don't hear from him for about 3 weeks.  He can call you about every other week (it is about 8 weeks total), and you can write each other.  All the sons turn out to be very good letter writers (a happy surprise) as they miss their families.  My son is having a pretty good experience; it helps to be in good shape before you go to prevent injuries.    Does your son go to The Colony H.S. by chance?  I know some of the teachers & counselors there.

More info when we get back!

Wranglermom, thanks for your note!  Boot camp graduation was great.  My son was really proud of his unit and it was a positive experience for him.

Have some great tips to share:

- We got to spend anytime from 6am - 8:30pm with our son, then he had to be back on base.  They are in uniform off base (and look great!).  

- We stayed at the Navy lodge.  Very affordable, comfortable, and convenient. You can easily find it by looking for navy lodge or naval lodge, then selecting the Great Lakes region.  You just need to know your son's info & graduation date when you book, and that is something you will get a few weeks into his boot camp.

- Booking flights was a bit difficult as they tell you not to book until very close to graduation because things can happen to cause a reschedule (or book a flight you can change).  We had originally planned to drive (it is a about 16 hours, I think) but ended up with some good deals on last minute flights on AirTran going through Atlanta to Milwaukee ... Long way around but cheap.  Great Lakes is actually the same distance from Milwaukee airport as Chicago Midway, although Chicago OHare is closest.

- We drove the short distance from the naval lodge to the graduation and it was fine & easy to find, but a very long wait in a traffic line to park.  Leave early.

- Graduation is indoors (good thing - it's cold & windy by that lake!).   A warm coat and long pants or heavy tights is apparently a must-wear in Great Lakes; very changeable weather.

- It is hard to tell how long they will be there after graduation until very close to it ... For instance, some parents had 2 hours with their son then had to get him on a plane to training; we had the entire weekend.  If your son knows what he will be doing (corp, airman, etc.) you can get kind of an idea.

Hope to hear from you soon!

I keep thinking 9 weeks will go fast.

Hi, I hope our kids have a positive experience at bootcamp!