MEPS to Shipping off to Boot Camp

[Mama Howdawg]

Hello again,

I hope you are all well and making it through.  This blog will talk a little bit about my girls final MEPS day, official swearing in and shipping off to the RTC in Great Lakes, Il.

Sami had to be in Spokane the day before to ship.  She was required to be at the hotel provided by MEPS in the afternoon.  She had to check in with the MEPs reps at the hotel and be assigned her room.  There seemed to about 15 kids there for signing up and shipping out.  Some of the kids were there for DEPs and they look so young.  crazy. After signing in we were allowed to sign her out until 8:30 p.m. We went out for "her last meal".  She was able to meet up with her aunt and uncle and had a great evening.

After returning back to the hotel she was also lucky enough that she got to stay in my room after approval.  Most kids stayed in rooms with other recruits.  I was excited.  We went to bed early as the 4 a.m. wake up call was coming.

At 4 a.m. we got up and went to her breakfast to eat before she got on a bus to be taken to the MEPs facility for processing.  All the kids heading to MEPS all loaded up. This was the final wrap up of paperwork, questions, swearing in and getting her orders for shipping and her profile packet the take with them to boot camp.

It was pretty darn emotional even as she was getting on the bus taking the 10 mile ride to MEPs and I was right behind the bus. .  We are such good friends and we have a special bond.  I love  her so much and she has been through a lot so this amazing journey she was about to embark on was so significant that I was so overjoyed with pride.  She is not my biological child or legally my step-daughter but after my relationship with her father ended we still all remain really close and she is my kid.  We have been inseparable for 4 years now and she is as much my daughter as my own kids.  So this moment as the day moved on was very hard and so amazing and so filled with pride and strength that you as a parent or special parent as I am will be emotional too.  There was a mother there that had raised her son all by herself and she was just a hot mess.  I hugged her but told her we couldn't stand by each other because I wasn't allowed to get emotional and if I stood by her it would be all over and we together would be blubbering hot mess Navy Moms.  LOL...

Ship day is just like signing up day at MEPs.  Same room to room, wait and back to room to room processing.  They got a sack lunch and then they waited for their packets to be processed and their plane tickets and orders for boot camp.  It takes about 4 hours to process. Be prepared to wait, and wait, and wait. 

When it came time for her final swearing in I was happy to have her aunt and uncle there.  It was good to let them have their time and I could focus on taking pictures and seeing how proud she was to be in the Navy.  What a blessing.

Now swearing in is over and we go back and wait for the recruit to get the prints and photo taken.  All the recruits that were shipping out to all the Armed Forces were processed at the same time and Sami only had one other recruit heading off to the Marines on her same flight.

Now the recruits got in the van and they headed to the aiport... I followed right a long...

next blog - Recruits to the Airport

BYE THE WAY... See this link

I did not know that I could send phone cards with my daughter.  Your recruit can take up to $20 in phone cards to call home.