Stressing!!

[hpygl]

Hi All,  My wonderful son leaves on Jan 15 for Great Lakes.  I have so many questions and he is so relaxed and accepting.  He has a student loan.  We will get him set up for automatic withdrawals, but how does he get his bills.  I am mostly talking about after basic.  What happens when he is on a submarine?  Does he get mail?  He can't if he is underwater for 3 months.  Will I be able to talk to him when he is on a sub?  There is a lot of recommendations on what to do to prepare for basic, but he just says that there isn't anything that he needs to do, so getting him to do these things is difficult, are there any absolute necessary things out of the long list that I said was needed to prepare.  I feel so overwhelmed with information.  Also, it is doubtful that he will be going to college after his time is up, should he sign up for the GI bill?  I have read that he only has 10 years to use it, so he wouldn't be able to give to his kids because they wouldn't go to school for who knows how long (he isn't married and has no children at this point).  Sigh?  He is asking me for advice and i am trying but the information can be so conflicting that i get from all the different people.  Is it really worth paying 100 in and not getting anything out of it?

Thanks for all of your help.

Kathy

[Jo1]

My sons been in for 2  1/2 years but I remember how stressful things were when my son went in.  I think the most important thing you need to take care of now is to get a financial power of attorney if your son isn't married.  We also got the medical power of attorney in case anything happened.  The financial one we've used.  If your son is going to be on a sub he's going to have to have someone that can take care of things for him.  My husband and I are listed on my sons checking and savings account so we can take care of bills if we have to.  He uses our local bank for most things including checking and savings.  His direct deposit goes right into this account.  We have online banking connecting these accounts.  He can see the activity of what goes on and he can move money if he wants or we can.  He has also set up a savings account through navy federal since then.  I'm not sure how the mail works on a sub since my son isn't on one.  It's up to your son if he wants the GI Bill or not but your never know.  It doesn't cost that much for the benefits that you get.  If he doesn't take it he might regret it.  He could use it for technical school or something like that in case he has troubles finding a job when he gets out of the Navy.  My brother had that issue years ago.  He was a fireman in the AirForce and wanted to do that when he got out.  A physical showed he had back issues even though he's never ever had back problems.  The AirForce physical never showed that.  Anyway he used the GI Bill for electronics training and has a great job now.  Good luck :)

[hpygl]

Thanks for that great advice.  I have a POA printed and it got spilled on so was thinking about reprinting.  Will definitely do that.  Son only wants to use Navy bank.  I wish he would use that one that we do so that it would be easier for me to help him.

I am struggling because I want him to be independent but feel like it is impossible because of the nature of being on ship.  I will set up direct withdrawal when he gets his bank account after he leaves.  I hadn't though of using GI bill for technical school, that is very good advice.  Thanks a lot.

[Anti M]

Both Navy Fed and USAA are very good about automatic online payments for bill pay.  He can set it up quite easily.  If the loans are federal, I'm pretty sure he could even do a direct allotment from his pay, no need to go through a bank or CU at all.  PSd can help him set it up.

Mail on subs... much will depend on what sort of sub he ends up on.  Fast attacks make port calls and can pick up mail and packages.  Boomers do not make port calls, so only get limited first class mail when they surface to allow personnel to arrive or depart (often via helo).   He will have sporadic access to military email, and can call from port.  He should sign you up with the ombudsman once he gets to his boat, and she can keep you in the information loop.

[MyTommy]

Hi, I'm new here but noticed your son leaves January 15.  My son will also leave January 15 from San Jose, CA.    Good luck!

[hpygl]

Anti M, thanks for the advice.  I think that we finally go the loan payments figured out, but I won't be able to set it up until he goes to basic and gets his account set up and that's when I will get his numbers, when he mails them.  I think that he will be on a boomer.  Is that the bigger of the two?  He said he wants to be on the big subs, but I don't count on anything at this point.  

MyTommy, I am fairly new too.  I have really just started to reach out because I couldn't before.  Every time I read posts I would start crying.  I am finally getting better at that, though it is still hard.  It's coming up fast isn't it?!