Hi SamisMom, Yes, our Sailor (grandson) will be in Great Lakes for A School and is HullTech.  He's missing his old Div 268 buddies but sure he will do fine to make more friends.  He got engaged after graduation in the hall and planning to get married as soon as he knows where he will be deployed.  Praying your daughter will do well in her vocation too.

I just read your post from yesterday. We are flying into Midway airport around midnight on Thursday so I checked all the rental car places at Midway. Budget is open until 2 a.m., so that is where we reserved our car, just in case our plane was delayed. Here is the phone number: 773-948-7007. They have an internet special too. our cost was 170.00 for three days. We thought we would have to hand around the airport until the car rental places opened, but grateful we won't have to.  Hope this helps you! Terry

Hi Leslie,  Congratulations on your daughter's decision to join the Navy.  It is exciting to know you are in Meadow Vista & that Janai is in Auburn. I'm looking forward to chatting with you two. Maybe over coffee in Auburn soon ? Enjoy the rest of your weekend, rain later today so don't wash your car. Lol. :)

Hi, welcome to Boot Camp Moms (and loved ones). I look forward to sharing this journey with you. I see that you have changed your Username so that it no longer contains your last name; you also need to change the URL to this page. Number 2 at the bottom of OPSEC and PERSEC (Making Changes To Your Profile) (clickable link) will tell you how to fix that. There may be other changes you will want to make as well, such as numbers 3 and 4. Take care and blessings to you and yours.

We are staying at the Navy Lodge. It is ok for us to stay there as long as we have an SR graduating at Great Lakes. My understanding is that there is no shuttle, but, you can either drive or Sarge will take you (???? I don't know who Sarge is, either) The Navy Lodge is supposed to be about 1 mile from the base....and the closest hotel to the base. If you do stay there, I will see you. Our sons are training together.

We did not go to the swearing in at MEPS. Doug said he would be fine and we both had to work. We did get to spend the whole day with our son on the Monday before he checked into the hotel.

We are planning to drive to Long Beach to visit our daughter and grandson before we go to Chicago so we are going to fly out of LAX. I booked our flight last night on Southwest because the fares were reasonable, they offered two free checked bags and mainly because Southwest does not charge a fee if the flight has to be changed. I found some cheaper fares, but you have to pay an additional fee if you need to change the plans.

We haven't decided where to stay in Chicago. I read a lot of the reviews on this site and we really want to spend the least amount of money possible and be close to the base. I think we will try to book at the Navy Lodge. We are going to rent a car and are flying into Midway Airport.

I just saw your daughters name on a itinerary that Doug sent home in the box with his clothes. It had the names of the nine future sailors that left from the airport in Sacramento. Samantha was the only female!

I am sure they know each other. Doug was the recruit dep leader for about a month before he shipped out. I am not sure what they called it, but he got to lead the drills, call the other future sailors each week to check in, etc.

I am glad we both joined Navy for Moms. I asked my son to tell the other deppers leaving with him about it so they could tell their moms. Maybe a few more from our counties will join us.

My son left from Sacramento MEPS the same day as your daughter. They must have flew in together. My son said there was 6 others that left on the same flight for boot camp.

We have not received the letter with the PIR date yet either. Hopefully it will come in the mail today. We are anxious to get plane tickets. Are you going to the graduation?

 Doug got to keep his wallet I think because it was small and black and he took out everything except his debit card and driver's license. I read on this site that they will have the opportunity to buy a wallet.