Brand new!!!

[Navywife04]

My husband left oct 4th I received the first phone call which was very short & sweet also I got his box of stuff sent home already now I'm just waiting on his address or a letter or something?? When will that be? Also I'm 20 weeks pregnant with our first child suppossibily he will be at boot camp for 8 weeks then his A school is in the Great lakes as well for 12 weeks. So he is schedule to be home the week of my due date. Will that change could it go longer his job is electrians mate & I know nothing about what they do or where he could be stationed also what is his freedom like in A school ? Will we communicate more ? & when will he get his first duty station & will myself & the baby to be able to go ? Sorry so many questions :) I'm just so anxious right now!!

[sweetred1010]

My husband is in an A school right now,  and during the week they don't have much free time because they are in classes, but on the weekends they can get liberty as long as their not on duty and as long as they don't get in trouble while there.   My husband just finished his class and they gave him orders about 1 week before he completed the course.  He is still there waiting on hard copy order.  Supposedly it takes about 1-2 weeks for their paper orders to arrive.  As far as communicating... he can call you from a payphone or unless he buys a cell phone to use.   I'm not sure about the duty station thing.   I would assume you & baby can go unless you have health complications that wont allow you to transfer.   I know how you feel though,  this is a very anxious time....waiting...waiting and more waiting :/  Congrats on the baby.  Do you know what your having yet? boy or girl?  :)

[Navywife04]

Thankyou! that is helpful. we are having a little girl. we are very excited. You said your husband got his first duty station will you or are you allowed to move with him? & when they are in A school they already have to go on duty? is that part of the schooling?

 

[lemonelephant]

I have that "A" School for EM is 15 weeks, but I could be wrong.  (Here is the Fact Sheet for EM, http://www.cnrc.navy.mil/Graphic-Elements/Rating-Factsheets/EM-Elec....)  Also, there is no guarantee that your husbad will "class up" immediately upon arrival at "A" School.  Sometimes a Sailor is in Holding for a week or longer waiting for enough Sailors to start the next class.  I hope that it does work out for you and he is home when your precious little one is born.

His PIR could be 11/30/2012 based on when he arrived at the RTC, but it could be a later if he was kept in P-days longer for some reason.  If you discover that is his PIR date, join the group, PIR 11/30/2012 TG 3.

You may also want to join, or at least check out, Girlfriends, Fiances,and Wives of Sailors, Boot Camp Moms, PIR Reference Information, and New Members Stop Here.

There are no groups just for EM, but here are some groups and pages you could check out:  Engineers, Snipe Moms(enginers), Snipe Moms, Great Lakes A School   Q&A, GL A-school moms, and theTraining-Support-Center-TSC-Great-Lakes   Facebook Page.

(Group names and links within this reply are clickable links.  To join a group, click on the group name and after the group page opens, click on “+ Join...” in the upper right.)

[Navywife04]

Thank you for all the websites. ill look into that 15 week thing, i sure hope not =) What does holding mean? I think his PIR is the 1st week of dec but im not 100% sure yet. i should find out soon right? Also we have friends in the army, Air force, coast guard & marines & my husband is the 1st of all our friends to join the navy. I feel like the navy is so differnt. like with the 1st duty station. I know all my friends wives got to move right away with there husbands will myself & the baby get to do that? I kinda dont feel included right now. It seems everything Ive been reading is that the A school process turns out to be longer than what everyone thinks & I`m so unsure about being allowed to move with him? I want to be with him as soon as I`m allowed to be so can you help me get a better understanding? Will he be able to live in a home with me at his duty station or on a ship?  

[Anti M]

Being on hold is simply waiting for his class to begin.  First he goes through an indoc, which is an introduction to the base and to school policies and anything he needs to know for dependents. Then he goes to ATT, which is an electronics prep school.  THEN he waits some more to go to A school.  

While on hold, he will be kept busy with cleaning or working in an office or anything the base needs.  He will also so his PT and stand duty every four days.  All sailors stand duty, think something like security guards for the individual buildings at Great Lakes.  Like his barracks or school, there's always someone standing watch at the front doors to check ID cards.

He'll be there over the holidays, so he will have the chance to come home on leave.  The schools have a stand down and are not in session.  

I wouldn't count on him being home on your due date.  The A schools just don't move along that fast. There's always more to it than just show up and go straight to school.

Whether you can move to Glakes or not depends on how long his orders say the school is, not by how long he'll actually be there.  

When he finally gets orders to his first duty station/ship, the Navy will move you to that location and he can live with you. Don't worry about overseas orders yet, too early to consider that possibility.  Chances are he'll be stateside somewhere.  Of course, he is in the Navy, so if he's on a ship, there will be deployments, but you will be in a home, ready and waiting for his return.

[sweetred1010]

Anti M hit just about everything on target.  I do know that it is a long drawn out process,  or at least it was for my husband through A school. He had to wait about a week after arriving just to class up and he is still there even though he has completed the school and is just waiting on paper orders :/  Hurry up and wait :P 

[Navywife04]

Everything you said was very helpful!! Thank you. Does everyone go to ATT school ? & how long is that ?& how long is EM A school ? Also he will be in boot camp for thanksgiving & at Christmas time he will be in A school I'm guessing. So will he come home for both holidays or just one ? My due date is march 4th you don't think he'll be home for that ? & do you know when we get our first duty station ? Sorry for picking your brain you just seem very knowledgeable & right now I need that seeing how I can't talk to my husband.

[lemonelephant]

If he is at BC for Thanksgiving, then he does not get to go home for that. If he has PIR 11/30/2012 as I suspect or the week after as you indicate, then he will probably be among those that can be "adopted" for Thanksgiving and if there is a family member in the area, that person could adopt him for the day or one of the organizations in the area will adopt him. You should be getting the form letter soon with his address and PIR date and other important information for you.

Once he is at "A" School, they will explain about the Christmas stand down and how that works and yes, he most likely will be home for Christmas. He can put in a chit for leave for 10 days for around the time that you are due, but it will be up to his command whether that is granted then but since he will most likely still be in "A" School that is probably not going to happen, but he can get 10 days sometime within a year after the birth of the baby. See http://www.public.navy.mil/BUPERS-NPC/SUPPORT/TFLW/Pages/PaternityL....)

Apprentice Technical Training (ATT) is a self-paced computer program, but they generally say 6 weeks. I didn't have EM as one of the ratings that has ATT (I'm still trying to figure out all of the ratings that have it), but it would make sense since all Navy ratings that require basic electrical knowledge and troubleshooting training complete ATT school. I knew that EM completes the Basic Engineering Common Core (BECC), but that is included in the 15 weeks. I have that "A" School is 15 weeks and the Fact Sheet also indicates that, but http://usmilitary.about.com/od/enlistedjob1/a/em.htm says 12 weeks.

As far as the first duty station, those are determined 2-4 weeks before the end of "A" School in many cases, but some finish "A" School and are still waiting on orders. Where he lives will depend on where his first duty station is, but you should be able to live together when he's not deployed if he is with a ship.

[Navywife04]

Thank you fo taking time to answer these questions for me. I have seen both where it says "A" school is 12 weeks & ive seen it where it sayd it is 15 weeks. do you think in his form letter I will be made aware of exactly how much time it is?

[lemonelephant]

No, the form letter tells you about PIR and BC, so that will tell you when he has PIR so you can start planning for that.  You will find out about "A" School once he gets there and "classes up" and begins that training.

[Navywife04]

how long does he have to wait after basic for "classes up" before he can start "A" school? do you know that answer

 

[lemonelephant]

Some will "class up"  right away and others are in holding for a week or more.  You will just have to wait until he gets to "A" School and finds out.

They still have INDOC and sometimes some classes when they are in holding, and of course, watches and other duties that have to be done, so they do stay busy.