Ship 02 (USS Reuben James) Division 950

[ellen0502]

Welcome to the Division Discussion for Division 950

Your SRs, soon to be SAILORS, are becoming friends, and some of them may be heading to A School together.

Get to know each other, your SRs are!

Please still use the Main Wall of the PIR Group to post questions and concerns, we “veteran” moms don’t always get to into the discussion area as often as we would like.

Every single question that is asked is important Every single concern is genuine Every single member is important to us We don't want to accidentally overlook any of them or you.

Hang in there!!!

[BAMA NAVY MOM]

I have tried to remember that every Tuesday.......I have checked the site everyday for random photos as well. 

 

[Tracie]

I sent you a friend request today - I think my daughter mentioned you in her letter... She mentioned that a few of the other recruits' moms were on here, but yours was the only name she told me.

[Idaho_Ma]

Today I got a letter from my SR.  Did anyone else get letters?

She made a lot of jokes and seems to be enjoying herself thoroughly.  Said there are about 100 gals from two divisions in the same room, all getting along pretty well.  She didn't mention any names. 

Some of the SR's are having a very hard time with homesickness, she said.  It must get her a little, because she told me she's hoping for a lot more letters.

[Tracie]

We got letters today too! She sounded great, and in good spirits! She wrote a letter to her 13 year old sister and told her she actually misses sharing a room with ONLY her :-) Had her wisdom teeth removed on or about the 13th, and it must have gone well, she didn't complain at all! (This is very surprising to me - we would have heard about it for weeks if she'd had it done here!)

[BAMA NAVY MOM]

Yes rec'd journals......I will re-read them tonight I don't think at that point she had names down she told me three names during our brief call.  They are really busy, getting up at 3 some mornings 4 others.......lots of sick ones from all the shots.  But she said they are meshing well.  Anyone know what the 'baby divisions' are?  I almost think it must be the partial divisions just coming in and training with them - I know they were training with a group right off the bat said they were really helpful in giving them quick cleaning tips and how to do alot of stuff so Chief would be happy.  :)

[Fleur]

Well I got home from work and found a letter ( a real one!) from my SR. He told me about the first day that lasted 48 hours and all kinds of other things that I assume is normal stuff for boot camp. He sounded mostly upbeat but I could tell that there was sadness in his words as well. He misses home and all that. His younger sisters even got a letter from him that I am not allowed to read. I cried through reading it of course and again when I was reading it to my husband - he lost his readers and he couldnt see anything. lol. I am very happy I got to hear from him- again in as many days. I dont think i have been on here for a while but I also got a call from him on Sunday. He called my husbands phone - I was in a chair getting some ink work done on my arm. and he looks at his phone and goes " Illinois? who do I know in Illinois? I about jumped outta the chair and almost got a nice line of purple ink across my back- and yelled at him: " Answer it dummy!" So I got to talk to my son and he got to talk to his aunt and uncle too as we were at their house having brunch and getting tattooed- though not at the same time. :)

[BAMA NAVY MOM]

Awesome!!!!!!!!  Maybe we will all get calls again Sunday.  I sent 24 calling card numbers to my daughter for her to use since it took 4 to get the call connected last week and she said several in the div had no way to call so I wrote the numbers 2-3 at a time and put the info on there for them to be able to call too. 

 

Happy days - felt great after the first real call and even better getting letters detailing the days and what all is going on.  WOOHOO

[Idaho_Ma]

How did you do the calling cards?  I've been trying to figure it out but I'm stuck.  You can't buy actual cards around here.  I've looked around, even at WalMart.

[BAMA NAVY MOM]

www.callsforrecruits.org they have a facebook page as well...........if you email and request numbers for your SR they will email you back within 24 hr in most all cases.  They will email you back a letter explaining it as well as 8 tags off the cards.  Your SR will call the 1800 number and it will ask for the id, they put that in and then dial the number.  They get 20 minute per card, it gives a notice with a minute left so you have time to say goodbye. 

[Idaho_Ma]

Thanks!

[SeaWolfette]

So happy - my SR called this afternoon and we were able to talk for almost 1/2 hour.  It was wonderful to talk with her and hear how things have been going.  

Since she has most of her college work done (she only has one semester left, which she has promised me she will finish once she gets done with training and is in Navy Reserves mode) she was selected to be one of two EPOs (Educational Petty Officer) for her division.  She said they passed their first test recently with high scores so she was very proud of the group.  She also said that the boots have been killing their feet because they're not broken in and they have been using maxi pads as cushioning, which gave me a very funny visual.  Since they are so isolated I asked what news they hear and she said they did tell them about the floods in Colorado & the shooting at the Navy Yard in DC, so glad to hear that some of the outside world does get in. 

[Idaho_Ma]

Thanks for posting what you heard from your daughter.  It's great how we can put all our stories together, to get a bigger picture of what's going on.

My SR called yesterday afternoon, too.  We talked for maybe 20 minutes.  She said she gets to carry the Minnesota flag at PIR.  She mentioned the first test, too, that they had done well.  She also passed the swim test.  I asked about friends and she said there's a lot of nice people, but she hasn't really figured out names yet.  

I asked who all was in their "dorm," since Div 950 is half women (44 I think) and there are about 100 women bunking together.  She told me that there are also women there from a 900 Div whose PIR date is in November.

They haven't had firearms training or pictures yet; apparently that's next week.  She said the food is good, but she's dreaming about biscuits and gravy, and fried chicken.  So we'll get that for her after PIR.