bootcamp

[Atriceismissinghersailor]

how hard is the bootcamp process for everyone my boyfriend left November 6th 2013 I cant wait to see him...I also wanted to know for married couples because we will be getting married soon..i know deployments happen but how often and how long?..and when they are not on deployment how much time do they have to spend with us before another deployment/

[Annie Lee]

I read that sometimes, "leaves" can vary up to 1 week to a month. Uh, I'm not so sure myself! But, if you are getting married soon (my boyfriend and I are both getting married in 2-3months) there's a chance of you being stationed in the same base as he is. From what my Petty Officer tells me (I am joining the Navy as well!) you can request a chit to the Chief or something called, "co-location." Co-location is basically a request you can make to be with your sailor when he is stationed somewhere. That includes going out of the country. Uhhh, you can't be on the ship though. You will be stationed in a city he will be stationed at. Not only spouses have this privilege, but family members that are full-blood, half blood or adopted. Anyone can correct me if I am wrong. I think the process of requesting something like that will be difficult for both you and your sailor. And as for the process of boot camp, it does vary on the person. People might take the situation mildly or extremely difficult. Prior to my experience, I've lived 4-5 days without my sailor. Transitioning from seeing him every day. Phone calls, FaceTime, dates every weekend, sleepovers, showers, etc.. and now he's gone. It was definitely hard for me to adjust and I literally did cry myself to sleep and woke every morning crying and sulking. I found myself being a lot happier knowing that I am able to see my sailor soon at graduation. Everyday, I planned on making a scrapbook for the both of us, going out to the gym maybe 2-3 hours a day. Planning on going out with my friends was a hard thing to do since he was the person I'd hang out with and with our friends. But, I made it through and so did the help of our friends. Deployments can be as long as 4 months to a year. When I think about it, deployments aren't cake walks as boot camp. You may live the rest of the year without your sailor. They port and travel the world, while we're at home waiting and heartbroken. (thank God that's where co-location comes in!) Yeah, sorry for my illogical rambling. :p Anyone is free to correct me if I am wrong. But yeah, don't worry girl! Invest your time with something you'd want to do. Treat yourself to something nice. Workout, sleepovers with your girlfriends. Plan a girl's night out every week. Go clubbing with friends! Hobbies like scrapbooking is a good idea! Then you can send the scrap book to your sailor :) We got you girl. The whole Navy Mom's community is here to support you!

[Angie]

No idea what you are talking about with the Co-location, and by reading your posts I don't think you know either.

 Co location is for those who are dual Navy...meaning both active duty.  The Navy TRIES to get the married Sailors stationed near each other...BUT it does not always happen.  Also first term Sailors (on their first contract) are not entitled to the co-lo...they will be sent where the Navy wants them for the first 3-5 years..after that time they can TRY to be stationed near each other.  

fyi...your Petty Officer is a recruiter..he will tell you what ever you need to hear to join...http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ccsg11/Documents/MILPERSMAN%20130...

check out F2...when you join you go to bootcamp then your training, than your training assignment (3-5 years) THEN you can request spouse co-lo.

Married couples..one who is military and one who is civilian is MUCH different.  As long as you are married before your Sailor has orders the Navy will pay to move you to where  the Sailor is.  You do not deal with spouse co-lo.

[Annie Lee]

I see. Thanks for correcting me! I had my hopes on being stationed with my boyfriend, but I guess you're right. Petty Officers will say whatever they need to say to recruit people! Thanks for the correction!

[Angie]

Recruiters say what they need to to get people to join...something to keep in mind, everything in the Navy is in writing.  There is an instruction for everything, so if you ask your recruiter and s/he says don't worry about it...you need to worry about it.  

Feel free to tell him a Chief gave you that little bit of advise. 

I would recommend you and your BF wait to get married as you will not be able to be stationed together anyways..so best to make sure your relationship can handle the stress of the military first.

Just my 2 cents..

[Annie Lee]

Thanks, Angie! I had hopes on this. 6 years of service obligation is a long time.. I wanted to be with my boyfriend with the hope of co-lo. I guess the chances of being stationed are slim huh? Thanks for the piece of advice again!

[Angie]

very slim...The Navys mission always comes first and where the Navy needs a body comes first also...

You can try...but don't put your hopes on it happening.  As first term sailors are not even eligible to put in the request, so say you get married.  And your hubby gets stationed in VA...and you go into bootcamp, than to school, then time for orders...you get what ever you get...some schools allow the top of the class to pick from the list they have of orders, other do not...but even if you get to pick and all there is is CA, WA, and Japan...that is where you will go one of those places.  There is a slim chance that you will get stationed near each other...but then what can happen is you go on deployment and right before you get back he goes on deployment, so you won't see each other for say 16 months...lots of variables...but the bottom line is the instruction say you can not apply for it...so your recruiter is lieing (yes I said it)   I was stationed at Great Lakes "A" School training base and used to see 100's of Sailors wanting to do this same thing (I was the one there who put that type of paper work in amount other things) and they would tell me what you are saying the recruiter told you...and I would show them the instruction and they would be in tears...as they where miss lead by the recruiters..which I see is still going on...sad very sad

[Anti M]

You'll find several of us here who are prior service were also once half of a dual military couple.  I saw my husband for 28 DAYS during the first two years of our marriage.  We were E-6s!  He did get located near my command, however, after one year, I was up for re-enlistment again, and orders, and could not get stationed near him for longer than six more months.  That's when I didn't choose to stay in, and became a Navy wife instead of going for chief.  

Co-location can happen, but mostly ... not so much.  

[Angie]

There is no one answer about deployments...they can be every 6 months or the deployment can be 9 months long home for 4 months and then out again for 9 months..there is no answer to your question

[EmilyNicole98]

Deployments depend on what duty station and ship he has orders for. My husband's ship is nicknamed USS Never Home because it has a pattern of going out a lot more frequently than most! At the end of their last deployment, they had only been home for six months out of the last two years (thankfully they're home right now, they've missed the last two holiday seasons!). They had deployed for nine months, got back and were told they would be home for a minimum of eight months before any underway or deployment...but four months later, they left for another nine months! So you just never know. I would expect him to be home for maybe a year between each deployment (not counting underways, which take them out to sea for several weeks to several months). The average deployment is eight months, but everything is always situational. Things like dry dock and global tensions will change the timelines of everything. 

If he goes sub instead of surface, then everything I've just said is null and void, subs have their own set of rules. Some of them go out with surface ships, some work with the SEALS, some go out alone...some have zero communication during deployments, some get port calls and mail drops, some get one sided emails (they can receive but not send)...they're all different. Unless they're out with a surface group, their average deployment is three months long. They do deploy more frequently though. Most of our sub friends here have a rotation of three months at sea, three-four at home, repeat. 

There's also shore duty. Everything I described above is sea duty. Shore duty is usually -but again, not always- a desk job or something similar that doesn't take them out to sea. I have heard stories of people on shore duty going out just as frequently as those on sea duty though. Every rate (job) has a different rotation for sea and shore duty. My husband's is five years sea and then three years shore. You will typically PCS when they're switched from sea to shore, but it is possible to request to remain at the same duty station. 

You should also know that he could get stationed overseas (such as Japan)...and those orders could be unaccompanied. You can, in theory, move yourself to follow him if that happens, but I haven't known anyone to do it due to the extreme challenges of it. 

[kakhimedson]

It was not easy, but you can get through. My boyfriend graduated in September and is now in A school. It was very difficult for everyone- for me, for his family, and especially for him. But letters definently help. My boyfriend said he probably would have given up at bootcamp if we had not written so many letter. And the letters will help you too as well, it was definently soothing for me. 

As for marriage, I cannot answer that for you. My boyfriend and I have decided to marry after the Navy for personal reasons. But there are many many many posts on navy marriages on this site, it would be impossible not to find the answer on here! :)

Best of luck to you and your sailor :)