New recruit july 6

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Permalink Reply by Navy Dads Co-Admin Tom on July 8, 2016 at 9:43pm

You will receive a Form Letter in about 10 days with all of his information......address, Division#, PIR date, and information for local hotels. It will also contain a password to download the gate pass for PIR! Before the letter, you will get the "kid in a box" which will contain any items that he is sending home....clothing, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Navy Dads Co-Admin Tom on July 8, 2016 at 9:46pm

Have you joined our Boot Camp group yet? Many of your questions will be answered there!

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Permalink Reply by John Alan DeMarco on July 9, 2016 at 4:56pm

Hello Jeff, my son just got there as well.

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Permalink Reply by John Alan DeMarco on July 9, 2016 at 5:22pm

Yes. He is my only son and I raised him alone since he was 2. I m probably as anxious, maybe more. I am confident in his care there and training and confident in him. What is so hard for me is him just being gone. We have been around each other for 16 years. So empty nest I guess. I am single so my first night home Wednesday it was so quiet and lonely. I know things are probably tough on them right now but I know they will make it. I just can't wait to see and talk to him. Not being able to know anything is hard. When I got his " I am here " call. It was so short and he stated his business and hung up. That was hard. How has your first couple of days been?

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Permalink Reply by NavyDads CoAdmin Jim Gramza on July 9, 2016 at 5:45pm

John and Jeff,

Paul will often post this for those of us that are having a hard time with our sons or daughters being away from home for the first time. This is still appropriate today even though it was written some time ago:

Lest you think you are alone, this was posted by a dad to another member dealing with separation anxiety....

"I know you have seen some encouraging comments from other members, but I wanted to weigh in here too. On 28 January, a month after completing college, my son was sworn in to the Navy DEP.

 

It was a couple of days after that when it hit me....after 23 years of a daily relationship with him everything was about to change! I knew joining the Navy was going to be the absolute best thing for him. But in spite of that, I became very depressed. I had no idea what I was doing but Goggled Navy support groups. I found this site.

 

I remember posting my first comments.....reluctantly because I thought others would think of me as less of a man.....how depressed I was already at the thought of my son leaving and he was not leaving for boot until 1 May. Well the responses were surprising! All the admins and a number of other members put me at ease when they responded that every dad on this site, if they are honest with themselves, experienced the same thing. I also followed the great advice from the admins to read as much as possible on this site. All of this really helped! But then came the week before he left. I became very upset and just wasn't sure how I was going to cope. It really took some work to get it under control.

 

Then the day came to put him on that plane to Great Lakes. As the tears flowed, it was my son in a bit of a role reversal that said, "dad, it's going to be just fine." Well from that point everything happened just as it was described by the admins and other members on this site from receiving the "kid in a box" to the form letter to the first phone call. The best advice I received after his departure was to write often. I didn't really think my son would care that much because my son has always been very independent and not the "home sick" type. But I found out two things in writing the letters: he loved them and encouraged it and they were very therapeutic for me!

 

In the 7 weeks after I received his address I wrote 16 letters. All typed, no spacing, and not one under 4 pages long! I would never have imagined being able to come up with that much to write about....but you will be surprised. It truly helped the time move along as well. Then believe it or not, PIR was upon us. My son graduated on 28 June. The only thing I can say about PIR is that as it relates to my son, it was the second greatest day of my life......second ONLY to witnessing his birth! When you see your sailor march into that hall and you realize he/she is now a part of something greater than themselves, it is an indescribable feeling of pride. A feeling that washes away all the tears and angst of the previous 8 1/2 weeks of separation.

Now as I look back, I am amazed how time has passed so quickly! As of today my son has been out of boot camp almost as long as he was in it. He is in Pensacola attending IT A school. This is totally different from boot camp. It resembles being away to college as you can communicate freely (voice, text, e-mail) with the exception of when they are in class.

 

So to wrap this up, as others have said, hang in there! You too before you know it will be in the same shoes as many of us....looking back wondering where the time went and posting comments to help parents going through that which you have endured. I cannot emphasize enough how wonderful this site is to help you through it.....from really good information to Navy FAMILY who are there for moral support. God Bless you and your son for his service to our great country!"

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Permalink Reply by John Alan DeMarco on July 9, 2016 at 8:17pm

Thanks for posting this.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Rozsi on July 10, 2016 at 12:25pm

Hi, My daughter also left for bootcamp on July 6th? Where did your son leave from? My daughter left from San Diego. It finally sunk in when I got the safe arrival call that evening.

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Permalink Reply by Ginger on July 10, 2016 at 3:10pm

Hi Michelle my son left July 5th from Phx what is your daughter going for? My son is HM.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Rozsi on July 10, 2016 at 3:27pm

AFT/IT

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Permalink Reply by Ginger on July 10, 2016 at 4:05pm

Awesome where is her A school

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Permalink Reply by Ginger on July 10, 2016 at 4:31pm

Good luck to her and you Jeff!

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Rozsi on July 10, 2016 at 7:01pm

Her A school is in Pensacola, Fl. I'm still learning all the abbreviations, what is HM and where will he go after boot camp?

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