Daughter is headed for Navy boot Dec 2

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Permalink Reply by MarkM on December 3, 2009 at 10:52pm

I remember that sinking feeling of "Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into?" My son did 2 years in JROTC and 1 year as a Naval Sea Cadet. He spent a week in Virginia Beach with Marine DIs and he loved it. Hopefully he will use that knowledge to his advantage, if you know what I mean. LOL


Dan Thomas said:

I went in '87 @ Ft. Benning. It was funny, because he was telling me, oh things have changed since you were there... blah blah blah... well.. i do know one thing.. he is going to be doing a lot of pushups!! For some reason, my son ALWAYS, thinks he needs the last word! hehehehe I warned him he might want to just bite his lip and not say a word.. :) I know this is GREAT for him, and he will eventually enjoy it, but this beginning stage just plain Sucks! :)

Mark Mangus said:

What is crazy is that I went through GL myself in 1976. I know what he is going through. Intellectually, I know this is great for him. Emotionally, I am still trying to deal with it. My son is going Cryptologist/Linguist (CTI).

Dan Thomas said:

it's just not you! I thik we all do! - We are in Southern Michigan, and he will be ??? NO CLUE! he doesn't even know yet as far as I know. He signed 6 also, seabee (construction). :)

Mark Mangus said:

Its different from sending them to college. This is them 'leaving home'. My son has a 6 year enlistment with the next two years mainly in California...we are in Maryland. He is gone and we know it. I still have a hard time walking past his room.

Dan Thomas said:

yea, I hear ya! I know when I left, I don't think my parents went through this. My son is an army brat.. born on an Army Base in Italy.. I think the hardest was, the not 'hearing' from him now... We used to hear from him daily - either via text, or phone call, saying he was at his friends.. I cried pretty hard too.. but before he walked away from me, I did tell him how proud we were of him, and he will have a great time! :) Sucks for us though, seeing our kids going away!!! :)

Mark Mangus said:

My son left on the first and my emotions are still raw and right on the surface. I was talking with a retired Navy captain tonight at church and he told me,"it is really hard to watch them go. But it perfectly acceptable to cry".

Dan Thomas said:

Yes... the Dec 2nd Group!! LOL!!! ~ it was nice though, I was able to talk to my son when he arrived at O'Hare.. he grabbed a payphone real quick and called and was outside the USO, going to be calling the recruitor tomorrow and see if he got my son's "ship" so i can start sending out all the letters we have for him! :) How is everyone else holding up?

clay Hannan said:

Welcome to the Dec 2nd family

barry livelsberger said:

my son left dec 2 also

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Permalink Reply by clay H on December 4, 2009 at 9:05am

ok dec 2nfd family members, use the Add Reply instead of copying and repeating the whole string of comments so ya have to figure out which ione is the new one....

I 2nd the raw emotions being too close to the surface.... Watching Friday night lights, one of the kids fathers was killed... I freaking lost it, Im the one whos supposed to be calm and collected, going through the rough spots and worrying about emotions on the other side.... Im doing more gym time to burn off the emotions, and no one notices when you cry in the sauna.... "sinuses" I just wanted my kids to have an easier life than I did.. As a street kid Ive had to hurt people in the past... I dont think my daughter will ever be the same if she has to dust someone.... Being in computers I see that as less likely, but these days assholes are shooting up bases....

On to less emotions... those of ya who went through GL in the past are in for a big surprise, most of the ships have been replaced with new ones... Our peoples have no reason to leave the building, everything including the shooting range is in there.... Way cool...

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Permalink Reply by MarkM on December 4, 2009 at 9:19am

We just had a young man from our high school killed in a drunk driving incident this weekend. I keep thinking, "at least I will see Mark again. These folks will never see their son again". It puts things in perspective.

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Permalink Reply by Dan (Zach's Dad) on December 4, 2009 at 9:20am

Clay, yea sorry about the "reply's" it was just a "click" - :) anywho - yea going to work really sucks right now, sitting at the office, and doing nothing but thinking, "how are they doing?" "is everything ok with them"? "when are they going to call?" - did you get the 20 second phone call? I did not, he called his mother insted, but I knew that up front, so he quickly made a 20 second phone call from someone's cell phone on the plane at O'hare :). He just let me know that he was there, safe and sound... and sounded real chipper! I used this site to look at the 2 video's that were out there of the new "ships" and yea, those helped, and looked like a great time.. I kept telling my son that Chicago is going to suck running in during the middle of winter.. then I saw everything was in doors!!! What kind of boot camp is that!! LOL!! I was in Benning with 110 degree heat.. and world war 2 barracks!! I am just anxiously awaiting that Famous BROWN BOX!!! So if any of you guys get yours, please let us know --- :)

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Permalink Reply by MarkM on December 4, 2009 at 11:04am

We got 'the box' today. His Timex watch was in it and that is on the list of ok items. So I don't know why. The instruction letter wasn't in the box either, so I guess that will come separately.

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Permalink Reply by Dan (Zach's Dad) on December 4, 2009 at 2:03pm

our fed ex truck and ups truck and mail lady has already been through today, so we did not get ours. :( i am goign to call the recruiter and see if they received what my son's ship number is... i read in one of the forums that after a couple days the recruiter will have the information ~ :) here's to hoping! :)

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Permalink Reply by MarkM on December 4, 2009 at 2:05pm

I tried but there is no answer in the office and I don't have his cell number. Hopefully tomorrow or Monday we will have his address.

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Permalink Reply by MarkM on December 4, 2009 at 2:10pm

I just took this off Navyformoms:


"The Box"
This will be hard. This was your first test. The call will come. Short and to the point. " I made it, I am here, I am fine, Love you, I gotta go" Then "Your kid comes home in a box " minus your kid. Yes, you will cry but you will be fine. Then the form letter comes. You have waited days for a letter, something and all you get is a form letter with a small note at the bottom from your recruit. But this is all good. This form letter is full of info. Now you can mail out all the letters you have been writting. Remember to send a few picture along with encouraging words. Lots of letters. Mail is like gold to your recruit. They live for Mail day every Sunday. They also get to write home every Sunday. So run to the mail box every Wednesday for your letter. Some recruits will get to call home. This is something that is earned. And the calls are very random. Strange times of the day. But its always nice to hear from them.

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Permalink Reply by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on December 4, 2009 at 2:23pm

yep...all that's posted in the old bootcamp group posts here as well!! Keep the faith, write your letters and remember that generally no new IS good news!!

Mark Mangus said:

I just took this off Navyformoms:


"The Box"
This will be hard. This was your first test. The call will come. Short and to the point. " I made it, I am here, I am fine, Love you, I gotta go" Then "Your kid comes home in a box " minus your kid. Yes, you will cry but you will be fine. Then the form letter comes. You have waited days for a letter, something and all you get is a form letter with a small note at the bottom from your recruit. But this is all good. This form letter is full of info. Now you can mail out all the letters you have been writting. Remember to send a few picture along with encouraging words. Lots of letters. Mail is like gold to your recruit. They live for Mail day every Sunday. They also get to write home every Sunday. So run to the mail box every Wednesday for your letter. Some recruits will get to call home. This is something that is earned. And the calls are very random. Strange times of the day. But its always nice to hear from them.

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Permalink Reply by clay H on December 5, 2009 at 12:06am

look on your sons / daughters desk for recruiters card... it'll have email, I emailed ours tonight...

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Permalink Reply by Dan (Zach's Dad) on December 5, 2009 at 7:10am

I have my son's recruiters cell phone number, we talked for about 20 minutes yesterday and he walked me through whats going on for the last few days - they are still in their "P" days. Basically doing the paperwork, doing the simple things, haircuts, clothing, ect. ~ recruiter did not have the "ship" info yet, as it hasn't been assigned to our son's / daughter yet. We all should be getting the "form" letters and info on the PIR here either monday or tuesday. The recruiter told me to give him a shout on wednesday if I don't hear anything from my son ~

~Dan

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Permalink Reply by MarkM on December 5, 2009 at 8:12am

I spoke with my son's recruiter yesterday (found the card on my son's desk). He said that he didn't have any info yet and that we would know before him. He said he has an emergency number, if needed. [It is better to use the Red Cross in an emergency.] He said the "P" days could last two weeks, depending on how fast the divisions fill up. [ I know they are pushing as many in right now as they can for end of year because they close the processing side for two weeks during Christmas and New Year's. So they should fill rather quickly.] The recruiter said we will get the form letter once they move to their division. He said not to worry. It will come and no news, is good news.

Our son left on Tuesday and we got "the box" yesterday.

Mark

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