Class 08-17 A/B Newport Rhode Island started Jan 8, 2017

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nell Glass on February 3, 2017 at 4:53pm

Thanks for the heads up on what follows graduation, our daughter is a SWO.  What program is your son?  So I am not sure what will happen after graduation.  She did say that SWO is very competitive and there are quite a few "Roll ups" in the program.  As for the CANDIO box, her last letter today said they are acceptable..I guess someone was playing with their heads, she said there are a lot of head games.

Permalink Reply by LTB on February 4, 2017 at 5:42am

I'm afraid I'm not all that familiar with all the acronyms tossed around so freely. Just started using OCS and OTC and am at a loss for what SWO is so please educate me. 

It makes sense that if our kids lost over 30% of their class that there would be roll ups from previous classes joining 08-17. Our son failed the RLP for threading something improperly. It's my understanding his classmates helped him re-thread what ever it was that he botched resulting in loose threads and he passed the next morning or he would have ended up in the H company ultimately rolling up into the 09-17 class. The minute I read what RLP was all about which is linked above in week four, I knew that if he was going to roll that's where it would happen. I posted that back on the first page of this thread. He's a very clean kid... never a dirty dish in his sink, clean refrigerator with no product drips in it, clean bathroom including the underside of the toilet seat, clean clothes, no tracked snow on the floor into his apartment at school, etc. but... definitely not neat and orderly and was never one to bother with things like... oh... putting freshly laundered clothing away or... dealing with loose threads. 

Speaking of loose threads and CANDIO boxes being "discouraged".... head games happen. They're an integral part of the programming. 

Hard to believe that as of tomorrow, they begin their 5th week. My how time flies. 

Permalink Reply by Greg Ilkka on February 4, 2017 at 8:12am

SWO = Surface Warfare Officer

LTB said:

I'm afraid I'm not all that familiar with all the acronyms tossed around so freely. Just started using OCS and OTC and am at a loss for what SWO is so please educate me. 

It makes sense that if our kids lost over 30% of their class that there would be roll ups from previous classes joining 08-17. Our son failed the RLP for threading something improperly. It's my understanding his classmates helped him re-thread what ever it was that he botched resulting in loose threads and he passed the next morning or he would have ended up in the H company ultimately rolling up into the 09-17 class. The minute I read what RLP was all about which is linked above in week four, I knew that if he was going to roll that's where it would happen. I posted that back on the first page of this thread. He's a very clean kid... never a dirty dish in his sink, clean refrigerator with no product drips in it, clean bathroom including the underside of the toilet seat, clean clothes, no tracked snow on the floor into his apartment at school, etc. but... definitely not neat and orderly and was never one to bother with things like... oh... putting freshly laundered clothing away or... dealing with loose threads. 

Speaking of loose threads and CANDIO boxes being "discouraged".... head games happen. They're an integral part of the programming. 

Hard to believe that as of tomorrow, they begin their 5th week. My how time flies. 

Permalink Reply by LTB on February 4, 2017 at 11:57am

Greg Ilkka> "SWO = Surface Warfare Officer", Thank you. 

Do you have a son or daughter in 08-17 right now? 

Nell Glass> In answer to your question, I don't think our son is anything right now other than lower than the belly of an earthworm. I did look up what he's going to be since every one has been referring to him as a butter bar wannabe. He's going to be an ensign = ENS. 

Permalink Reply by Greg Ilkka on February 4, 2017 at 2:37pm

LTB - My son is in 09-17, but I really appreciate the information from classes ahead of him! I went thru OCS in 1986 when there was a separate AOCS in Pensacola for the aviators. The combined program of today seems much more like the AOCS program.

As for being lower than the belly of an earthworm, when I was an Ensign, I seem to remember being told an Ensign "was the only thing lower than whale sh!t."

Permalink Reply by Nell Glass on February 4, 2017 at 6:32pm

LTB said:

Greg Ilkka> "SWO = Surface Warfare Officer", Thank you. 

Do you have a son or daughter in 08-17 right now? 

Nell Glass> In answer to your question, I don't think our son is anything right now other than lower than the belly of an earthworm. I did look up what he's going to be since every one has been referring to him as a butter bar wannabe. He's going to be an ensign = ENS.

My Daughter is in 08-17 she applied for SWO. Not sure about the earthworm stuff.  

 

Permalink Reply by LTB on February 5, 2017 at 7:09am

Was talking to a girlfriend whose husband was career Army before he retired. She said she regularly sent the equivalent of CANDIO boxes to her husband when he was overseas. She included photos of her and the kids, their pets, personal hygiene products, socks, jerky, trail mixes, Twinkies, store bought cookies, magazines such as Consumers Reports and Scientific American, and anything he asked for specifically. She said even the people actively serving look forward to their boxes. 

Greg Ilkka> Parents of kids in 12-16... 08-17...09-17...11-18... makes no difference. Even those with prior military experience are all in the same boat together because... things change. Very little useful information out there for us other than here at NavyDads. 

Your son is very lucky to have an immediate family member who served as a Naval Officer. Our son does have a grandfather and a great grandfather who served in the Navy as officers however they had both passed away by the time he was born. For some reason I thought that when our son went to boot camp (what I called it before I realized it was called OCS) that his whole class was going to be a separate class of all nukes similar to the separate class of aviators you mentioned and the separate classes of chaplains, lawyers, and doctors that I know existed. Might have been something his recruiter said 3+ years ago. Found out it wasn't as we communicated with our son on his way to Newport. He met up with one classmate after the next also on their way who were also stranded in airports from the blizzard out east and they had plenty of time to get to know one another. The kids getting stranded at airport after airport with him were all going into something different. I think I like them all tossed in together as opposed to being split out into the AOCS you mentioned and any other splits that used to exist. Spices things up and gives them more resources from which to pool as a class when each kid will ultimately be entering a different field. Vive la différence!

Nell Glass> The butter bar wannabe "stuff" came from an uncle, a brother, and sister-in-law who were all former Marine Corps attorneys. The earthworm "stuff" was just my spin on their butter bar comments, I grew up in the UP. We view the world differently than say.... a parent from CA or DC. Truth is, our son is nothing right now other than a work in progress.... a little blob of clay that is being molded and even after he completes OCS he's staring down some really intense schooling not required of his classmates. Most, like your daughter, apparently get the opportunity to jump right in and start their ascent up the ladder of success. He's okay with being lowest man on the totem pole for a very long time.      

Permalink Reply by LTB on February 5, 2017 at 12:10pm

Our son called home and I have an update. The top four people in our kids' class have e-mail privileges. The president, the vice president and two others that he rattled off too fast for me to catch.

Billets were doled out and one was assigned to him. We both laughed out loud at the same time when he told me which one he had. There is a 'Hi Mom' Committee that our son is on. I believe that's what the luncheon or dinner on Thursday March 30th is called. It may be a Meet and Greet or the Meet and Greet may be a separate activity the same day. Didn't think to ask if they were two separate events but will try to remember to do so in the future. It's hard asking everything in the allotted 15 minutes.

Found out there is another Nuke in this class and some seals that he has gotten to know better. Was really happy to hear that because who knows.... maybe our son and the other kid will be going on to Charleston together. I got the impression there wasn't a bad egg in the lot from speaking with him. 

Finally had the opportunity to ask about the sand pit. He said, "Ah, the sand pit. That's where they roll you around when you screw up" then laughed about it saying it wasn't that big of a deal. And the ropes course.... he liked it. According to him, the worst of OCS was being roused out of bed from a deep sleep in the middle of the night. Lots of confusion and in-one's-face screaming going on during those wake ups which...he says are over now. Laughed again while commenting that they'd done a really good job of making the place miserable for everyone the first few weeks when according to one of his friends, OCS was like a glorified prison.

Had to ask about the food. It's cafeteria style food but there are still many healthy options.

Apparently the 08-17 class is still on track for honors and they'll know more based on how they do week six. They're all looking forward to a drilling competition that lies ahead.

The odds of rolling from here on out may have decreased exponentially according to our son. Doubt any of them are on easy street but the worst may be behind them. Overall, he was his normal upbeat self still taking everything day by day and in stride. 

Nell Glass> My son knows your daughter!!! I assumed she had the same last name as you and asked if he knew anyone with it. He said he sure did and that she's pretty darn cool and really enjoys her. He also said she was section leader today. Have no idea what section leader entails but sounds impressive to me. Way to go!!!

Permalink Reply by Nell Glass on February 5, 2017 at 3:42pm

I got a call today, (the phones are so bad), my daughter could not hear us...we spent the first 8 minutes trying to call back...very frustrating.  She was very serious today and said she was section leader and that it was not an easy job keeping track of everyone and making sure folks were signing in, etc...I

LTB, I don't know your last name, I have told my daughter that I am able to communicate with another Mom, but that is all.  

LTB said:

Our son called home and I have an update. The top four people in our kids' class have e-mail privileges. The president, the vice president and two others that he rattled off too fast for me to catch.

Billets were doled out and one was assigned to him. We both laughed out loud at the same time when he told me which one he had. There is a 'Hi Mom' Committee that our son is on. I believe that's what the luncheon or dinner on Thursday March 30th is called. It may be a Meet and Greet or the Meet and Greet may be a separate activity the same day. Didn't think to ask if they were two separate events but will try to remember to do so in the future. It's hard asking everything in the allotted 15 minutes.

Found out there is another Nuke in this class and some seals that he has gotten to know better. Was really happy to hear that because who knows.... maybe our son and the other kid will be going on to Charleston together. I got the impression there wasn't a bad egg in the lot from speaking with him. 

Finally had the opportunity to ask about the sand pit. He said, "Ah, the sand pit. That's where they roll you around when you screw up" then laughed about it saying it wasn't that big of a deal. And the ropes course.... he liked it. According to him, the worst of OCS was being roused out of bed from a deep sleep in the middle of the night. Lots of confusion and in-one's-face screaming going on during those wake ups which...he says are over now. Laughed again while commenting that they'd done a really good job of making the place miserable for everyone the first few weeks when according to one of his friends, OCS was like a glorified prison.

Had to ask about the food. It's cafeteria style food but there are still many healthy options.

Apparently the 08-17 class is still on track for honors and they'll know more based on how they do week six. They're all looking forward to a drilling competition that lies ahead.

The odds of rolling from here on out may have decreased exponentially according to our son. Doubt any of them are on easy street but the worst may be behind them. Overall, he was his normal upbeat self still taking everything day by day and in stride. 

Nell Glass> My son knows your daughter!!! I assumed she had the same last name as you and asked if he knew anyone with it. He said he sure did and that she's pretty darn cool and really enjoys her. He also said she was section leader today. Have no idea what section leader entails but sounds impressive to me. Way to go!!!

Permalink Reply by LTB on February 6, 2017 at 6:03am

Something of possible interest to others- sounded to me as if there are a lot more photos of this class that didn't make it to the Navy's Facebook page. They'll be available to our sons and daughters and ultimately to us once they earn the privilege of using their laptops. 

Hey Nell Glass!!! Your daughter is doing fantastic!!! Section leader probably isn't the easiest job but... it's excellent experience for the future and she pulled it off regardless of how she feels she did. They're there to acquire skills. They're going to make mistakes or they aren't going to learn anything. Aside from that, she was probably just being unnecessarily hard on herself when she spoke to you hence her serious tone. 

Our son has my husband's last name, I don't. Kept mine after we were married because of professional licenses. Actually tried to PM our names to you but a pop up said we needed to be friends before I could PM you. I'm not seeing a clear cut means by which to initiate a friend request to you on my end but will try again. Might be an issue with my browser. Did figure out how to accept a friend request when one came in to me so if you can figure out how to send me one from your end... we'll be "friends" and I'll be able to PM you our names. 

Pssst.... not only are the land line connections awful, the phones they're calling out from don't always work. We lost several minutes that couldn't be recovered because the phone my son was calling from wouldn't dial out initially. Things happen.... and will continue to happen that are out of our kids' control. We'll just have to keep flowing with the garbled phone calls and frequent disconnects until they earn the privilege of using their mobile phones. Won't be long now. 

Beneath this most recent post of mine, you should see the words Reply and Message. Beneath those two options, you will see another option to 'Reply to Discussion'. If you don't click on any of those options above the box in favor of just typing in the little white box then clicking 'Add Reply' underneath and to the right, your posts will be easier for others to follow because they won't end up with someone else's content in them. If you make a mistake and add in whole posts from others because you're on a smart phone, just go in and edit your post right away and delete everything that's someone else's. 

Permalink Reply by LTB on February 9, 2017 at 11:57am

Update- Might be time for parents to start checking their e-mail accounts regularly. Just received an e-mail from our son with this in the subject line, "Your son has email access! Sort of..."

Content of e-mail was short and to the point. He said-

"I have email access, I can't really see any attachments or load any
links, I also won't typically be on here except for maybe Sunday
nights.

Today is weird because we're all locked inside in anticipation
of this huge storm that is supposed to hit us, it has yet to hit us." 

He stated he would be calling us again this Sunday. Sounds to me as if more, quite possibly all, in this class may have earned e-mail access privileges. 

Permalink Reply by Greg Ilkka on February 9, 2017 at 1:06pm

LTB - Yes, blizzard conditions were forecast, but, I took a look at some Newport, RI webcams this morning and it was still rain.  Class 09-17 had their Fast Cruise moved up to this morning due to the forecast, so I am hoping I don't get a phone call today!

Your son's class is in their 5th week, is that correct? I keep seeing different weeks when classes get access to e-mail.  Probably dependent on their Team.

I see you grew up in the UP! So did my father, and I feel I'm an honorary Yooper - my brother and I own a "camp" near Gwinn.  It's my sanctuary!

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