Hello, I'm Jim, my son is attending BESS in Groton, Ct. If anyone has any questions about BESS, please post a question and someone will find an anwser for you. Thanks and welcome aboard!
Started by Jeff Ciaccio. Last reply by Jeff Ciaccio Aug 26, 2017. 3 Replies 0 Likes
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But we're not nearly as snarky !
Yeah, there tends to be a more activity on the Facebook group and on navyformoms. For the Facebook group, search "SUB SCHOOL-B.E.S.S.& A SCHOOL GROTON CT US NAVY".
Has your son been through BESS yet? What rate is he going for?
My son just arrived to A school in CT. I see there hasn't been much activity on here, any new family's with a Sailor in sub school ? Any information anyone can provide would be great too :-)
I lived in CT for a few years and have a sister a few towns over from New London. The best thing about February in Connecticut is that it never lasts longer than 29 days. Spring will be far behind Houston. March is still winter, and last frost is late April. May and June are glorious, but can still be cool by southern standards. I visited from NC in early June once and just about froze because I forgot to check the forecast and didn't pack the right clothing.
Sorry, missed your other question. No, he will not be able to stop his training. He will only have the weekends, and evenings.
Alex, we went in early June and the weather was perfect. We flew into Boston as that was the least expensive airfare from the West Coast. We stayed at Navy Lodge, can't beat the price and it is very close to base. You have to give your Sailor's name and rate when making the reservation and he has to be with you for check-in only. As for leave / liberty: they are in class Monday through Friday so he will need to be on base during the day on those days at the very least, there are three levels of liberty (white, yellow, and blue) with blue being the least restrictive. If he is at white for some reason, he may not be able to stay overnight even on the weekend, otherwise he will be able to stay off base with you as long as he does not have a duty day (have to be on base all day for that). So it will entirely depend on what his liberty status is and his duty schedule - both of which you can't really know very far in advance. When you get to the base, there is a little parking lot to the right side of the main gate that you can wait in and your Sailor will be able to walk out and meet you there. Once he is with you, he can escort you on base and you can drive around most areas and go to the NEX, Commissary, bowling alley, etc. You can not go inside the barracks or any of the classroom bldgs. There is a recreation area at Rock Lake where you can picnic or bbq, nice place to go if the weather is nice.
When you get your travel plans firmed up, send me a message and I can answer any other questions for you. Or really anyone who is planning a visit.
Another question.... Bryan.. when you went was you sailor allowed to stay off base with you or you had to get him back to base every night? Also did it interfere with his training? Meaning was he allowed time to stop his training??
Hello Gentlemen,
Thanks for the info. I apologize for the late reply....but appriciate it very much. He is in SECF.. that much I found out when I spoke to him yesterday. I do like your thoughts Bryan about idea times to plan a vist and from my talks with him it does sound like he is going to be in Ct for a while. What i am trying to figure out now when would be a good time to go. I was thinking for my wifes birthday which is Feb 10th but im sure it will still be somewhat cold up there at that time so now im thinking spring break which is mid March for us here in Houston. I again appriciate all the info you both have written here.
Alex: Bryan gave some good information on the graduations. As far as travel, Providence, RI and Hartford, CT are the larger airports in that area. Where are you located?
Alex, my own two cents...
Your son will graduate BESS fairly soon as the class is not that long, after which he will go through ATT and TCNO schools prior to starting his actual A school. From your description it sounds as if your son is in SECF which has four different rates involved: Sonar, ET Navigation, ET Comm (Radio), and Fire Control (weapons system command and control, not actual flames and smoke). He will be assigned to one of the four during BESS. Sonar, Nav, and Fire Control all go through the same basic A school together, while Radio does its own thing and takes a bit longer. After A school graduation, your Sailor will be deployed to the fleet and will usually have a transfer leave for a week or three before reporting to his command. Having said all that, if you attend BESS there will be a long time that he is in Groton before he leaves for the fleet, if you attend A school grad he will likely be home with you right after that for some quality leave. We opted to just go visit our son during the middle of A school when the weather was great (winter can be cold and windy in CT). Had an awesome visit, traveled to Boston and New York City, toured the submarine force museum, went to Mystic Sea Port, etc. There were several parents at both grads so we were able to get copies of photos taken during the ceremony. The actual events are much smaller and quicker than PIR so we didn't feel that we were missing out. The time spent when we did visit was phenomenal and it was a nice interval between PIR, the holidays, and his transfer leave. Anyway, just something to consider as you are looking into this. One other thing, there is a possibility that your son will be in ACU (awaiting class up) in between each of the schools so his time in Groton could be longer than just the length of each school. Congrats to your son on completing boot, and thanks for his service!
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