Hi, Grandpa273!
My son left for BC on June 25th. He's in Ship 04 DIV 840. His PIR is August 21st. Then he'll go into Pre-BUDS.
We are so very proud of him! If you ask him why he joined the Navy, he'll respond...I want to serve my country.
I actually got a surprise phone call from him this evening! He said that they have been in processing and that they actually move into their Ship tomorrow. So, tomorrow is his first official day of BC. But, they have done a PST this week already.
(He had great scores!)
Thanks for responding! I have learned so much from Navydads and NavyforMoms. And I've already met a few mom's of other DIV 840 members.

Mom of CJJ,

Welcome aboard!!! Our Son Graduates on the 21st as well. Also on his way to Pre BUDS, Tell him good luck from one old vet to a brand new one!

Wish I had gotten a phone call:(

Just like Mom of cjj my son left for BC 6/25 & is in ship 04 & Div 840 PIR Aug 21. I'm a very proud dad just like every one on here. Jim

Jim, Welcome to SEAL Dads. Keep us informed of how you Son is progressing. There will be times of joy and worry. We are all here to help each other get through this journey. If you have any question let us know, we have members in different stages of this training.

Tell you Son my Family and I are Proud of him for his decision to follow this road and wish him the best of Luck.

Grandpa273, Thanks for the reply & support. As you can see in my profile I'm 65 also & my only son came along late in life. I am so thrilled that he is fulfilling his dream. This web site has been a GOD Send & I am greatful for the support & info shared on here.

My son leave for boot on 8-13. I am interested to hear of the others experiences. We have heard from our recruit that basic is now 12 weeks. is this just for seal recruits?

bontragerrider,

Must have included "prebuds" in that time estimate as well. Both Boot Camp and "PreBUDs" are both at Great Lakes. My son shipped out on the 25th of June and Grads from Boot Camp on the 21st of Aug.
Hope this helps

Our son Matt also left for boot on the 25th of June. John, he also grads on the 21st and heads to "prebuds". Are you sure they do 'prebuds" there at Great Lakes? Matt seemed to be under the impression that it was done in Calif. Matt is in Ship 04 Div 841.

Pre-BUDs will be in Great Lakes. After PIR they move across the street to the Pre BUDs area. After testing out of Pre-BUDs the will ship to Coronado. Those that do not pass the test and need more time will be held back till the next Class or Dropped for Performance. If you would like to know more about Pre-BUDs and their chance of making it to Coronado please send me a email or private message.

Hi, everybody! I'm new to this site. Some of you have already spoke with my wife in this group.
My son is in Ship 04 Div 840. I'm so very proud of him for his decision to serve in the Navy. We've always been very close and since he's left I feel an emptiness without him here, even though I'm totally supportive of his decision. My wife has told me she has found a lot of encouragement and learned a lot by visiting this site and NavyForMoms. I've read a lot of your comments and I would have to agree with her.
Grandpa273, I see your Grandson has already made it to the 2nd phase of BUDS and I think it's great that you're here to help us new Navy Dad's through the process. Thank you.
I think it's pretty neat that we can communicate here while our sons are achieving the same goal.

cjjdad, my GS has finished BUDs and is in SQT . He will hopefully graduate in Oct. and receive his Trident. Nothing is for sure in this training. If I remember correctly there were 270+ in his Pre-BUDS Class, 170+ shipped to Coronado and of the original Class there are only 9 members left. Some have rolled back due to performance or injury, DORed or dropped by the Instuctors. No sure how many have rolled into his Class or how many are in SQT. It is a long road to get to this point. GS started Boot Camp in Feb. 2008 and it has been non-stop training since. Only about a little over 3 month to go.

To you and all the members of this Group I just want you to know my Family and I have all of these Young Men in our Thought. We think of the Teams, BUDs, SQT and Boot Camp Recruits all the time. It is a pleasure to know all of you and if there is anything I can do to help please let me know. I have gone to the airport to visit guys with lay over at DFW and texted and called other just to let them know we are thinking of them. We are all a BIG FAMILY and Family sticks together just like our Loved Ones do during training and when there get to a Team.

Grandpa273, you must be so proud of your Grandson and thanks for all your input! I am proud as well that any of these kids would dedicate their lives to our nation!
My son is in his second week of Pre-BUDS and seems to be doing well he passed the PST the first day. I am sure they get tested on a regular basis. He seems ready to go to Coronado, but I told him use this time to get ready, it wont get any easier.
Can you tell us when there may be breaks during BUDS after Hell Week when we can go visit him in Coronado?
Also any other suggestions or information would be well received.

We went to Coronado when Phase I finished Friday and Phase II was starting the next Monday. We arrived late Sat. morning and when we call him he had had a good night sleep. We picked him up and went to N. Island to get a pass for the car and he checked us in at the Navy Lodge. Sat. night was good he felt good and he joined us for dinner with a Ret. SEAL CD. Sunday we visited till he had to go to the Base to pick up his new gear for Phase II, he had to clean and inspect his gear and put the Class number and his name on this helmet. The helmet took about a hour and a half. Monday we had dinner together and he was tired and you could tell it and when we got the his apartment the started studying. Tuesday he was beat and didn't make alot of sense at dinner, he had more studying so we left. Both Mon. and Tue he had to be on base a 0400. We left Wed. so we wouldn't interrupt his studying and sleep.

Hope this helps.

I am from San Diego Anyone who goes to visit, contact me and I can tell you where to get the best burgers, mexican food, etc...

bontragerrider, have you been to or tried Devine Pastabilities? That was a real highlight of our trip.

Their address is:
3545 Midway Dr.
San Diego, CA 92110
Ph. 619.523.5441

Cool-Thanks. We didn't spend a lot of time down in the midway district. I would recommend that you go to hodads in OB they have the greatest hamburgers. El Indio taco shop has been a san Diego landmark. Great pizza at the bronx pizza in hillcrest, also the corvette diner in hillcrest

Great irish food at the field in the gaslamp district. I know a lot more. tell me what part of towm you may be in and WE CAN HELP!

HooYah !

SEAL Completes His First Space Walk
Story Number: NNS090722-42
Release Date: 7/22/2009 11:01:00 PM


By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Dominique Lasco, Naval Special Warfare Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- A U.S. Navy SEAL performed his first walk in space during a maintenance mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) July 22.

Cmdr. Chris Cassidy and astronaut David Wolf replaced two of the six original batteries on the ISS and removed multilayer insulation from the Japanese "Kibo" laboratory module to prepare payloads for transfer to an exposed outside section. This walk was the first of three scheduled for Cassidy during this mission. Cassidy and other astronauts with Space Transport System (STS) 127 aboard the shuttle Endeavor blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Endeavor crew's tasks include swapping crew members for the ISS, replacing the cache of batteries which stores energy from the space station's solar arrays and installing an outside platform to one end of the laboratory. The platform will serve as a sort of porch for astronauts to conduct experiments outside the protective confines of the space station. The mission is currently scheduled to return to Earth July 31.

Cassidy follows former SEAL and now Astronaut Hall of Famer Capt. William Shepard's footsteps as the second Navy SEAL to launch into space. Shepard is a veteran of four space flights, including command of the Expedition 1 mission in 2000 aboard the ISS. As a SEAL, Shepard served with Underwater Demolition Team 11, Special Boat Team 20 and SEAL Teams 1 and 2.

A York, Maine, native, Cassidy graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics. Cassidy completed Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUDS) training in Coronado, Calif., and was the honor graduate for BUDS Class 192. Cassidy served as executive officer and operations officer of Special Boat Team 20 in Norfolk, Va., and platoon commander at SEAL Team 3 in Coronado. His awards include two Bronze Stars with combat "V" and a Presidential Unit Citation for missions with the Army's 10th Mountain Division on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

He applied for the astronaut program after receiving his master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000 and was accepted into the space program in 2004.

For more news from Naval Special Warfare, visit www.navy.mil/local/nsw/.

Ran across this on the 'net.....couldn't resist it.....................

Thought one good one deserved another!

Coasties wearing a Trident??? Try this link and learn how SPECwar Community continues to grow.

http://www.military.com/news/article/three-coastguardsmen-left-in-seal-quest.html

BTW John- in the tutorial area I've posted a 'how-to" on creating a hyperlink for external websites

My bad, I'll check it out thanks

Hey guy's please do not list what is being done, where it is do or when they do it. This info is not for the public. Also I know for a fact the instructors at BUDs read these posts and your Loved One will pay dearly. One simple remark by me hit home and I gave no specifics like those listed. If you do not read something in the newspaper, hear it on the radio or it's released to the public by the Navy, then keep it private. Send friends a personal/private messages or emails. These types of posts don't go over well in Coronado. Remember OPSEC and PERSEC at ALL TIMES. No joke.

I don't know about you but I want everything related to SEAL Training and OP's out of the hands of those who read the internet and don't have good intentions. Remember there are those that really want to know what our guy are doing (what, when and where) and do not want them to succeed in becoming a U.S. Navy SEAL.

Just had a good poster graphic emailed to me and thought I'd share it:

Hey Dads,
Anyone with some good ideas on what to do in Great Lakes??
Cheers!

My son ships tomorrow. He heads for GL on Thursday.

Well your adventure is just begining. Hang in there, the Boots go througha communcation black out for awhile.

Just got back from my tadpoles boot grad. Wow, 8 weeks and he's matured a couple years. Off to pre BUD/S. All you tough dads, be prepared to feel some emotions you may not have expected when you spend time with your grad. Money was tight for me to afford the trip, and I know it will be for others, but I encourage you to go. I know it meant a lot to my kid and it will to yours even if they don't quite express that prior to the big day. Bring information on world events cuz as John L said, they know nothing goin on in the world during boot and it was one of the first things my kid wanted to know. Congrats to all you SEAL Dads as you experience grad day.

Steve, Congrats to you Son on his Graduation from BC. I know you and your Family are Proud on Him. As time goes by you will be able to talk and text him more often which I found to be great. I did learn that they are up early and have alot to do in the evenings so they are up late. They will be studying and cleaning equipment. I started calling at first but I seem to call when he was doing something, so I started texting him so he could read and answer when he was free.

Be sure to let you Son know that my Family and I are really proud of him and we will keep him in our thought. It is a long journey. My GS started BC in Feb 2008 and SQT should be finished in Oct.

Please us posted on how he is doing, but keep in mind you have to be careful what you post regarding activities, location and current numbers in his Class.

we just got his mailing address. what can we send to boot

letters....nothing more.............

bontragerride, you can send letters, letters and more letters. Be sure there are no cute messages written on the outside of the envelope and you use white envelopes. The instructors (not all) with use colorful envelopes and messages on the outside of envelope to hassle your son and possible the whole Class. It could be a comment, extra PT or loss of privileges. Keep him up to date on the family, send jokes and if he is into sports info on the team he likes.

Hope that helps.

a quote from the RTC FAQs page: Because space is limited in the barracks, recruits may receive letters and small photographs only. Please do not send your recruit packages of civilian clothing, toiletries, food items, etc. as they will not be permitted to keep them.

Well Gents, just got back from Great Lakes, what an awesome ceremony!! Talked with several members of the SPECWAR Boot Camp Div. man are they ready to go on to the next phase. Like watching racers waiting for the starter's pistol.

we got the first note back on the form letter. Boy says that it took a couple of days to adjust, but he is getting the hang of it. Can't wait for graduation as I am a former resident of Chicago and looking forward to the time there

I'm back from GL & like John L said... AWESOME...
My son is So looking foward to the next stage and beyond. I can hardly wait for him to go to Coronado Ca. I'll be able to get down there in a few hours.

Any SWCC dad's out there.

For those dad's and mom's that don't know very much about NSW (Naval Special Warfare) here is a link that will give you a real education on the subject. It is quite long but well worth the read. You will learn a lot and have a real appreciation for our men of NSW.

http://www.socom.mil/Docs/ETHOS_Issue_3.pdf

Enjoy.

First real letter from the boy. He is really sweating his first inspection.

Welcome aboard, and don't worry about the grammar/spelling, if Computers hadn't come along...well my days working in offices would have been far outwieghed by my time in the field:)

Johnnazz, if you are wanting to delete his Initials on your Profile Information, scroll down to your Profile on your Page and clice the Edit Botton to make changes. The Initials are all I saw, some have left the first initial on their page, none of the guy probably know the first name of anyone in their Class. I was emailing a friend I meet on like and we talked about our Loved Ones and we call them by there first name. I got a email says their son said there was no one in there Class with the name of my GS. Soon we exchanged Last Names and when she ask she ask her Husband and he said Yes I know him, he is my Swim Buddy. Thought that was funny.

If you ever get to thinking that folks don't understand what our sons & daughters decisions are all about, Have them see this video. Military Videos: Tribute to US Navy/Marine Team (copy & paste) if nec..
http://www.strategypage.com/military_videos/military_photos_2007102... My Wife sent it to Nany4Moms. It will make you proud. Jim...

Does anyone know if the guys get liberty between GL Boot and SpecWarfare Academy? Do they allow them to come home for a week?

Thanks

After my son completed Boot Camp he had weekend liberty.Then he remained at GL for about 4 months for a "pre-BUD/S prep course" during which he had free weekends and most evenings.After the prep course he had about 5 days off, then went to SpecWar in Coronado/San Diego for about 6 months.He recently finished BUD/S and is now in SQT.He started Jump School this week!

Thanks for the info Jerry and congrats to your son for his achievement. I'm just learning the schedules and what to expect. My son has been waiting 10 months to get to BootCamp and he is now in his first week. We are incredibly proud and equally as anxious to see his progress.

And proud you should be!Congrats to your son--let him know we're all thinking of him.My oldest has been in the Navy for about a year.My younger son is now in DEP and will go to GL next Aug.He's NSW and aspires to be a SEAL,too.So our family's journey continues.I'd be happy to spell-out schedule info for you--but this should be done offline(for security reasons).Send me a Friends Invite and we can share private email if you'd like.

My Boy is in the last stretch of Pre Buds and man its been a ride already. He still very motivated, but the course has been a little longer than normal, due to USN Scheduling. So MVB Tell your boy to hang in there, it's a long road, but a great journey.

Thanks John. Trust me, as soon as I can communicate with him I will be telling him about all of the encouraging words from other SEAL dads. He waited over 10 months to get to his ship date. he didn't even know how to swim when he started this journey. Through just plain perseverence and desire to be a SEAL, he learned the combat stroke and passed every PST. I can't even begin to say how proud I am of his accomplishments. Good luck to your son too as he moves to BUD/S. It is really quite amazing that these young men can accomplish these physical challenges.

This it to all on the Group. It is good to hear about all the accomplishment your Sons have done. My family and I are keeping them in our thoughts and wish them the best. I am looking forward to the day I get the news that each of them get pinned with a Trident. All of you have done such a great job of raising the young Men. I know that they are still your sons and will always be but now they are Men and each of you should be Proud.