Robert, Welcome Aboard! I found navyformoms in searching for answers to my son's future. I just knew their had to be a site for dads like n4m's but I was wrong. So I started this site so us dads would also have a place to call home. I'm new at this and I hope this site will benefit fathers that come behind us. So jump right in share concerns, join groups, share info, and show off your sailor. I'm so glad to find out their are so many proud navy dads just like myself. I hope this site benefits you and your family throughout your sons journey in the Navy. Thank your son for his service for me and thanks again for joining. Sincerely, EG

Welcome to NavyDads Robert! I'm sure you'll find the site as fun and useful as I have. Explore and make some friends, add your comments to a discussion or two, read the postings in the various groups-- even start one or two. I have! If you have any questions or concerns about your sailor and what he is going through...ask! I'm sure someone here will have the answer or can point you in the right direction to find out. I'm lucky enough to have two sailors- my son Eric is almost half-way through a seven-month cruise on the carrier Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and my daughter Kat just returned from her seven-month cruise on the carrier Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). And Robert this is a great place to brag about your sailor as well! So join in and let us know how your sailor is doing!

As a parent of a sailor currently or soon to be at Great Lakes you'll have many questions about what your son or daughter is going through. Thanks to one of our members we have two excellent videos that you access can from the NavyDads.com main page: New Bootcamp 1 of 2 and New Bootcamp 2 of 2. These videos will answer many of your questions and concerns and will give you a better understanding of how the United States Navy transforms our children into sailors!

Be sure to spend some time in the Bootcamp group- there are many questions and answers available to help you understand what your sailor is going through. And as PIR draws closer, be sure to spend some time going through the PIR-Tips, Hints and Helps group- we’ve tried to assemble some tips and suggestions to make your sailors PIR more enjoyable. Best Regards- Paul

Robert you're welcome. I know about the looking in the window. I did that when I found navyformoms when my son was in boot camp. I would just watch the post until the day came where I knew a lot of the answers to the moms questions in my sons divisions group. I had to join and share the info I knew. In turn it has greatly helped me out in understanding where and what my son would be doing in the Navy. So I started one for the dads. A lot of us dads are very involved in our childrens lives also. Robert will be fine in the Navy. It is not a bad start in life for our kids. Please don't just look in the window. Share info that you have and others don't. The boot camp group is the place to be while he's going through it. I have found that everyone's child gives different info on letters home. When you share that info together it is a big help. My son is 7 months in and it is still a whirlwind around my house. It is a big adjustment but this site can help. Always remember their is no such thing as a stupid question on this site. Looking forward to hearing about Roberts progress.
Keep in touch, EG

Hey Robert, that is great that our sons are in the same Division. My wife has found 3 other moms who have sons in Divisin 080, besides our 2. They actually have a PIR group for 1/30/08. We live about 3 hours from Great Lakes, just across Lake Michigan from there. That may be the reason that we just received our first letter. The letter was very, very short. Eric mentioned that they had just finished their Class III swim Quals and that things are going well. He said that it seems to be a very good division and the guys are starting to gel as time progresses. He said that they've had enough marching in the snow and cold. He did mention that their time is rather limited and that he'd write again as soon he had time. We received it on Wednesday so we assume that he wrote it on Sunday and mailed it out on Monday. You should be getting yours very soon. My wife has been stalking the mailman almost everyday, looking for mail from Eric. I told her to relax and that the mail from bootcamp may be far and few between. We will keep our fingers crossed for you. Right now we are getting drilled by a real nice snowstorm so I'm sure that the boys are enjoying themselves over there:)

Not a problem, I'm glad that I could share. If you hear anything, please let us know. Yes, I'm sure that your son will have a lot to share about our wonderful weather. It's nigh approaching the first day of winter and I'm already getting sick of the white crap:) This storm that we'd had last night left nearly a foot of snow on the ground, but it has warmed up to 27 degrees...woohoo! I meant to ask if you were a Tech fan or a Bulldog fan. One of Eric's classmates, who plays for Michigan State will be playing against the Bulldogs in the bowl game. I have coached football for 20 years, a few of those at the collegiate level, this will be Eric's first year without being able to watch all of the bowl games. That may be rougher on him than being away for Christmas:)

Thank you very much for being willing to share info when your son gets a letter to you. Any news of any kind is greatly appreciated. Can you believe it, we've got another huge snowstorm coming! They seem to lining up and just blasting through on us. I'm sure that boys are starting to hate the weather:) A good friend of mine is the TE coach at UGA. Dave's been there for quite a while now and the last time that I talked to him, he said that he absolutely loves it there. Yeah, Eric is a true football fan, more into college than NFL, but any football is better than none. Yes, I still do coach and look to probably die on the sidelines. The school that I coach at and that Eric played for has quite a rich tradition in athletics. We've got quite a few players who are playing at the next levels and we seem to reload each year. With Eric going to bootcamp, I've never feared his ability to excel in the physical nor mental part of Navy, however his study habits scare me a bit. He's never been one to excel in the classroom. Maybe the Navy will spark that in him, at least I pray that it does:)

Hey, we just wanted to share that today we'd received Eric's graduation packet. There was no letter or notes from him, just PIR information, a parking pass, and a flyer about MWR(Morale, Welfare and Recreation). As I'd mentioned, we are only about 3 hours away from Great Lakes so I'm sure that the mail gets here rather quickly. You too should be receiving yours soon.

You are correct, you'll probably get your graduation packet on Monday or Tuesday. As I'd mentioned, there was no letter or anything personal about it, it was just a form letter. I'm hoping that today was a more kick backed day for them and that they had a bit of time to write. I remember when I was in Bootcamp, as the weeks passed, we had more time to write home. The first 3-4 weeks were a complete blur. I agree with you too in the fact that sometimes no news is good news. I certainly hope that the boys are staying warm, a few minutes ago, I checked the temp outside and it was 3 above zero and the wind is blowing steady out of the NW at around 30-40mph. Dadgummed cold!!! I wrote Eric a letter today to let him know that there are only 39 days left until PIR, I hope that he gets it before Christmas. I'm hoping that he gets some time to call on Christmas day, he'll have to call us at our cottage, we are heading up there after his mom gets off of work on the 23rd. It's a 6 hour drive up there and it's going to be chilly. Our cell phones don't work up there because it's out in the boonies and the cell coverage is horrible. I'm going to run, have a great evening and we'll keep our fingers crossed for you that you get a letter or two tomorrow.

Bob

Hey, that's great for you guys!!! I'm so glad that you were able to hear from him. I'm also glad to know that the food is good and that the division is good. My parents just received a letter from Eric, so they are happy too. I really feel for those kids...right now the temp is 4 above zero with a wind chill of -7. We're supposed to get an other 8 inches of snow between today and tomorrow. That makes for great driving after my wife gets off from work today. It's a 6 hour drive up to our cabin and it's rather isolated. No cell coverage nor internet. We can see Canada across the river from where our cabin is. Very nice, but very rustic. Wow, I'd forgotten that the Falcons had started out that poorly, that's a great turn-around! I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan so up there everyone roots for the Packers, we tease these Lower Peninsula people about the pitiful Lions. It's been a great year for that;) If you get any more info from Rob, please let us know, we'll do the same for you.

Bob

Robert,
Just wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wish that all is well with you and your family. We did get a call from Eric yesterday and were able to converse for nearly a half hour. He said that the food is pretty good and they haven't been doing much but standing around a lot and being bored. I can't remember ever being bored in bootcamp. Other than that, he said that it's been fun. He said that it's kind of like "deer camp"...LOL!!! He said that he's going to try to call again today if he is able too. Please take care and again, Merry Christmas.
Bob

Wow, you have had a busy week. We're really glad for you. We're still up at our cottage and enjoying all of this nasty white stuff! Our daughter is out skiing with Gma, Uncle and all of the cousins. I'm staying here because the Motor City Bowl is on at 7:30pm:) Eric sounded the same way...like a young man instead of the runny nosed boy that we'd sent. His mom sensed it in his voice. Eric did mention that they had done some weapons training and were going to be going into a new phase this coming week. I told him that the hard part is over and he said that it really hasn't been too bad, kind of like two-a-days in football, only the RDC's tend to be nicer than we coaches:) We haven't been able to check our mail since we left home on Monday, so we'll be glad to check it when we head back this coming Monday. We hope that we get some mail. Cathie has been on Navymoms.com and there are some moms over there going nuts because they have yet to hear from their kids who are graduating on 1/30/09. Has your wife gotten on that website yet?

Bob

Yeah, we're hoping that we have one waiting. We're heading back south tomorrow. We have a friend whom we've talked to in our hometown and she said that it's almost 55 degrees there today...wow, what a change! I'm not sure about the grad and go for Division 080. I do know that Eric is supposed to be going to "A" School at Great Lakes so he doesn't have far to go:) I'd have to look to see what his grad packet says.

Where is your son supposed to be attending "A" school? I can't believe that the whole division is grad and go. My wife has been on N4M for a few weeks and some of those poor ladies are going crazy. Again, Eric is supposed to stay right there at GL after graduation, so we're planning on spending the whole weekend over there.

That is my hope, we are staying at the Residence Inn right up the road from GL. We plan on baking a small turkey and maybe a small ham and have our Christmas dinner and stuff with him there. I certainly hope that they give him liberty after he checks in. We'll see when that happens:)

We just arrived home from up north. What a stinker is was...we left at 8:00am this morning and just drove into the yard. There were blizzard-like conditions for the first 4 hours of the drive. Snow and 50mph winds. We were driving about 25mph during that time:) I did check Eric's grad packet and that division is Grad n Go. Again, I hope that after he checks in on Friday, that they give him liberty. I too agree with you that you'd be better off visiting him at Pensecola(one of the most beautiful bases in the Navy) because he'll have more time and things won't be so hectic. I hope that we have the opportunity to meet you folks while your there.

Yeah, we still have 2000 w/o power in our county. We are used to that kind of stuff though and just roll with the punches. What is one supposed to do except move on?:) Yes, we did read that in his grad packet and I'm ticked that I hadn't picked that up earlier. Apparently there are 5-6 other guys in the Division that are staying at Great Lakes along with Eric. We went out this morning and picked up a small artificial tree and some lights so that we can celebrate Christmas with him on that weekend. We hope that he is allowed to check-in and then go on liberty for the rest of the weekend. If I were in your shoes, I'd do as you'd suggested and visit him in Pensecola. I was stationed there and having been to many Navy bases, I can honestly say that NAS Pensecola was one of the nicest bases that I've ever been to.

Robert...Happy New Year to you and your family. GO SPARTANS beat those dawgs!!! :)

LOL...I'm hoping the underdogs take on the Dawgs and pull off the upset. Eric's classmate is #96 Kevin Pickleman for Michigan State. He's a defensive tackle. Eric used to play next to him when they'd played football together. We layed low for New Years and hung out with some friends. Didn't do much drinking or mess with the crazies at all. We have a friend who recently picked up a DUI after a Christmas party. I'd really hate to be in hi shoes right now:( Please have a great day and again GO SPARTANS:)

Ouch!!! The dawgs put a whopin on the Spartans today. Eric will be disappointed(much like dad), but they did out-play them. That little running back(Mareno) is pretty good, so is the GA QB. I thought that both teams played a bit sloppy though. Congrats down in the Peach State!

Yeah, we kind of do the same thing here. We watch all of the bowl games from start to end. This year has been kind of boring though. Sorry to see that the Tide didn't roll last night. I still believe that they need to have a playoff system for Division I football. I don't know if Utah would beat Florida or Oklahoma, but I'd sure like to see it be done on a field instead of computer rankings and opinions. Have you recently heard from your son Robert? We've not heard hide nor hair from Eric when he'd called on Christmas Eve. Mom's not liking that but I'd told her that the boys are probably working their tails off.

Oh, we're so glad that you were able to get a letter from him. Sounds as though things are going well for the division(except for the letter writers from the "brother" company. That's interesting, when I was at bootcamp, we called them our "sister" company. Must not have been politically correct. I've been trying to figure out what phase of training that they are in. My assumption is that they are at the end of week 4 or 5. There are a couple of places where you can look and see what those weeks look like and what their training will be consisting of. It was probably nice to hear your son's voice too, even though it was pure business. They should be getting a bit more free time and the RDC's should possibly be backing off of them a bit now. They are more than half-way home now. My hope is that they are all finding their life-changing experience a positive one and I'm looking forward to seeing the transformation from my boy to him being a man.

Robert,
Thank you so much for letting us know what is going on! You are so correct in thinking about it the same way that I was. I thought that maybe the holidays would throw off their training schedule. It looks as though they are combining weeks 3-5 in their training cycles. I'd read on N4M that Division 080 will be doing their PT tests, have 2 big inspections, fire live weapoons, and the Marlin Spike this week. Then on the 15th they have their pictures done and on the 23rd they have Battle Stations and officiall become "Sailors". On the 28th they are supposed to be getting their plane tickets and orders for "A" schools. This is what one of the kids from Div 080 wrote to his mother. It's nice to know that some of the kids know what is going on(I'm sure not hearing it from Eric;)
I agree with you that I'd be at his PIR even if it meant that we were only with him for a few minutes. That is really neat that your son's Grandfather is going to be there and he is a Navy WWII veteran. I'm sure that he'll very much appreciate it.

Hey, we received another letter today from Eric. It was dated on 1/2/09. He said they are starting to get into the good stuff(live weapons fire and the Marlin Spike) now and that the division is starting to really come together. He said that there are still a couple of knuckle heads who keep talking and getting the entire division in trouble, but they are getting better. He even said that the RDC called them "Sailors" the other day instead of "recruits", which made the entire division feel pretty good, then someone started screwing around the next day and they all had to do some IT(intensive training). Hopefully they'll all learn soon:) He said too that on Monday, they were supposed to be talking to the Navy Federal Credit Union reps to help set up their banking and pictures on Friday.

Hey check this one out:
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_7/bootcamp.htm

Just got a call from Eric...Everyone passed Battle Stations from Division 080!!!

Great Idea thanks for the tip. I have been typing my letters so they take up less space.
At what point did you start reciving letters?

My son is at Pensacola (Corry Station), and also a CTN. If I remember correctly it was less less then a month before he was allowed "very" limited off base priviliges.........basically to and from the WalMart down the road from the gate was as far as he went. I am planning on going down in about 2 weeks to pick him after after C School graduation.