Dale E. Bort's Page

Nothing wrong with worrying, believe me. You don't have the corner on that. I'm prior Navy but was never associated with the Seabees so we learned a lot too. You never mentioned your son's rate but I know he's in good hands. Anything I can help out with just drop a line. My son has several months in the states now but will be deployed again this year (2012).

Dale, I can understand your concern. Our son (Seabee) just reurned from Afghan. To answer some of your concerns, packages took about a week ..and a half on average to get there. (From Indiana)USPS Priority mail, military rates.  No matter where he went he had plenty of food and a roof over his head. They are well protected and well trained to fight if need be. That being said there are good and bad days. As far as contacting other dads, your son will meet many friends, they usually have Facebook accounts which could lead to contacts with other dads. Internet service is usually available but sometimes intermittant. Sign up for Skype, a video image is worth a million words. My son will be "home" in a few days for leave. If you have any questions let me know and I will answer the best I can.

Understand your position of feeling helpless.....for Navy parents, I'd scour the Corpsman, SeaBee, and EOD areas...generally most sailors in these rates end up in Af'stan.  Our Care Package group has some info as well about shipping goodies overseas as well....and our long-time member Cora has lists of requested items.  Molly's Adopt a Sailor program ships TONS of stuff all the time as well.....see would be a great contact and you might get involved with "boxing" parties.  How to find this stuff:go to the main page and on the bottom left of the page is a Google text search box I put up awhile ago....

type in your search and you will get a Google list of references on the site.

Also for things like Molly's work, she does much mroe on FaceBook than here so you might want to look there as well:

We have some groups related to these rates and you can find them by going to the top menu bar, clicking Groups and you'll see a search box there:

We had 6 spammers "attack" over the past day or so...and though the admin team try to sit on the computer as much as possible to catch these folks and prevent messages and mail from going out, we all have full-time jobs and things we need to attend to. As a result once in a while one or two slip by for a few hours and send out messages....if it is a message you do not recognize, ignore it and delete it.

Welcome to NavyDads.com Dale! When my daughter enlisted in 2005 and left for RTC, I had virtually no knowledge of Navy life or how the Navy did things. By the time her PIR rolled around, I was starting to get the hang of things and understand some of the language and abbreviations, but still felt like a fish out of water when dealing with most topics concerning the US Navy. When my son enlisted and left for Great Lakes in 2007, I got serious about trying to learn as much as possible about the Navy. Now, several years into my journey, I’m blessed to say I have two sailors in the family - my son Eric (AM2) was on the carrier Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and just reported to Helicopter Squadron Light-37 (HSL-37) in Hawaii after re-enlisting earlier this year. My daughter Kat is now a Navy veteran and was stationed on the carrier Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) as a Mass Communications Specialist and is currently using her GI benefits to go to school. If NavyDads.com were around in those days, it would have made my journey as a Navy parent much easier!

I'm sure you'll find NavyDads.com as useful, educational and informative as I have over the past few years. I hope you take the time to explore the site and make some new friends. Read the discussions and add your comments. Browse through the postings in the various groups or start a new one. If you have any comments, questions or concerns about your sailor and what he is going through...be sure to post them! In my experience someone here can answer your questions or concerns or can point you in the direction to find out. And Dale this is a great place to brag as well! So join in, get active, and be sure to let us know how Patrick is doing! Please remember that we talk about the Navy here and we must keep the security and safety of our sailors and the fleet in mind. On the right or starboard side of every NavyDads page is an area we call About This Site. Please take a minute and read through the Operations Security (OPSEC) link for some guidelines as to what we should not talk about in a public forum like NavyDads.com.

Play the following video for a brief introduction to NavyDads.com. We've made some cosmetic changes to the site since this video was made, but navigation remains the same.

Best Regards- Paul

Welcome aboard Dale.
I would like to take this time to point you in some of the right directions. For starters if you haven't had the time take a look at the right side of any page you click on. There you will find some useful information for you. The links under the about this site will help you with how this site got started, navigation, PIR, About us, community guidelines and some links to some of the groups that beginners with a lot of questions will find very useful. There is also a link called Navy Enlisted Ratings, this link willtake you toa brief description of the rates (jobs) in the Navy that you can find your sailors rate and find out some information about the rate that they are in. First and foremost though we are all here for the same reason. We are curious about what our young sailors are getting into and for more information about the rate or job that they will be doing for the next 4-6 yrs of their lives. I know when I first got here I had lots of questions and there was not a lot of people on this site but they all were either going through the same thing or had been through it and had sailors out in the fleet. Now this site has grown to over 4000 members, Dads, Moms, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, sisters, brothers, girlfriends and boyfriends. Don't be afraid to ask questions of members in here because somewhere along the way we have all had the same questions and asked. There are a lot of knowledgeable people on this site with various years of experience in the NAVY either on their own account or through their Sailors. Again welcome aboard and BRAVO ZULU to you and your son Patrick on his enlistment and please thank him for me for making the choice to defend the freedoms that my family, this country and I have and enjoy. Navy dads Co-admin Tim.

Dale, be sure to check out our Groups. We have several Groups for PIR and Boot Camp, plus Groups for the different Rates like Navy Nukes, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Master at Arms. Check to see if your State or area has a Group already formed to locate others in your area. There are general interest Groups like: Care Packages,
A School for Dads, NASCAR for NavyDads and the book of acronyms and ranks. We’ve also added a Spanish language Group.

Also check us out on Facebook just search Navy Dads.

If you have problems or questions about the Groups, discussions or navigating our site please let me know. I’ll be happy to help or find someone with more knowledgeable about your issue.

Again Welcome to NavyDads.

Dale, Welcome to NavyDads. My Grandson joined the Navy and went to Boot Camp in February, 2008. When I joined this site I knew nothing about the Military. It’s really helped me understand what to expect and has relieved some of my worries. Please go to the Groups Page and check out all the various offerings. Join in to learn more about what your Guy or Gal will be learning and doing. We are a big family here and you can find answers to most any question or concern regarding what’s in store for your recruit. You will find members that are new to the Navy along with those who have Loved Ones who’ve made the Navy a career. We like to hear about your recruit; the good times, the concerns, and welcome questions. I think you will find our members are a big family and everyone wants to help others understand what to expect and hear about the progress of your recruit.

Please feel free to ask questions.

I would also like to Thank You for your Service.

Again Welcome and keep us updated on your recruit.

HooYah US Navy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!