All Blog Posts (898)

Just wanted to say thank you to Navy Dads for this site, It's helped me through this tough week, with some great perspective and information. We have four boys and Skyler is our first to leave, It's been tough for all of us. We know he will do well he"s been preparing for the last 2 years, workin hard. anyway just wanted to let you know Thanks, Don

my son just recently went to navy bootcamp on 9/5/12 this is what he wanted to do for several years. he is 18 just graduated was very excited at his good luck party he was telling people he was not scared or nervous he was excited. on sept 21 i got a phone call saying asking for me to not be upset but they were poss. oing to discharge him because he was depressed having a hard time sleeping and eating. In his letter we got the day before he had said things were not that bad. I waited and…

My son has been stationed in New Orleans for the last three months or so. Even though he dislikes the extreme humidity, he's grown accustomed to LPD 23's pre-commissioning weather and has taken every chance to learn and inhale everything about his duties and the Navy in general.

He is eager to hopefully get a ten day leave approved some time around Thanksgiving weekend. But obviously there are no guarantees. I know he really misses my brined turkey...



To date he's proud…

"It's been about one year since I've enlisted in the United States Navy. Many things have changed in such a short time! Although, it is a good change. I'm happy with where I am at, and I cannot wait to continue on the path I'm on. Thank you all, friends and family, for giving me your support in adjusting to this new lifestyle. God Bless you all! Keep in touch, I'll reply when I can."

It's honestly been like mourning someone's death..... I was in the Marines for 6 years so I know there are pluses... but still.

I received a letter from my son, he is in boot camp now and will graduate Oct. 6. He mentioned in his letter that he was qualified with the M-9, but forgot to explain exactly what that was. Can any one tell me what that means.

My Son Nick just deployed three days ago and I was wondering if anyone out there has loved ones that are on the same ship or even in that group?  I find it to be very stressful now that both of my two oldest sons are now deployed serving our great nation!  I couldn't be more proud of them then I am now! Please post on this blog if you have someone serving on the same ship and maybe we can actually get a group formed.  It really helps talking to other people who are going through the same…

greetings...any dads out there with a sailor on ship 9, div 355 at RTC?  also, is there

anyone going to EN "A" School? What does an EN do, i've read the job description, but

does anyone out there have any experience in this Rate. thanks

greg finley 

Well- we received the Box from RTC today with our son's belongings. Backpack, shorts, t-shirt. We discovered in the pocket of his shorts his Driver License.  Do you think this was a mistake on his part? Or would they have told him to send it home? I would think he needs it. He took a wallet, cash, Social Security Card and Driver license. If he needs it back we will wait till we get his address and mail it back.

Any Thoughts?

Rod Keefe

Talked to my son and he stated He hopes he gets on a smaller ship not an aircraft carrier.  I ask is it better to be on a small ship where he will have more jobs to do than a large one.  He is going to be a MM.

Thank you to each of you for your warm welcome. Well, John left yesterday for RTC. We got the call last night at 1:00am from him for 10 seconds or so stating he was there and would call again in 3 weeks. I heard a loud voice in background shouting "You Have 5 Minutes!" then the line went dead. We didn't have a chance to say anything. Yesterday, at MEPS his recruiter said they would not sleep the first night and it would be tonight before they get sleep. Is that correct? Wow, after getting up…

WELL, IT'S BEEN A WEEK TODAY SINCE GREG JR. LEFT FOR RTC.  I WAS ABLE TO BE THERE WHEN HE AND HIS FELLOW SERVICEMAN  TOOK THEIR ARMED FORCES OATH AT FT. HAMILTON, BROOKLYN, NY.

A VERY MOVING AND POWERFUL CEREMONY. ONE OF OUR MEMBERS SAID HE FELT LIKE HE WAS

SEEING HIS SAILOR GO TO KINDERGARTEN WAY BACK WHEN. WELL I'LL TELL YOU, I FELT THE SAME WAY  TIMES 10...

I WAS TOLD I WOULD BE RECEIVING INFORMATION FROM RTC IN 2 WEEKS. CAN'T WAIT. I ALREADY

WROTE HIM A LETTER…

My son is stationed in San Diego we live in Tennessee. We

want to ship his car to him but don't know which company to use.They are so many

to choose from.Does anyone have any suggestions on who to use?

My son will be going to sonar school in San Diego soon. Does anyone have any info they can tell me? like; Where the school is actually located, how long he will be there, what are the rules on liberty, clothing, housing, personal items, car, etc..., etc... Throw a guy a bone here will ya.”

John leaves for Great Lakes 9-12-12 and I have feelings like I did when I first saw him walking to school as a kindergartener with his backpack on. It is amazing the mix of emotions that are sweeping over me. When will I settle down? 

My daughter Jessica flew onto the John C Stennis today with her squadron HSM-71. Go Raptors, fly high and hard. Godspeed to all the sailors aboard the Stennis. Have a safe deployment. We are proud of you and love you. See you in April. US Navy all the way!!!

We just got back home form Great lakes. Its was a great experience. My son graduated and will be doing his A school in Great Lakes. He definitely changed. But he still had his funny side to him. while talking to him I noticed a lot more respect but also noticed he still had his funny little quirks that he left with. I think that it good. I could tell by the way he was talking and some of the stories he told me that he deep down really enjoyed the boot camp.(Some what). We were walking back…

Excerpted, below, are some ideas I included in a letter to our son before he left for USN basic.  Perhaps some other Navy Dad, or Navy Mom, will find some of this useful for your son or daughter.

There are three answers to any possible question in basic training and those three answers are:  1. Yes sir.  2. No sir.  3. No excuse, sir.  If they want you to answer in some other way, they’ll tell you how to answer. 

Have a sense of humor, but try not to show your sense…