Sandy "Sandman" Berger's Comments

I am sure your speaking of the not so secret Sugar Grove, WV. We had hoped our son ould have gotten the chance to go there, but he is a CTN and there are few if any slots there. We have a home about 2 hours drive west of there in Queens, WV. Sugar Grove is south east of Elkins. If you "Google" it you will find a few sites that cover/review it. It's in beauttiful country, right by a national forest. If you blink going through the town though you will miss it. There really isn't much to the town itself, so the base is pretty much self contained, if you want to go anywhere to have some "fun" you have to drive quite aways..

That's great, Sandy. I'm sure she was eager to get started. That's interesting about the special study times. It makes perfect sense, but I never thought about the fact that they wouldn't be able to take their homework "home" with them. I'll have to tell Karen about that the next time we talk. (We've been using Skype to do a video call about once a week.) Karen's classes start on the 14th, so not much longer to wait. There will be a total of about 30 A2Es taking classes together this fall. She won't transfer to Correy Station until after the holidays.

Hi Sandy - Karen is doing fine so far in Pensacola. I really can't remember her being happier since she was in grade school. She's really glad she made the decision to join the Navy. I've asked her a couple of times if she's met a fellow CTR name Berger and so far, not. They seem to have grouped about two dozen Accelerate to Excellence participants together in the same building down there, for whatever reason. Most are not CTRs, though, it's a variety of ratings. (They call themselves A2E's.) Karen starts classes on 9/17, but I don't think it's her actual 'A' School yet. I think that starts in January next year. She said they're keeping them really busy in the mean time. We did a video chat with her one night a couple of weeks ago and she was exhausted, and it was only 8 pm! The A2E program is fairly new and not well known, and we're sort of learning about it as she goes along. When she's finished with A school, she'll have her associates degree, which is what drew her to A2E. If I remember right, Molly had already completed 2 years of college when she joined. If so, she may classing up for A school ahead of Karen. I'll remind her to keep a lookout for Molly, though.

That is a great idea. My son as well will be going to Pensacola. Did your sailor get time over the weekend to spend with the family before shipping off?

Just wanted to say howdy you have a real cool home page and welcome home.

Rex

HOOAH !!

Oh, and you were right. She was very emotional after BS. That was on the 30th, which was her 19th birthday. She became a sailor on her birthday! A better present than I could ever give her.

Sandy - Karen called last night to say she leaves for Pensacola early tomorrow morning. We were hoping for another call tonight, but haven't received it. I posted some pictures on my page from the weekend. We have a family picture we took on the wall there at the train station, very similar to yours. PIR was awesome, and the whole weekend was just great. We did get to have lunch with my dad at one of the famous pizza places in Chicago on Sunday. Karen's best friend from BC was alone because her family had already left for home, so she went along which was great. We got to hear double the BC stories, and it was nice to learn how much the sailors in their division looked after one another. Karen is really pumped about starting A school. I hope she doesn't have to wait so long for classes to start that she loses her enthusiasm. I've watched some of the posts on the Pensacola A School group, so I'm aware that there may be long delays. We haven't heard anything more on security clearance, so I guess that's still to come. Anyway, Karen should arrive down there tomorrow morning sometime. Once she calls with address info I'll let you know.

Hi Sandy. Yes, we're heading up tomorrow as soon as I get home from work. We'll probably leave here at around 5:30 or 6. Karen has passed everything now except her Battle Stations, which starts in about 20 minutes. We'll probably get our call while we're on our way up to GL. Karen is absolutely thrilled at this point - she's just loving the Navy. It's thrilling for me to read her letters and know she's so happy. I think she's happier right now than she's ever been. It's just great! I just got off the phone with my dad giving him an update on her progress. I'm trying to work it out so that he can meet us for lunch on Saturday or Sunday in Chicago. He lives in NW Indiana, near my sister- and brother-in-law. They're going to drive up one day for lunch with us, and I'm hoping he can hitch a ride with them. He's 90 years old and a WWII vet (bomber mechanic in the South Pacific). He exchanged letters with Karen during BC a couple of times and is really proud of her. I know he would get a big kick out of seeing her in uniform.

We still haven't heard anything more as far as Karen's background check or interviews with neighbors or anything. Have you?

I couldn't agree more. Most of Holly's "A School" is safety training and such. It's only 4 or 5 weeks long. According to Holly they use OJT to teach them how to work a carrier deck. Being a greenshirt is a tough job but I don't think it takes all of the high tech training that other jobs require. Holly said she plans on being a career sailor but if she does decide to get out when her enlistment is up (8 years) Industrial Safety is very good speciality to have. The refinery where I work has quite a few people in that job and it's a pretty sweet (And well paying) gig.

Hi Sandy, Chicago is going well, unless you want a menu with healthy options (snicker,snicker). They know how to tie on the feedbag here. If the weather holds we're doing a night cruise to shoot some architecture and watch a weekly fireworks show. Yes, she's a cutie. She just sent me her new address in P-cola and said she might be there longer than anticipated due to waiting to "Class up". I thought of doing the same as you and taking her car to her but she wants to fly back to visit with friends also. She has a pretty big church family that's waiting to see her. BTW, my Uncle John was a Tunnel Rat in 'Nam. Scary stories there! I have a couple of photo's of the choir that I need to clean-up a little and then I'll forward them to you. I'm not sure if Molly is in there or not. Most of the time their back was to my section.

I so agree with you, there should be no politics on this site. Navy4Moms completely did away with political and religious groups. Of course, some people are complaining about free speech but you've got the whole internet to do that. This should be about our sailors.

Thank you so much for your service. You must be so proud of your daughter!

I have a daughter grad on 7/24/ 09 she 255 division ship 03 she been on ship staff for about 2 or 3 weeks now .she pass her test but fell the firing range test on 9mm. pass on the shotgun she on
g-n-g I will see her in Gulfport went she get there Hope they all pass So the Dads can see there
baby ( Both of my got wrap around there finger) girls got away to do that to dads

My Son is in div 936 and grads on 7/24. He plays the Tuba. We're arriving on 7/23 around 2pm. 2 weeks to go

Sandy,

My Son KD is in DIV 836 PIR 24JUL. We're flying in late PM 22JUL.

Regards,

M

Karen's PIR is July 31. Molly's is a week or two prior, if I remember correctly. I don't have any idea how often the CTR classes start up, but it seems possible they might be together.

Sandy - My wife received a nice 20 minute call from Karen today on her cell phone. She was at work but able to take the call. I guess she tried to call me, too, but the call didn't go through. (I have to drive through a cell phone dead spot.) Anyway, she said she is doing great in her PT, and carries a flag at the front of her group when they march. She said she'll get to carry it during PIR also. She said she's adapting fine, and life there is getting easier. She's in week 4 of BC, and is looking forward to the start of weapons training this week. We also got some letters last Wednesday, which was great! She loves getting mail and pictures. She said she's only be singled out for "yelling" once - for having pineapple on her fork! Not sure what that's about, but she seems to have retained her sense of humor, which made us feel better. We haven't heard any more about security checks or anything, but I know that's coming at some point. I've got to reserve our lodging for PIR this week. Best wishes to you and Molly. BTW, we're Cardinal fans despite our proximity to Chicago. Some years I have to take guff from the Cub fans, but most years... NOT!

Sandy - that makes sense. Danny's division was the "staff" division. You probably know this, but at each PIR, they usually have the 900 divisions from the graduating class as well as the next two classes perform....and they rotate it so there are three sets of responsibilities, one set performed by each of the three respective 900 divisions. The split is something like "staff", band/chorus and rifles/flags - or something roughly like that. Bottom line is your daughter was selected for the 900 division - then selected as the second in command of that group of 90 sailors. She has something the Navy likes. PIR is a thrill - and worth the heartache of missing your kid for the 8 weeks of bootcamp.

Hi Sandy - I saw your post on the Boot Camp Group. My daughter went in on June 8 and is also a CTR. We got two calls from her last week: one for some background check information, and the other on Friday. On Friday, she said she had passed her swim test and some initial phase of security clearance, so she got to make a 5 minute phone call. Luckily, I was on afternoons and was home when she called at about 9 am, as were my wife and younger daughter. It was nice to hear that she seems to be doing ok - it made us feel better and not worry so much. She did sound "quieter" than when she left. She confirmed that her PIR is Jully 31 (Division 267). Anyway, with our daughters just 2 weeks apart in time, and in the same rating, it will be interesting to compare notes. Mark