Quick Questions

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brad on July 16, 2010 at 10:42am

Danny, I am not familiar with ACCS but since you joined this group, you may be referring to the graduation for Rescue Swimmers in Pensacola. That ceremony is for the graduating class attended by the instructor staff and other officers stationed there. Also attending will be the classes following them in the sequence. It is a relativly small gathering and does not have the grandiose of Great Lakes. When I went, unfortunatley, my wife and I were the only parents attending. Sad for the rest to not have their family there. So please attend if you can, the support is very well respected. They will be sure to tell you how hard this program is, and what your son has accomplished. This is the second hardest program next to the SEALS that the Navy has. As you know, there is more training and work to be done before he earns his "wings", but this is a Major accomplishment and everyone should be Very Proud. Don't be discouraged by the small size of this ceremony. Rescue Swimmers carry a great deal of respect by many throughout the Navy. Going on base at Pensacola is not too difficult. You will explain why you are there and they will instruct you where to go. It is a beautiful base. Your son can get you a room reserved at the Navy Lodge on base to stay if you like. He can go with you off base if he has leave. His ID badge will get you back on base when you return. All in all it will be a wonderful time and place to celebrate this major step in his journey! Enjoy!

Permalink Reply by Danny Maxwell on July 16, 2010 at 11:07am

Thanks for getting back to me Brad. Our son is finishing Air Crew Candidate School this week and then starts Rescue Swimmer School in a week or two. We are certainly proud of him and everyone else in the service for choosing to serve. I'm guessing this will be a small ceremony but we will certainly be there for it. Thanks again for the information, when we get back I'll post on how things went. Our son is finishing "Disney Week" today, this is when they do all the simulator work, here's a couple of pics of the "Helo-Dunker"
thanks again
DM

Brad said:

Danny, I am not familiar with ACCS but since you joined this group, you may be referring to the graduation for Rescue Swimmers in Pensacola. That ceremony is for the graduating class attended by the instructor staff and other officers stationed there. Also attending will be the classes following them in the sequence. It is a relativly small gathering and does not have the grandiose of Great Lakes. When I went, unfortunatley, my wife and I were the only parents attending. Sad for the rest to not have their family there. So please attend if you can, the support is very well respected. They will be sure to tell you how hard this program is, and what your son has accomplished. This is the second hardest program next to the SEALS that the Navy has. As you know, there is more training and work to be done before he earns his "wings", but this is a Major accomplishment and everyone should be Very Proud. Don't be discouraged by the small size of this ceremony. Rescue Swimmers carry a great deal of respect by many throughout the Navy. Going on base at Pensacola is not too difficult. You will explain why you are there and they will instruct you where to go. It is a beautiful base. Your son can get you a room reserved at the Navy Lodge on base to stay if you like. He can go with you off base if he has leave. His ID badge will get you back on base when you return. All in all it will be a wonderful time and place to celebrate this major step in his journey! Enjoy!

Permalink Reply by David Wells on July 16, 2010 at 9:47pm

We went down when our son graduated Rescue Swimmer school. He got us a room at the Navy Lodge on the base. Getting on and off the base was no problem. His graduation was as the Navy Aviation Museum on the base. That is an amazing place to see. I would stongly recommend touring the museum while there. After finishing ACCS and Rescue Swimmer school, he went to San Diego for aircrew school. He called one Thursday afternoon and said they were graduating Friday of the next week, and he needed an old Naval Aviator to pin his wings on. Needless to say, I found tickets on LastMinute.com, and was there for the pinning. The commissioning of HSC23 was the same day, so we made both.

Permalink Reply by Brad on July 17, 2010 at 10:22am

David, congratulations to you and your son! I know that experience well. Probably one of THE most proud moment in my life was to "PIN" those wings on my son in San Diego! An event no father should miss, so Danny when your son gets to that place in his journey, do whatever it takes to be there. You will never forget it!! Thanks for the great pics of the Helo-Dunker!

David Wells said:

We went down when our son graduated Rescue Swimmer school. He got us a room at the Navy Lodge on the base. Getting on and off the base was no problem. His graduation was as the Navy Aviation Museum on the base. That is an amazing place to see. I would stongly recommend touring the museum while there. After finishing ACCS and Rescue Swimmer school, he went to San Diego for aircrew school. He called one Thursday afternoon and said they were graduating Friday of the next week, and he needed an old Naval Aviator to pin his wings on. Needless to say, I found tickets on LastMinute.com, and was there for the pinning. The commissioning of HSC23 was the same day, so we made both.

Permalink Reply by Danny Maxwell on August 7, 2010 at 1:58pm

Thanks for all of the good info Brad and David, our trip to Pensacola was a success. It was really nice spending time with our son Tom. We were the only parents at his ACCS graduation which was very special to be a part of. The museum was really interesting as was the locale in general. Tom just finished his first week of RSS, his class of 24 is now down to 12 but he's hanging in there. Thanks again for all of your help.

Danny

Brad said:

David, congratulations to you and your son! I know that experience well. Probably one of THE most proud moment in my life was to "PIN" those wings on my son in San Diego! An event no father should miss, so Danny when your son gets to that place in his journey, do whatever it takes to be there. You will never forget it!! Thanks for the great pics of the Helo-Dunker!

David Wells said:

We went down when our son graduated Rescue Swimmer school. He got us a room at the Navy Lodge on the base. Getting on and off the base was no problem. His graduation was as the Navy Aviation Museum on the base. That is an amazing place to see. I would stongly recommend touring the museum while there. After finishing ACCS and Rescue Swimmer school, he went to San Diego for aircrew school. He called one Thursday afternoon and said they were graduating Friday of the next week, and he needed an old Naval Aviator to pin his wings on. Needless to say, I found tickets on LastMinute.com, and was there for the pinning. The commissioning of HSC23 was the same day, so we made both.