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  • Keith

    Last week they switched ships.  did you hear which one?

  • Keith, Jim-  I'll have to put the house back together when we get home but I found the letter.  thanks for your help!

  • Thanks all.  Jim, what is Sarge?

  • Keith

    We had a disaster.  We were showing Andrews letters to friends over the last couple weeks.  We have spent the last six hours looking for the first one with the parking pass password.  We had it last week and still have the envelope but no letter.  We get on a plane tomorrow night. You said you had been through this before if I remember.  Without that password can we get on base?  Can we walk on?  We are on the list but I don't think we will be able to talk to Andrew before the PIR so are we just stuck?  I would be the worst father in the world if I missed this.  I plan on calling the Public Affairs office in the AM but the book says they can't give it to me.  Any advice or suggestions?  Help!

    • you only need the parking pass if you are driving on base if you take a taxi or one of the many shuttles to pir you dont need it

  • Just had a 30 minute call From Andrew. It was great! He sounded very happy and confident. He had a cold but said other than that and being tired he was great. He was very upbeat and so many of his sentence structure started with "we" or "our ship" I could tell they were really coming together as a team. He said there are a few guys not getting it but figured they would as it has been less than 2 weeks. It made me so happy to hear that he was doing well. Sounds like they eat, sleep, do PT, march and clean.
    Anyone else hear?
    • same here got our call yesterday morning, he was in a very good mood, said everything was going well. it sure was different when i made my phone call home from boot. i hated it,was wondering what i got myself into. he seemed to be actually enjoying it. i guess things have changed quite a bit in the 29 years since i was there.

    • One thing is obvious.  The facilities are top notch.  I never served but saw a few bases in my youth and they were WWII leftovers.  After watching the videos here on ND's it is obvious that Great Lakes has great facilities.  I think that goes a long way toward setting a good tone. How old is your Son?  and how old is he?  My boy Andrew is 23 and spent time at college so I never expected him to be home sick.

    • maybe thats it Ron, my son is also 23 will be 24 in december. has 2 years of college, and has been living on his own for the past 2 years. they are just mature enough to understand the situation and make the most of it.

    • Yes, Andrew had been really feeling stalled.  I think it hit home when his friends graduated and was looking for a real change, a kick-start so to speak.  I think he was mentally ready.  I plan on writing Andrew today, wonder if they know each other.

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