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Anyone here with a SR in Ship 2 Div. 907?

End of time in the service.

Here is a small bit of information concerning the end of enlistment; When I got out I had 30 days' leave on the books. Unless you have a civilian job waiting for you from day one I suggest using up all your leave time. As with any job once it's over and you depart you're entitled to unemployment compensation until you get the next job. But if you have leave time on the books they will not pay you unemployment until that leave time is used up. It caught me off guard as I needed a few weeks of compensation until I could find a job. ( Make sure you have your paperwork)

Tony

Just finished an AMAZING two days with our AMAZING Son, ETSN Nuke, and Hero, following an absolutely incredible PIR! Truly one of the most memorable and impactful times in my life. We are so profoundly proud, and completely fulfilled parents today. He even FaceTimed us from his barracks at Goose Creek late last night!

So many thanks for everyone here, and especially Jim and Sarge for their expert help and guidance!

Hooyah, Navy!

Like many parents that come and go at NavyDads, I too was active while our daughter was in boot camp. I remember all too well picking everyone's brain about boot, what to do, letters and graduation. Steadfastly, as they have done all these years, NavyDads and its members offered the same advice and sage wisdom to a frantic parent.

Fast forward two years from my last post and my daughter was discharged from the Navy and two minutes later re-enlisted for another tour at her station.  She has won sailor of the quarter at her base twice this year, earned her wings, and is contention for the "Sailor of the Year" this December.

We are going to Europe soon to spend two weeks with her while she is on leave.  It is so hard not to see your child in two year stints.  Thank God and the wonders of science that we have Skype and similar forms of communication to visit and stay in touch.  Last year, at Christmas, I moved a monitor to the floor in front of the tree and skyped our morning of opening packages and having breakfast.  Great experience.

She has found a grove, she actually likes her station and does her job. She performs her service with a bit of grumbling and looks forward towards making her plans come to fruition. She has made navy friends along the way and keeps up on their wanderings around the world.

This update has a two fold purpose.  One, just as explained above, this sailor continues to put one foot in front of the other.  Maturing along the course laid out before her. Two, for those that have just sent off their little one to boot, as far away as PIR seems to be and their first station, there are more milestones to watch for.  Their first eval, that new stripe and the hours of study for their wings.  And, when they discharge, that flight home or that phone call explaining that they are not finished with the Navy just yet.

Enjoy the trip and always encourage your kid to do more than is expected.  They will figure it out.

My daughter is a Culinary Specialist on the USS Ronald Reagan and I couldn't be more proud. She recently said that if I am in Japan on August 14th, I can tour the ship and go on a day cruise. I am all over this for sure but know there has to be a process including an application. Anyone experienced in this out there, please help me know where to start.

i have read blogs on this awesome site about what to expect on the cruise, but was not able to locate any information about the application process.

Well, it's been 5 years and my son is about to separate.  

He's been going over the paper work but they seem to be going around in circles.  He has about 45 days left so I assume there is still time to complete the paperwork.

Does anyone have advice on getting the paperwork done?

Thanks

My son left home to be a man today. I happy that he's finding his way yet i feel i donated a lung. 

Hi everyone, I'm brand new here. My son just got his orders. He will be on the brand new destroyer USS Paul Ignatius. He's still in C school in Pensacola and should be out in a month. Was wondering if anyone put there has a sailor going on the same ship. 

    Well we recieved our first letter from colton today, was good to here from him. Said he was his division leader so was really proud of that. It sounds sort of like when I went in, was quite and eye opener the first 2 weeks and now are molding the division as team. I thought we would get an official letter stating their PIR (graduation date) so we can start planning the trip??  Brian

Graduated A school at Great Lakes, on to C School in sunny San Diego!  

I was honored to be invited by my son on a Tiger Cruise on the USS San Diego. I didn't know what to expect. I researched everything including NavyDads.com. It was all helpful, but the tiger cruise was so much more. I would be glad to share any information about a Tiger Cruise if anyone has questions. 

You can also check out my facebook page on the topic. 

https://www.facebook.com/tigerstalebook/

John

Found out early last week that our son was dropped from CTN on the last week of class.  He had already received his orders.  He was given three choices, PACT Sea, PACT Air or IC.  He chose IC.  This was a bit of a blow for all involved.  He should be going back to Great Lakes for A school for his new rate, then a follow-on C school as he is on an ATF contract.  Hopefully this will work out for him.

Make sure you tell your sailors not to coast at the end of their A school - we all thought this was in the bag already and were looking forward to him beginning at his first duty station.

Please let me know if you plan to join a Tiger Cruise from HI this Summer.

This will be my 3rd Cruise and I will happily answer, if I can, your questions about Tiger Cruising.

Kevin held on to Section Leader & RPO in 2 categories for the length of basic. Top 3 in A school, top 3 in B school, now tied for 2nd at VLS in Virginia. He'll finish VLS, then home to SoCal for a visit and to get married. After a honeymoon, then report to Yokosuka, Japan for assignment to CG-67 USS Shiloh. He's loving every minute of Navy life.  I've never heard him sound happier.

I need some advice! My son is at RTC currently in Ship 5. He was RCPO and led his division to BS21 but was not fit to compete. He was diagnosed as having Mono and they are currently trying to separate him. His spleen was twice its normal size but has returned to its original size. He has met with legal and all of his test scores were excellent but this happened two days before BS21. He wants to stay but is being told to go home and re-enlist. that would mean that RTC would go from 8 weeks to 13 weeks and he would have to pay for all sorts of tests etc....... What do you all think he should do? He is a great kid and more than qualified???? Please advise!!

It's been a long time since I have been here. A lot has changed. My sailor Sarah, is now a HM3 and spent the last year stationed in San Diego. She is now deployed and is serving on the USNS Mercy (PP18).  Perhaps there is another Father that has a loved one stationed on the Mercy or with the 7th fleet?  If so, I'd love to hear from you.

First, I want to thank everyone that has contributed to this site. It has been wonderful. Secondly, I want to urge you to read as much as you can. There are gems of information hidden all over that will make things so much easier.

I would like to share my family's first experience with PIR this past week. I'm hoping it will help.

We booked a hotel through some online booking service...my oldest daughter did it so I can't remember which one. I'll update if I can. It was a hotel in Waukegan and it didn't seem too bad, but it wasn't that good.

I booked the flight through sato. We flew Southwest to Midway because it doesn't fly into O'Hare. I suggest you do this the soonest possible, I wasn't able to due to my other daughter's school schedule. I did it about 10 days before and could only get a flight after 9 pm. We got to Midway around 11 something and took an Uber to our hotel in Waukegan. It was over an hour drive. Needless to say we didn't make it to Sarge's Meet and Greet.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a restful night there, on the plus side we had free shuttle service at 7 am to the base. We were the only family who didn't have our tickets, so the bus driver was kind enough to drop us off at the Nex to get our tickets at the Recruit Family Welcome Center. She also came back to pick us up and take us to the entrance.

Walked in, had our IDs and tickets checked, got scanned and walked quite a bit to the ceremony building. It was a COLD hard walk for someone overweight and from Texas, lol. You enter the first building and towards the exit, anyone who has a bag gets checked again - I would avoid bags if I ever had to do it again.

When you enter the final building you get a chance to buy some drinks (maybe snacks, not sure) and you can also buy "coins" at this point. 

There were 911 graduates on this day, so there were A LOT of people but not too many bleacher type seats. We were not able to sit in front of my Sailor's division and had to go upstairs. It took us a while before we found seating for the 3 of us together and we were so far we never saw our Sailor. I read somewhere today that someone took binoculars - wish I would have read that before going!!! 

When the ceremony was over, getting downstairs was also quite difficult. When we finally did I couldn't figure out where her division had been (so I suggest you make note of a "landmark", lol). Her friend had gone and had been able to sit in front of her division so I got a call saying they were waiting outside. My daughter saw me before I saw her. I gave her the tightest hug ever and got super emotional at that point!

From there she went to go pick up something at her "bunker?" (sorry, still new to the vocabulary) so we waited at the NEX there on base. It was quite a walk for her, so it was a while. They have a bunch of memorabilia there, even scrapbooking stuff, lol.

When we were all together again, we walked to the parking lot where our bus driver said she'd be waiting for us. We got on the bus and waited for the rest of the families and a couple of other Sailors.

Back at the hotel, she changed into the pajamas and slippers I had taken for her and we let her sleep (she had been and was still sick with a slight fever and terrible cough).

part 2 - things I remembered after this first part...

Our hotel in Waukegan had a restaurant/bar inside, but I never went in. The hotel also had a small room next to the check-in with restaurant pamphlets, vending machines, and a computer and printer. We only stayed one night. My daughter's friend was staying in Gurnee. It wasn't that much further, but the hotel was MUCH nicer: newer beds, continental breakfast, ELEVATOR! ;)

There were also many more places to go and see in Gurnee. I don't believe this hotel had a shuttle since my daughter's friend used the Sarge's taxi (I think).

If you are there for more than one day, I DO highly recommend renting a car if you did not drive to Illinois. We took our Sailor back to base 3 times and picked her up twice - VERY early. The traffic to get into the base gets extremely congested. I'm not sure if the road was east/west or north/south, so in terms of looking at the front of the entrance, if you are coming from the right side, make sure you are not on the extreme right lane -- that one ends. We didn't know this and for some reason, most of the drivers taking the soldiers back were VERY aggressive and would not let us in. That was sad considering we all just wanted to get our sailors back on time.

Our daughter left for A-school on Saturday and had to be at O'Hare at around 1 in the morning, so we tried to go see her off. Fortunately, O'Hare airport was practically empty at this hour. Our plane would be leaving from Midway at 8:25 am. Since our daughter could only check us in to her departure area at around 4:30 in the morning, we decided to head out to Midway instead. It was a GOOD thing we did, Midway was already full of people travelling on Southwest. If our flight had been earlier, I don't think we would have made it. 

Oh, also, if you are planning on a rental car from Midway airport, make sure you have reservations or they will try to gauge your eyes out... one place was charging like 800-900 PLUS tax for the 3 days. We ended up renting online for pick-up in Waukegan the next day and it was something over 200. Also, there is a shuttle that takes you free to the car rental building with all the rental agencies. It is NOT walking distance.

If you are asking why we had so many days with our Sailor, it was because she graduated the day before Thanksgiving and left for A-school until early Saturday.

Just praying all will be well as my daughter takes her last PFA today .. Than Battlestations this week sometime .. Cant wait for the "I'm a Sailor" phone call ... Good day to Everyone on here !!