my son left for bootcamp august 12,2009 out of california. he arrived late that night. would his first day be 8/13? today is his 6th day there, he is wanting to become a hospital corpsman. can anyone tell me what my son will go through for the next year? which schools will he most likely go to? he does not want to go out into combat with the marines. instead he would like to work in a Naval hospital in the US. is that possible? thank you for helping me if you can..God Bless. Go NAVY
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HooYah!
We are about to reach a huge milestone on Navy Dads. Our next member to join will be our 1000th member on the site. I want to thank everyone for making this site what it is today. Without our great members spreading the word about us this number would not be possible. Between emailing friends, adding beneficial information for others to find, to placing NavyDads cards on cars in parking lots. It has all helped in letting others know about the resource available to Navy families like ourselves here on Navy Dads.
Let's keep it going! I encourage everyone to keep spreading the word about NavyDads.com, so that we may grow to 2000 faster than we did 1000.
Thanks again for every one's support.
Go Navy!
Sincerely, EG
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Well Zach was sent home from MEPS because his recruiter thought a copy of his Social Security card was good enough. Now he ships out on Wednesday.Talk about an emotional roller coaster for both him and the wife.
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Thus far we've had only one call from Ryan and no letters. The letters are expected to arrive any day. If Mama can hold out until one arrives, it'll be a miracle. The phone call came on 8-15, five days after he left home. It lasted a whole one minute forty three seconds thanks to one of the other fellows angering the sarge. Ryan didn't say whether or not it was he who did the angering. Ha. They were all promised a ten minute call initially.He said that for the first couple days he wondered what he'd gotten himself into. How many times have you heard that? When I asked him if he had regretted his choice to join, he said emphatically that he loved it!
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My son is in A School right now and I am loving it that he can call me all of the time. The question that keeps nagging at me is why he wants to volunteer for deployments. I know that it is why he joined but it scares the life out of me. He called last night and said mom I am getting a medal for making expert on shooting the 9mm. Before I could tell him how proud I was he finished the sentence with "and just wanted you to know that if I can I am going t o volunteer for Byrain"(not sure how to spell it". I thought that my heart was going to burst right out of my chest at that very moment. Now, I know that it is what he signed to do but I can't get it out of my head how quick he said it and said it like it was just another honor that he was getting with the medal. I just sat there thinking is he crazy or am I living in some dream world thinking that he would sign up, come home, meet a great girl,get married and raise a family. I support everything that he does and if he goes,I will support him with that too. Although, I will be worried sick. I want to commend all of you parents that have been through this. I would just like to know how to handle the tough things like this that have come your way. Its not like them saying that they are going to go to the mall. Someone told me that a parent that has a child in the service prays more. I am not saying that it is exactly true, but I can honestly say that since he has joined I have prayed more. I also pray for my fellow service parents and their children.
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My daughter just graduated from GL on 8/9. She had struggled with a sore throat and cold for about two weeks. She did graduate and was supposed to go to Pensacola for AW school. Instead they said her white cell count was off a little and placed her on a medical hold. What can she expect next?
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Hey Everyone!I know that it has been a while since I have written. I went to graduation and had a great weekend Coty. My mom and sisters went with me and we all had the best time. I have never had so much pride in my heart when I saw my son standing in formation. I was told that there was no way that I could pick him out of all of those recruits. I picked him out just as soon as he came in. I had my eye on him the whole time. I didn't even care about the secretary of defense walking around them. All I cared about was watching my boy. I will have to update and put in some new pictures of him. Just to give you an update, he is now in San Antonio and is doing very well. He made expert on the 9mm and is hoping that he will do the same with the others. He said that the OC spray was just horrible and he hopes that he doesn't have to do it again. The took a picture of him right after the OC spray and he sent it to my phone. He looked awful but he says that it is what he wants and he wants it more than anything right now.I am a very proud mom.Christy
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At present I have nothing more to say than how proud I am of my son and your sons. Drew ( Charles, named after his grandfather, a navy vet., ) is on his second deployment, and the last I heard, he was in Japan. His first trip was to the gulf, which I only found out about upon his return.
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Navy Moms would like to invite Navy Dads for PIR of 8/28/09 for a meet and greet on Thursday 8/27 at Flanigans from 7:00-10:00Do you think this is something you all would be interested in participating.Please let me knowThanksGia
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In the ceremony pictures, Karen is on the front left corner (from her view) of her Division (our right), holding their Division flag. Her best friend from BC is right behind her. Her friend went with us on the train to Chicago on Sunday, which made it even more enjoyable.
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SOMEONE IN SAN DIEGO FILMED THE HOMECOMING OF THE USS ANTIETAM CG 54 AFTER DOING WESTPAC TOUR ON JULY 2ND 2009. THE YOUTUBE LINK IS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL-Ys9a3wNYOR YOU CAN GO TO YOUTUBE AND TYPE IN ANTIETAM HOMECOMING AND IT WILL BE THE FIRST VIDEORead more…
We got a couple of letters today from Karen. She has passed all of her fitness requirements, all of her inspections, and the gas chamber. She beat her run requirement by 30 seconds, and she got a perfect score on her final personal inspection. All that's left now is Battle Stations, and that started about 10 minutes ago (8:30 on Wednesday night)! I can't believe 8 weeks has gone by so fast, especially when it seemed like the first 4 weeks went so slow!Karen is just loving the Navy. She sounds absolutely exuberant in her letters! It's really gratifying to know she's so happy with her decision to join. All that's left now is the call tomorrow afternoon saying, "I'm a sailor!"Here's a link to a great article on Battle Stations:http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4288185.html
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On 7/31, Divisions 260 through 267 and Div 937 all PIR. The news Liz is getting from Navy for Moms is that Divisions 260 & 261 had Battle Stations last night and finished today. Nobody is really certain, but it's more evidence that the higher Division numbers will do BS next week - Tuesday is the best guess so far.
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From everything we've been able to gather, Karen's final test - Battle Stations - will be next week, maybe starting on Monday or Tuesday. Some of the other divisions that PIR on 7/31 with Karen are starting their BS tonight. We're hoping for that "I am now a Sailor" phone call maybe Tuesday or Wednesday of next week! We also learned that she'll be shipping out to Pensacola the week of 8/3, so that means we'll be able to spend the weekend after PIR with her.
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We got 2 letters today, and Karen said that by the time we're reading them, they'll probably be doing fire fighting training and the Confidence (gas) Chamber. It sounds like it will be next week for Battle Stations, then right afterward is graduation, which is call Pass in Review (PIR)! We're on pins and needles waiting for that phone call after BS! (Passing BS is when they officially become Sailors, after being Sailor Recruit for the last seven weeks. It's a huge deal for the recruits.)Karen loves her Division (about 80 recruits). She talked about how proud they are now when they're marching down the street. They carry seven flags now, and Karen carries the Ship flag, which is what they call the barracks they're staying in. They are no longer the newbies, and she said they're the big dogs now when they march. She earned a ribbon for weapons, and she and another recruit got to be Boatswain's Mate of the Watch, and as such got to stand at the top of the ship and direct their division during Marlinspike exercise. The Marlinspike is a full-size simulated ship, and during the exercise, the division works together to "dock" it by throwing the lines across, etc. She said she now feels like she can do anything in the world with no fear. Her sense of pride and confidence are really coming through in her letters, and it's evident that she has really adjusted to military life and likes it. She said she's really excited about her Navy career. I'm so proud of her that I tear up just reading her letters - I'll probably be a basket case during PIR!Along with writing, please keep PRAYING for the health of the recruits. Karen was sick and spent an afternoon SIQ but was able to bounce back and catch up. Other moms and dads have reported similar stories of recruits being sick.
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Well, Kevin has been gone almost 2 months now and is still somewhere on the open sea. I don't even think he knows exactly where he is. Since leaving Australia, the phone calls have stopped and the emails aren't as frequent and are shorter in length. He said he had been assigned to a "Tiger Team" and they were fixing various things on the ship that required attention. Seems strange for an IT to be doing this, but the big advantage is he is gaining first hand knowledge of the entire ship. He said he can find his way around most anywhere now and is getting more accustomed to life on a ship. In his last email, which was short but full of excitement, he said he had gotten a Challenge Coin from an Admiral. He didn't go into detail as to when or why, but he was very excited about it. All I can say is fo far so good!
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It was "AWESOME". Need I say anymore. The staff at the base were friendly and very helpful. Other than the hour wait to get into the base (traffic) when we could not complain. And this was at 6:00 in the morning.When they give liberty call, we caught up with Kyle. He broke the news to us, he had to leave for A school in just a few hours.I remember reading where some parents met them at the airport. So we made the mad dash back by our room, changed and drove down to O'Hara airport.We waited with him until his flight left. As we waited, his flight was delayed for 2 hours. We were able to make phone calls to the rest of the family.My wife could not believe how much he has changed in a lot of ways. But occasionally, we could still see our old Kyle.Even his girlfriend noticed a lot differences in his mannerism. And yes, he did open the doors for his mom and Heather.Heather, about fell out when he did.Kyle called us after he got into Dulles airport. Since there flight was delayed here, they missed the connecting flight to Virginia Beach.He said he would call us today, when he was able to do so.
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