Prayers for his safety. Proud for him and your family!

I was in your shoes last October! My 19 year old son swore in at Ft. Sam and then was off to Chicago/NSGL.

He finished bootcamp in early December and is at Great Lakes right now! He should be close to finishing up a 5 week Advanced Tech Training course in Electrical/Electronics, then will be moving on to Fire Controlman A School--still at Great Lakes.

Try to go to his graduation if you can--it's a nice ceremony and the Sailors love having family/friends there.

Congrats! I'm very proud to be a Navy Dad!

Thanks for the info, DogCo. I will definitely make his graduation.

Ethan's advanced training will be 18 months of "nuke school" right outside of Charleston, SC. (Gooseneck, SC?)

Then I'm pretty sure he will be on a sub.

Right now, they are having themselves WINTER in Great Lakes. Minus 9 at this moment, and the high today will be plus 4.

Congratulation on raising a fine son. You should be proud of him.

Great Lakes is somewhat cold in the summer so it must be unreal this winter. Best of luck to him.


Out

I added Great Lakes IL to my Weather Channel app a while back.

Low this morning: -9 (felt like -25)
High today: +5

quote:

---

Gooseneck, SC?

---

Goose Creek

Happy for you and proud of your son.

Thanks, pepe.

Be very proud!

He is in for a heck of a tough 18 months of very hard math and science coursework.

Don't tell him this for a while, but if he succeeds in is schooling but doesn't like the navy, he may have some very interesting options. I have a friend who took the same path as your boy. He is out now, but has used his Navy training to get a job cleaning and servicing nuclear power plants. I don't know what he makes, but he lives an upper middle class lifestyle with wife and 3 kids, while only working 4 months a year, two in spring and two in the fall. Long hours and it's all on the road for those 4 months, but the other 8 months he is untethered.

Off to Great Mistakes! Congrats!

Those temps make me glad I went through recruit training in San Diego.

I did the San Antonio to Great Lakes trek 22 years ago. Best of luck to your son, he has endless possibilities in front of him, as well as endless homework.

Outstanding Adam!

-Chris

Than all of you for your responses and advice. I am looking forward to getting his mailing address soon and sharing this with him.

Good for him!

Congrats Adam. My son went through boot 3.5 years ago and has progressed to E5 Petty Officer 2nd Class on a sub. Pride runs deep!

Awesome Adam87. Proud for you and your son. I too would encourage you to attend your son's graduation. My wife and I attended our son's graduation from U.S. Army Basic Combat Training (BCT) in Ft. Jackson, SC this past January. It was great seeing Ft. Jackson, our son's barracks, meeting his Drill Sergeants and his Battle Buddies. When our son was at BCT, I wrote him at least twice a week on cards with Texas scenes on the front from paintings by Texas artist George Boutwell.
All the best to your son in the U.S. Navy.

Thank him for his service and thank you for instilling patriotism and duty in your son. Only a small percentage answer the call.

Congrats, Adam!

Congrats to him and to you for instilling values that are lost in today's society.

My son is an LT in TARNG and a Houston Police officer in his day job.

My son took the oath, also at Fort Sam, to become a Sea Wizz operator three years ago and is currently stationed on the Stennis. He was offered Nuclear but when he was told that he was either going to be on a submarine or the bowels of an aircraft carrier, he changed his mind.

However, congrats on your son. Both your son and mine are what makes this Country great as they continue the footsteps of service to our Country.

APHIS:

Is your son a Fire Controlman? My boy is about to graduate from an ATT course before starting Fire Controlman A school at GL. He has no idea what weapon system he'll be working with--and I assume assignment is selected based on A School class rank? Or is it purely needs of the Navy?

Apparently, there are some systems where you go directly from A School to a C School...but that seems pretty rare? Just curious what your son's experience re training and assignments might have been assuming he went FC.

CIWS technicians are Fire Controlmen. So yes, his son would have to be an FC. To answer your question about schools, every FC is assigned a specialty. I don't know if they get to "choose" which system they will specialize in anymore like I did back in 1998. Back then, they'd tell us which follow on schools, or "C" schools were available and we'd pick by class rank. Highest class average got first pick, last place got what was left over after everyone picked. I heard a rumor that it may not go down that way anymore, but I'll ask around the ship. "A" school is how you become an FC, "C" school is the specialized training for whichever system you choose, or are assigned (not sure how it's done these days). Their "C" school will determine the kind of ships they can go to. Most every ship has CIWS, so if your son goes that route, he can go to pretty much any ship, a carrier, amphib, cruiser, destroyer, etc.. I was an AEGIS technician so that limited me to cruisers and destroyers, which was what I wanted anyway, so it worked for me. If you have any more questions concerning the FC rate, feel free to ask me. I was an FC for 14 years before receiving my commission.

Congratulations to you and your son, adam87insa. The nuclear program is very difficult to qualify for. I know several folks who went that route. The school is challenging and the work is tough, but it's a great program and well worth it! Your son chose well.

DogCo84:

Sorry for the delay but hot time said it best. Class rank is very important as to the selection of the weapons system and ship assignment. The only thing that really frustrated my son is the length of time it took for his "C" class to begin for he was at GL for more than three months before being shipped out.

Unlike the Army, the Navy has its own timeline.

Good luck to your son.

APHIS/hot time:

Thanks for the info!

Adam87inSA--sorry for hijacking your thread. Hope things are going well for your SR at GL! Mine is about to start A School and is currently standing in the top 5 of his Advanced Electronics ATT class. I'm hoping he can keep up the good academic work going forward.

It's all good.
Congrats to your son as well.

Bump for his son/my brother graduating Friday