Packing for 1st assignment on a boat

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navyfamilyof4

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DS will be getting his first sub assignment next year and i was thinking about gifting him some things he might need to pack. i get ads on social media for "Fleet sheets" that fit subs and ship cots. has anyone ever used these or similar? or are they even supposed to bring their own sheets and bunk curtain? i didnt want to ask DS as i want it to be a surprise, but not sure how to find out what items are helpful/essential to a 3 month deployment under the sea. any ideas?
 
mcfamilyof4 said:
DS will be getting his first sub assignment next year and i was thinking about gifting him some things he might need to pack. i get ads on social media for "Fleet sheets" that fit subs and ship cots. has anyone ever used these or similar? or are they even supposed to bring their own sheets and bunk curtain? i didnt want to ask DS as i want it to be a surprise, but not sure how to find out what items are helpful/essential to a 3 month deployment under the sea. any ideas?
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He will get all the gouge he needs from shipmates, both officer and enlisted. Truly. Best thing you could probably do is transfer him a chunk of money about 2 months before, so he could get what he needs and wants.

He will learn by being proactive and asking questions, and in turn, he will help newbies.
 
mcfamilyof4 said:
DS will be getting his first sub assignment next year and i was thinking about gifting him some things he might need to pack. i get ads on social media for "Fleet sheets" that fit subs and ship cots. has anyone ever used these or similar? or are they even supposed to bring their own sheets and bunk curtain? i didnt want to ask DS as i want it to be a surprise, but not sure how to find out what items are helpful/essential to a 3 month deployment under the sea. any ideas?
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I also thought those looked like a great idea.

Guess what? He absolutely didn’t want them.

Cash, it is 💰. Always.
 
mcfamilyof4 said:
DS will be getting his first sub assignment next year and i was thinking about gifting him some things he might need to pack. i get ads on social media for "Fleet sheets" that fit subs and ship cots. has anyone ever used these or similar? or are they even supposed to bring their own sheets and bunk curtain? i didnt want to ask DS as i want it to be a surprise, but not sure how to find out what items are helpful/essential to a 3 month deployment under the sea. any ideas?
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I have also seen the "Fleet Sheets" ads and thought it was a interesting idea, but I can completely see a fresh ensign not give a sh** about their sheets on the first deployment. They are young and all think they are "10' tall and bulletproof", so nicer sheets would likely get eyerolls from my DS. I suspect after a few years/deployments, that attitude will change. The little things in life become more important.

X3 with cash recommendation on this one!
 
A free thing would be to write a stack of letters, perhaps an estimated one a week - filled with jokes, silly memes, stories you have never told him of family history, notes from others, printed photos of the dog, a tiny logic puzzle book, etc. Present to him right before he goes, and he can have “mail” every week during a quiet moment. Priceless. You have to be seeing blue sky to get mail call while on deployment, and deployed submariners are short on that.

He won’t have a lot of room - no one does at sea, subs especially, so think lean and mean, short and sweet. Number them by weeks.
 
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Capt MJ said:
A free thing would be to write a stack of letters, perhaps an estimated one a week - filled with jokes, silly memes, stories you have never told him of family history, notes from others, printed photos of the dog, a tiny logic puzzle book, etc. Present to him right before he goes, and he can have “mail” every week during a quiet moment. Priceless. You have to be seeing blue sky to get mail call while on deployment, and deployed submariners are short on that.
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Capt MJ for the win again. What a great idea!
 
... so I concur about cash. During Plebe year, I gave DS a Walmart money card with monthly electronic deposit. I considered it as a "generational" gift. It's rarely used during the academic year... snacks from the midstore once in a while. Opposite is true during summer cruises. After graduation ('26), I think he's going to use it for car payment or mortgage.
 
Agree with giving cash so he can get what he needs. Truthfully, about the only thing DS really wanted was a supply of energy drinks and a massive portable hard drive. I can't remember if we ever actually got him the upgraded rack curtain - the biggest attraction was that it had pockets and the stock one didn't. I don't think we did, as the sizing was boat specific and we couldn't get it delivered in time (he had less than a month between assignment, arrival at the boat and deployment because the pipeline was super messed up at the time).
 
so does the boat/sub come with sheets, pillow and towels or are they expected to bring all that in the big green bag?
 
... learned the hard way during Plebe year. I jumped on the "Care Packages" Bandwagon. Send this, blah blah, blah, yadah, yadah yadah. At the end of the year, DS brought back home all the unconsumed items like 20 large packets of beef jerkies, 30 power bars, sausages, pork & mot*#$(/#+"@, protein shakes, peanuts, cashews.
Cash is it.
 
mcfamilyof4 said:
so does the boat/sub come with sheets, pillow and towels or are they expected to bring all that in the big green bag?
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It's been a while but I don't think that I ever had to buy sheets/pillow for any of my ships. Towels are different story but
I got plenty of towels and washcloths in my initial plebe issue and they worked just fine for me aboard ship. For NROTC
grads, I would expect that they had towels, etc while they were at college that they used while on summer training.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
 
OldRetSWO said:
It's been a while but I don't think that I ever had to buy sheets/pillow for any of my ships. Towels are different story but
I got plenty of towels and washcloths in my initial plebe issue and they worked just fine for me aboard ship. For NROTC
grads, I would expect that they had towels, etc while they were at college that they used while on summer training.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
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Thanks!
 
nuensis said:
It gets cold under water. A good sleeping bag that traps heat properly can be preferred and in that case you're not even touching the sheets so they don't matter.
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I’ve got a thermolite sleeping bag liner that rolls up small. Used to take it when we had a sailboat on the West Coast, and it would get cold out on the Pacific, especially at night. Sheets always felt clammy, and either cold or hot. Some comfy athletic gear, a small foam pillow, and I was all set. Plenty of room to move around. Easy wash.

I got it at REI ages ago - looks like they still have them in a variety of styles and weights.
 
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