Advice for parents of a soon to be 2LT

Hlsng

5-Year Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2013
Messages
16
DS will commission this spring from a SMC. We are not a military family and have appreciated these forums to help educate and inform us along the way. With the upcoming transition to AD can anyone recommend other sites that family can join and/or monitor that will help us in this next phase?

Moderator if there is a more appropriate forum for this question, please advise.
 
Much may depend on what service he is being commissioned into. My young man is a Marine and they have a web page for each base he has been at and also one for some level of unit(s) in his chain of command. Some have Facebook pages as well. Not too helpful on keeping in touch but at least I know of some things that are going on in his area. I expect the other services have such things too. I know for sure the Navy has a web page/facebook page for each ship where current activities, promotion pics, etc get posted. Some ships are better doing this than others. Seems like the USS Iwo Jima posts every day, the USS Ashland not so much.

The other thing I would recommend is communicating via Facebook messenger or a similar service. We use it to text at least once a week, sometimes more. Even better we can use it on our cell phones for video conference calls. I don't know how I would have survived without a video call every few weeks, especially for the 2 years he was stationed on Okinawa.
 
Is he Army ROTC or NROTC/MO? The steps that follow are different.
 
Much may depend on what service he is being commissioned into. My young man is a Marine and they have a web page for each base he has been at and also one for some level of unit(s) in his chain of command. Some have Facebook pages as well. Not too helpful on keeping in touch but at least I know of some things that are going on in his area. I expect the other services have such things too. I know for sure the Navy has a web page/facebook page for each ship where current activities, promotion pics, etc get posted. Some ships are better doing this than others. Seems like the USS Iwo Jima posts every day, the USS Ashland not so much.

The other thing I would recommend is communicating via Facebook messenger or a similar service. We use it to text at least once a week, sometimes more. Even better we can use it on our cell phones for video conference calls. I don't know how I would have survived without a video call every few weeks, especially for the 2 years he was stationed on Okinawa.
Facetime is the greatest invention for keeping in touch with your kids who are serving
 
Thank you for your response. Yes he is Army and waiting for his OD- BOLC dates.
 
The other thing I would recommend is communicating via Facebook messenger or a similar service. We use it to text at least once a week, sometimes more. Even better we can use it on our cell phones for video conference calls. I don't know how I would have survived without a video call every few weeks, especially for the 2 years he was stationed on Okinawa.

How did he get stationed on Okinawa for 2 years? I thought they had 1 year unaccompanied and 3 year accompanied tours. I did a 1 year unaccompanied tour from May '88 to May '89.
 
The other thing I would recommend is communicating via Facebook messenger or a similar service. We use it to text at least once a week, sometimes more. Even better we can use it on our cell phones for video conference calls. I don't know how I would have survived without a video call every few weeks, especially for the 2 years he was stationed on Okinawa.

How did he get stationed on Okinawa for 2 years? I thought they had 1 year unaccompanied and 3 year accompanied tours. I did a 1 year unaccompanied tour from May '88 to May '89.
Beats me. He knew it would be two years when he started out and I'm sure he didn't request two years. He loved it there and took advantage of being there by traveling around Asia and Australia, but he was anxious to get home at the end. I imagine things may have changed in the 30 years since you were there.
 
How did he get stationed on Okinawa for 2 years? I thought they had 1 year unaccompanied and 3 year accompanied tours.

I am guessing here but based on my experience (and my son's), Kinnem's DS did a 2 year tour in Okinawa because this was his first assignment after TBS and MOS school. Most Officers hit the fleet for approximately two years on their initial assignment and then get orders for a B Billet out of the Fleet. @Devil Doc DS' was the exception to that rule. After that the 1-year (unaccompanied) or 3-year accompanied tours are the norm.
 
I am guessing here but based on my experience (and my son's), Kinnem's DS did a 2 year tour in Okinawa because this was his first assignment after TBS and MOS school. Most Officers hit the fleet for approximately two years on their initial assignment and then get orders for a B Billet out of the Fleet. @Devil Doc DS' was the exception to that rule. After that the 1-year (unaccompanied) or 3-year accompanied tours are the norm.
Yep, he’s going on eight years operational. After his first battalion he was supposed to have gone to TBS as an SPC but was sent on his second deployment instead. After that he had orders to MCIOC but was instead sent to CENTCOM Forward for a year. He for sure should have gone to a B billet or an education program after that but he got orders to the 1st MARDIV. The monitor was just as flabbergasted and said the only way that could happen was that someone requested him to be there. He found out who when the Division CG visited and spoke at a battalion formation. The general pulled him aside and yukked it up for several minutes in front of the Bn CO who wondered what the heck was going on. DS had deployed in the general’s AOR when he was combatant area commander.

He will transfer to 29 Palms this summer after he finishes the blended EWS course. He had to be pulled away screaming as he wanted to deploy again. He’s looking forward to the job though. He will be an operational exercise coordinator/instructor type or something like that. His career path is certainly not typical and is probably not doable under typical circumstances.
 
Oh God. He's going to be a coyote. I would have to be dragged kicking and screaming to 29 Palms for those orders as well.
 
He will transfer to 29 Palms this summer after he finishes the blended EWS course. He had to be pulled away screaming as he wanted to deploy again. He’s looking forward to the job though. He will be an operational exercise coordinator/instructor type or something like that. His career path is certainly not typical and is probably not doable under typical circumstances.

Oh God. He's going to be a coyote. I would have to be dragged kicking and screaming to 29 Palms for those orders as well.

I was stationed in 29 Palms from '89 - '93 when I got out. Heck, I even graduated from 29 Palms High School when my stepfather was stationed there.
 
Back
Top