sub moms

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Comment by LLovemytwosailors on January 18, 2010 at 6:35pm

Your son's address will be an FPO (fleet post office). Any mail you send will go USPS to the Navy and then they take over from there. Any packages will need a customs form. Your post office can help with that. When they are in their home port you will have a shore address. Use that one to send care packages. Just don't expect speedy delivery. I once sent my son a Halloween package to the sub. It was delivered in March. Also, don't waste money on delivery confirmation or signiture required. That really slows things down and doesn't cover packages under FPO control. Most fast attacks get a mid-deployment delivery of snail mail and small packages. I would mail those the week they leave. Yes, it takes that long. Good to have you on board.

Comment by Janis Kay on January 18, 2010 at 6:18pm

Thanks a lot! That's helpful. I do think he will be on a fast attack so that's probably pretty accurate info for us. So do you just have some type of address for your son and the navy takes care of getting the snail mail to a port of call?

Comment by LLovemytwosailors on January 18, 2010 at 6:02pm

Janis Kay, It all depends on what type of sub they are on. My son is on a fast attack. They do get e-mails once in a while. I would send a few each week and he would get them in bunches. Just remember, text only. I always number the e-mails so he knows what order to read them in. Also, another important thing to remember is that a lot of people read them besides your son. I also send a card or two by snail mail which they get when they get to a port of call. they do not get internet access unless they are in port. You would have to ask some one else about SSBNs and SSGNs?

Comment by Janis Kay on January 18, 2010 at 5:47pm

How do you communicate with a submariner? Do you send emails and they respond when they can/resurface? Do they ever call you? If so, from what phone? Do their laptops get the internet? I'm very interested in what other people do and how often. Thanks.

Comment by Luanne on January 18, 2010 at 2:09pm

Kaye S., I enjoyed the poem so much that I emailed it to my son:-)

Comment by A. Smith on January 18, 2010 at 1:54pm

This is wonderful and accurate. Thanks to Kaye and Robert for the posting and writing the poem! Some things never change!

Comment by Kaye S. on January 18, 2010 at 12:40pm

I meant to say "retired" submariner. He served on the USS Daniel Boone from 1964 to 1968!

Comment by Kaye S. on January 17, 2010 at 9:05pm

Folks, I'm normally not one to post poems, but this was given to me by a submariner I met in the doctor's office last week (I saw the miniature silver dolphins on his cap and introduced myself). I think it's cute and accurate... Hugs! k.

EARNING YOUR SILVER DOLPHINS
by Robert L. Harrison October 18, 1997

It takes a heap o’ learnin’ for a qualifyin’ gob
That’s the story I was told by one ol’ Navy COB
He sez you gotta learn to put a boat together
Then tear it down and fix it in most ever’ kinda weather.
There ain’t no rest or pleasure for a guy who’s NQP
And a lowly DINK is good as dead, or so the COB tells me.
You gotta get ten sigs a week, or maybe it is twenty,
I can’t recall just how it wuz but I know thet it wuz plenty.

You gotta learn ‘bout pressure air and when you got that done,
You answer questions by the score or is it by the ton?
If yore late in gettin’ sigs, you muster with the Chief
An’ he has DINKS for breakfast, he’s tough beyond belief.

Next you study ships control, electrical, an’ scopes,
Your situation’s critical, you’re almost outa hopes.
An’ don’t forget hydraulics, radar and’ sonar, too,
Propulsion next you gotta learn cause that’s whut turns the screw.

Emergency equipment, explain and demonstrate,
If you’re in port, you stay aboard, no time to celebrate.
Finally there comes a day when you stand to take your test
Before the board you prove to all that you’re the very best.

The Captain pins the fish on you, this is your crowning glory,
You’ve earned your Dolphins fair and square,
the end of one proud story,
Next mornin’, bright an’ early, you’re awakened with this quip,

“Come on, sailor, rise and shine, it’s time to learn the ship!"

Comment by Mark on January 17, 2010 at 6:46pm

There are a couple of things that mitigate the problem. One is that particulates (most of cigarette smoke) will get eliminated by some of the design features of the vent system. Most importantly is that usually, a boat will ventilate a number of times a week during periods at periscope depth, almost entirely replacing the air aboard the boat. About the only time they won't do that is on fast attacks (and SSGNs, I suppose) when they are in a tactical situation where the skipper decides it's not a good idea to run the low pressure blower that ventilates the boat because of the risk of detection from putting extra noise out in the water. This is normally only an issue when the boat is on deployment, while performing a "spec op".

Comment by LLovemytwosailors on January 17, 2010 at 6:38pm

I asked my son about the smoking issue. He said they have a designated area that near some kind of air filter. I'm not sure what they are called but he said he never noticed anyones smoke.

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