Finally at Charleston, awaiting class.

[heywaitfourme]

I'd suggest either getting married before you come or waiting. When they say you spend more time away from home than you will at home, they are correct. I'm currently 4th in my class, on very low hours, and I still put 18-20 hours ADDITIONAL in each week. Most days I leave at 0445 and get home around 2100. It's difficult to work a family life into the schedule. I'm not saying it's impossible, but you must make 100% certain your wife/fiance understands that she comes SECOND to the school. I'm thankful that my wife was my girlfriend while I served a few years over in the Middle East with the Army prior to this. I may see her for 2 hours a day, but we make the best of it.

Now, If your set on marriage, I'd recommend doing it before you even leave for basic. If you are going to get married regardless, might as well take advantage of the incentives from the get go. But, MAKE SURE she's going to remain faithful. I've seen MANY marriages end because they've been away from each other for the short 2 month time frame.

If you are going to wait until you finish A school, that's fine as well. It will test your relationship to see if it can and will hold up, and how the two of you deal with the extra stresses. You will have generally two weeks minimun wait for your class up to Power school. I have almost 2.5 months wait.

The easiest way to go about the marriage....COURTHOUSE. My wife and I did a courthouse type marriage and once I'm completely finished with the pipeline will take a few days off and have an actual ceremony and second honeymoon. We were married on the beach in North Carolina with just family and it's very affordable, and was very very nice, but my wife and I don't really follow the 'unwritten rules of life'...we generally do whatever we want to!

Best of luck to you and if you have any other questions, please ask.

[Jechtm]

Thanks for your reply, I figured with the sec. clearance it might be awhile before I start Pow.School.

[heywaitfourme]

It's not the security clearance, it's waiting for an entire class to fill up. I have my security clearance, in fact I have a clearance much greater than needed for the program, had it before I even went to the recruiters office. We are the first feeder group into the new Power school class. It basically means we are the first class to graduate thats waiting for the Power school class to fill up. A school classes are between three rates with class sizes from 21-30 students. Power school classes are anywhere from 250-400 students and it's MM's, EM's, ET's all in one class; hence the WAIT for the class to fill up.

I will say this. I DO NOT regret, nor do I wish I had not gotten married, but the pipeline would be much MUCH easier being single, and I imagine I'd be number one in the class instead of number 4. I don't put as many hours in the classroom as I'd like because I have to keep the wife happy. I'm doing the best I can in both aspects, but it would be much MUCH easier if I were single.

[Jechtm]

Point, taken. I hope your wifey don't browse these forums =)

[heywaitfourme]

Just an update.

Currently still kickin tail in class, passing every inspection and still class leader. I've gotten my class to look GOOD every day, for fear of inspections, the noise is almost nonexistent, and everyone gets along...FINALLY. We take our PFA for rank next week and it's looking as though EVERYONE is going to pass, just the same as it looks like everyone will graduate.

I've been putting in extra hours to help those I can, study what I don't know and learning before hand what I'll be learning the next day.

Wife is happy, and neither of us can wait till Christmas vacation so we can see both of our parents...and the break will be welcome.

[Neutron_Herder]

That's great!  It takes a while for a class to pull together, but it does happen.

I'm confused though...  When you say "everyone will graduate" does that mean that everyone that started will finish?  So no one failed out?

[LivinginParadise]

Well if you like seafood, I highly recommend Hyman's Seafood downtown.  Perhaps some of the best seafood around.  There are some other great places in North Charleston.  Have fun and enjoy your time there.  I always loved being in Charleston, except during the summer when the "no-see-ums" came out in droves, damn things weren't even deterred by Off Deep Woods.

Hymans is greasy and overrated. Quintessentialy southern. I liked to go for the atmosphere but the wait for food was kind of excessive. I found the best food was usually out at the local dives on the isle of palms and folly beach.  Make sure you check out Jim'N'Nicks on king street. get the open faced brisket sandwhich with mashed taters. You won't be disappointed.

[heywaitfourme]

Just a friendly update...

I finally graduated A school. I'm currently on T-track until mid march when I am supposed to class up. I graduated 5th in my class, and was awarded the Personal Excellence award.

Overall, A school was not very difficult for me. I'm sure I could have finished higher in the class if I would have put forth more hours, but I found a good balance of extra hours and home life both my wife and I could live with. Yet another reason I was very happy with graduating 5th in my class. I was able to balance work and home very well, but others were not as successful.

I was able to maintain my position as Class Leader with EXCELLENT evals, and I also reached my personal goal of having every student who graduated, (lost four), walk across as MM3's. I personally worked with 3 of the students one on one so that they could pass their PFA's. I was congratulated on this feat by many of my peers and fellow classmates alike.

All in all, I found this to be a great, humbling to say the least, learning experience. It has allowed me to start a wonderful network already, and I found that the Senior Enlisted in the Navy are far more eager to pass down valuable experience and information than I experienced in the Army.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them, or email me at heywaitfourme@yahoo.com.

To any new guys/girls down here, feel free to hit me up for some helpful words, or just to get together to B.S. and help relieve the stress.

[Gamecock]

Just a friendly update...

I finally graduated A school. I'm currently on T-track until mid march when I am supposed to class up. I graduated 5th in my class, and was awarded the Personal Excellence award.

Overall, A school was not very difficult for me. I'm sure I could have finished higher in the class if I would have put forth more hours, but I found a good balance of extra hours and home life both my wife and I could live with. Yet another reason I was very happy with graduating 5th in my class. I was able to balance work and home very well, but others were not as successful.

I was able to maintain my position as Class Leader with EXCELLENT evals, and I also reached my personal goal of having every student who graduated, (lost four), walk across as MM3's. I personally worked with 3 of the students one on one so that they could pass their PFA's. I was congratulated on this feat by many of my peers and fellow classmates alike.

All in all, I found this to be a great, humbling to say the least, learning experience. It has allowed me to start a wonderful network already, and I found that the Senior Enlisted in the Navy are far more eager to pass down valuable experience and information than I experienced in the Army.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them, or email me at heywaitfourme@yahoo.com.

To any new guys/girls down here, feel free to hit me up for some helpful words, or just to get together to B.S. and help relieve the stress.

BZ!!

Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
GC

[JustinHEMI05]

What a terrific update! Thanks for sharing and congratulations!!!

Justin

[heywaitfourme]

Thanks guys. I still read this forum almost daily. There's such a wealth of Information here, it's pretty amazing what you can learn from just this forum.

Also, to those guys who are here already-we should get together for lunch someday. I gotta pack a sack everyday, but I'm not opposed to good ole' galley food, if you guys are up for it.