Hello everyone, I appreciate you reading this and helping where you can.
My husband and I discussed him joining the Navy in 2009 when he was laid off of his warehouse job and couldn’t find employment for months. His dad retired from the Navy, so he was partial to the idea of it over any other branch. We went in and talked to the recruiter, who basically sugar coated everything, in my opinion because my husband did well on the ASVAB and he wanted to recruit him as a Nuke. We read up on as much as we could, we always checked posts on this site when we had questions and discussed all the pros and cons. He signed his contract and left months later for boot camp in May. We were married prior to him signing (because that’s where our relationship was and that’s what we wanted, not for any other reason). We are both in our mid twenties and have no children.
Once he graduated boot camp he was off to Goose Creek and shortly later I joined him. We got a place in town off base, that we quickly learned was not a good idea due to his hours so we moved on base. After not seeing each other for a few months and discussing the option of kids, again weighing the pros and cons, it was our decision that we would try while here, it would probably take 6 months or more to get pregnant anyway. We were wrong, one month later we were pregnant. We couldn’t have been happier, however I was very sick through the first trimester and his hours were getting better, then worse, then better, so it was a constant roller coaster on my emotions and his stress level. I have always had a career until we moved here and am now staying home to help with everything I can. My husband and I have a strong relationship and are great at communicating. We aren’t young like most newly weds here the have constant marriage problems, so all this stress and anxiety was a new challenge for us, on top of my concern for his ability to balance everything.
My husband started Power School a few weeks ago, and last night found out that he failed a math test. Math was his worst subject in A school, considering he has been out of High school for 7 years, I was just happy that he passed A school. The adjustment to such a strict study schedule is more than I think I could have handled, so I am very proud of his accomplishments so far.
My concern is that my husband will not make it through Power School, math is not the only subject that he struggles with, he's putting in about 30-35's now. Our son is due the first week of June and we have discussed his re-rate options and checked the CREO list to see where the Navy's needs are, I know he really won’t have a say in what he gets rerated to. We are concerned that he will miss the birth of our son and possibly be rated to something that he will not gain any useful experience in the civilian workforce when he gets out. I have faith that he will work his hardest to make it through the Nuke program, and will be proud of him no matter what. I am wondering if there is anything I can help with. Any pointers that husbands have for reducing stress? I now realize that this is not the time to start a family and wish that we would have waited, but there is nothing we can do now and we will make the most of the situation we are in and enjoy our family no matter what.
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions that would help I would really appreciate it. I do all the cooking and cleaning and take care of anything I can so that he can focus on school. I get his uniforms ready and have his lunches ready everyday when he walks through the door. I’m emotionally supportive and constantly tell him I am proud of him, no matter what happens. I just want him to know that we will be okay, no matter what happens, but this is what he wants so I want to help him through in any way that I can. Thank you.