MA A-School Graduation Tips

MA A-School Graduation is a wonderful thing to attend. It is much less extravagant an affair than PIR is, but you can pin your Sailor’s MA Badge on them and even get up on the stage to watch, record, or photograph your Sailor taking their MA Oath of Office. It is a great experience!

If you are planning on attending MS Graduation here is some useful info:

• Plan on arriving before the Friday of Graduation. You will need to get a base pass before Graduation day and you can spend time in the evenings with your Sailor on the days before.

• When you go to get your base pass, you will need to head to the Lackland Visitors Center. Your Sailor will have to walk to the visitors center to ‘sponsor’ you for the pass. The walk takes 10-15 minutes, so I suggest arranging a time for your sailor to meet you there or that you call when you are on your way.

• After you have your base pass, I suggest using the Truemper St. Gate. It puts you closer to your Sailor and in my experience, is less used than the Military Dr. gate.

• If you are taking your Sailor off base in the evenings before Graduation, you will need to sign them out and back in at the MA A-School Quarterdeck. Plan the time this will take into your schedules for picking them up and dropping them off.

• MA Graduation happens on the same day as Air Force Bootcamp Graduation, so expect the extra traffic on and off base. It never hurts to arrive early.

• The Graduation will be held in the MA School Auditorium. When you arrive, enter through the curved glass entry, the auditorium is immediately to your left after you enter. There may be several Graduations happening that day, so check with the Staff in the lobby to check if you should go in or wait.

• Your Sailor will Graduate in their Dress Uniform. There is NO obligation for you to be in formal attire, but remember that you will be taking many photos with your new MA so plan appropriately.

• The Auditorium was VERY cold. I suggest bringing a jacket or blanket.

• After Graduation your Sailors will need to return to the Quarterdeck before they are put on Liberty. Depending on when they are flying out to their duty station or leave, they may need to get checked out of their room before leaving the base.

• If you want to spend the full weekend in San Antonio with your Sailor, you can. Just have your them adjust their tickets to their new Duty Station by contacting Sato Travel. (They get these a few days before Graduation) But because they will be out of the barracks that Friday or Saturday, make sure that you have a place for your MA to sleep!

I hope you find these tips useful. These worked for me in September, if anyone knows of any changes please let the group know.

Scott 8-)

Below are detailed directions to all of the destinations I have mentioned:

Lackland Visitors Center off of West Military Drive.

• From I-410 take exit 6 (US-90/Cleto Rodriguez Freeway) East

• Take the first exit to West Military Drive and take a right

• The Visitor’s Center is at the Luke Blvd. Entrance which is the second Left once you are on Military Drive.

Truemper St. Gate:

• From I-410 take exit 4 (Valley Hi Drive) East

• Stay on Valley Hi and it will run right into the Truemper St Gate.

MA A-School Quarterdeck

• From the Truemper Gate continue to Carswell Ave. and Turn Left

• Continue to Femoyer St and Turn Right

• Continue on Femoyer St to its end and Turn Left (Gary St)

• Follow around as it makes a full Left turn and becomes Hughes Ave

• Enter the first parking lot on the Left, the Quarterdeck is the one story building

MA Graduation Hall

• From the Truemper Gate continue to Carswell Ave. and Turn Left

• Continue to Femoyer St and Turn Right

• Continue on Femoyer St to its end and Turn Left (Gary St)

• Take the second left (Halmon Dr) and select a parking spot. The Graduation Hall will be in front of you.