Graduation question

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by James Gump on September 21, 2011 at 11:31am

Do believe that there is one. My oldest son, Nick, mentioned that there is a ceremony. Although its not on the scale of the PIR.

Permalink Reply by Chris H. on September 21, 2011 at 12:39pm

No public ceremony, although there is a "ceremony" where they receive their school certificate, I think.  Probably the major one is when someone becomes a Chief, but from what I've seen those are either aboard ship or a base somewhere, but the family is aware of the happening. 

We need to remember that PIR (and you will see when you go) is conducted under very secure conditions.  Even when a ship returns from deployment, unless you're among those listed as going to be at the dock - including your vehicle information, license driver information, names/ages of passengers, etc. - you're not allowed on the base at all.  OPSEC is a key, and always will be during the Sailors time of active duty.  That's operational security, and we don't tell what they're doing when IF they can tell us.

My wife went a little bonkers when we were approved for a Tiger Cruise (information elsewhere here on those) because you don't have firm dates until the last minute.  Difficult to book hotel/airline reservations when you only know approximately.  And it is hard to tell family members who be want to be at the dock waiting, because you cannot tell them morning or afternoon.  "It might be a good idea to be early" doesn't quite seem sufficient.  LOL!

Permalink Reply by Glenn on September 21, 2011 at 1:06pm

Thanks for the answers, guys.

Permalink Reply by Brad on September 21, 2011 at 2:41pm

Is a Tiger Cruise only for the aircraft carrier? I was watching the documentary The Carrier the other day. The Tiger Cruise looked pretty cool.

Permalink Reply by Glenn on September 21, 2011 at 2:49pm

Don't know the answer to your question, but that Carrier series by PBS was awesome. I watched the whole series myself, then watched parts of it again with my wife. I liked it because it was so "real." It wasn't just a lot of drum-thumping, but showed real people having real questions and the true melting pot that is the U.S. Navy. Highly recommended, and available for streaming via Netflix if you have that. I think it's 8-10 one-hour episodes.

Permalink Reply by Chris H. on September 21, 2011 at 3:22pm

No, unless our daughter's destroyer turned into an aircraft carrier back in April and they didn't tell us.  LOL!  But there is a difference in a Tiger Cruise, depending on where the home port is located.  I believe most on the East Coast are day, or maybe overnight cruises, but on the West Coast it depends on where the last port is prior to reaching the home port.

We had to "suffer" through flying to Hawaii and then all that way to San Diego.  Poor us! 

And two of the days we had glass seas - no waves (other than the ones we were making) and absolutely no breeze.  Not even an occasional stirring of the water, except behind us.

Permalink Reply by Brad on September 21, 2011 at 3:42pm

Yeah, I'd recommend watching The Carrier for anyone with kids in the Navy. It seems some really take to it, but others find it's not at all what they had expected or been promised.

It's a 10 part series. We downloaded it from Amazon and watched it while on flight of our recent vacation.

Anyway, their Tiger Cruise was five days from Hawaii to San Diego. Would think it might get a tad crowded.

Permalink Reply by Chris H. on September 21, 2011 at 3:48pm

I think we wouldn't mind a carrier Tiger Cruise.  We got very spoiled because our time was near perfect weather-wise, and I'm quite sure the seas wouldn't be as friendly ever again.  A carrier certainly would be more stable, except I doubt they could ever put the aft rails in the water on high-speed turns like what we did.

Permalink Reply by Glenn on September 22, 2011 at 11:57am

Thanks Hannah, I value your posts. Actually, we're really putting the cart before the horse, because my son hasn't made it through boot camp yet, but with each week that passes, I gain a little more confidence that he'll make it!

Permalink Reply by Gary T. on September 22, 2011 at 3:56pm

To answer the question ref: A-School graduations. These are a rather small brief ceremony in which certificates are given. Family may attend upon request. Your sailor must gain permission and must escort you onto the base. My sons GM A-School made special arrangements for family. I have heard of several other rates offering the same opportunity. Once your sailor starts A-School he can ask for the latest information. 

Permalink Reply by Glenn on September 22, 2011 at 3:59pm

Thanks for the answer, Gary T.

Permalink Reply by Ric Pallson on September 24, 2011 at 5:45am

PIR after boot camp is the big one.

For nukes, power school grad is almost that big.

 

Those were the only two where they had an admiral and a big deal.

 

Don't worry -- after PIR most promotion ceremonies are not a big deal except for the participants.

 

You don't have to be there for anything more -- no big deal -- maybe if your recruit makes MCPON you should be there.