P.I.R. - The Experience
Greetings to all proud parents. The wife and I have just returned from Great Lakes where we spent the past weekend enjoying the ceremony and being with our son, Brian.
Things began with me immediately getting lost leaving O'hare in our rental car. After studying Google maps for two months, I thought I had it down. Road signs and magnetic directionals are not always as they seem in a strange city. We finally made it to the Marriot Residence Inn in Gurney/Waukegan where we stayed for 3 nights. I cannot say enough about this hotel; the staff, the grounds, and the facilities. I very highly recommend this establishment, which is 10 minutes from the Center.
We were warned about arriving early, not so much for the line of cars to the entry gates as getting a decent seat. There is quite a walk from the parking lot to the drill hall. Dress warm if it's late September! Entering the drill hall, there was some confusion as to where to sit. Nowhere did we see a sign for DIV 945 (our son's). We kept walking down the line of bleachers as the division numbers went from 315 and up, thinking 945 would be at the end. Unfortunately, it turned out to be at the opposite end from where we sat, so we missed seeing our son during the ceremony.
The ceremony began at 9am, so the $5 bum-cushions (with Navy insignia) that we bought at 7:30am from the concession stand inside were well worth the money. The bleachers are cold, hard, aluminum.
The ceremony itself was very moving. Watching 600 young men and women moving with such precision and confidence accompanied by the sound of the Navy band and chorus will definitely bring the tears.
At one point near the end of the ceremony during a solemn moment, there was a sound much like a huge parade drum being struck a number of times that seemed to come from outside the building. Later that day as we walked past the drill hall with Brian, I noticed what appeared to be very large guns or cannons at the edge of the walkway that were covered up with canvas. "That's what you heard this morning..", he said.
There are no words to describe the Great Lakes compound. The grounds are huge and the buildings beautiful. The main walkway from end to end must be over a mile long. Unfortunately, no photography is permitted anywhere outside the drill hall, and if you are caught, the intensity of the vocal reprimand from observant MP's is very strong and embarrassing. You run the risk of losing your camera also.
For the moms, the gift shop - better known as the NEX - is a treasure trove of souvenirs and memorabilia. I had to swear in blood to the wife that I'd let her shop from the website when we got home.
There's a group of restaurants and stores just up the road from the Marriot, and if you want to take the 2 minutes to drive to it, the Gurney Mills Mall is the second largest in the country. We took Brian there to do some shopping after graduation and saw dozens of other new sailors there as well. They all looked like little kids on Christmas morning. I must also mention how polite each and every sailor we met or passed in the mall was.
Unfortunately, Brian was a "grad & go" and had to ship out Saturday. Luckily for us, his flight was not until 6pm, so we were able to go to O'Hare to meet him and spend some time.
My thanks to the gentlemen who maintain this wonderful website, and to all who offered advice and support through the past 8 weeks. We are all lucky indeed to be the parents of such fine young men and women.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris H. on
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Oh man, first congratulations! I'm so glad you and your wife got to enjoy the experience of PIR. Your information almost (changes of hotel, and our daughter's A School was at Great Lakes) matches everything we experienced 17 months ago. It bring back the entire event for me, and I'm every-so-grateful to your Son and the others who also serve our country.
Stick around here, please, we're not done. We need people like you to help guide those who follow.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Craver on
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Amen to that
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Permalink Reply by NukeDad on
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Exceptional post Sir. I know you are very proud, as am I of my son who's PIR is November 4th, Ship 09/Div 364. However, I have yet to hear from my sailor ...at all. We are planning our trip to Great Lakes, and even though we live less than 45 miles from the RTC, I've planned our depature time around 0530 to be there by 0630. November, around here, the snow can fly and plans can change, so if parents are planning to attend a PIR around that time of year, be prepared, and watch the weather. We may end up getting a hotel room around Waukegan, Libertyville or Northbrook, nice areas, but then somebody would have to watch the dog. Congratulations to you and your family and to your son - job well done.
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Permalink Reply by HUGH H. KIRKPATRICK on
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The lack of correspondence from your sailor I know can be very unsettling, but as I was told many times; "No news is good news". We learned from Brian that what little free time the recruits get to do anything can often be taken away as punishment for a variety of infractions or screw-ups. Rest assured that your recruit is well taken care of and will contact you when he or she can.
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Permalink Reply by Ray Norberto on
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Hey Hugh!
It is an amazing place, and PIR is an amazing, profoundly moving ceremony. Our son chris was also Grad n Go, but we also had some time to spend with him at O'Hare. There are an awful lot of shops and eateries to spend some time in with family!
We also spent lots of time at the Gurney Mills mall, even though last January 21st it was FREEEEEZING cold.
As for the NEX, you can't shop on the website without a DOD ID. But you can check out Navygear.com/armedforcesgear.com, not quite the same stuff, but a good second choice until you can visit your sailor at their A School graduation and subsequent deployments. Or have your son place your wife's orders! That works too!
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Permalink Reply by Ric Pallson on
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Hugh -- your post brought back to me the still vivid memories of PIR over three years ago in February.
Didn't get lost at O'Hare but driving the rental car south from Milwaukee -- there had been a snowstorm and all the north-facing signs on the highway were totally covered with inches of snow -- only way to navigate was thru the rear-view mirror to see the south-facing signs. The exit you just missed was --.
Then had to drive to O'Hare anyhow because my son's flight was hours late and he couldn't catch the last train to Great Lakes.
So -- warning to all -- the weather on Lake Michigan in fall-winter-spring can be surprising and will be cold and windy.
At PIR -- looking for a place to sit near my daughter's division -- A helpful Sailor doing usher duty suggested we sit in the upper level. She was my daughter. I didn't know her at first -- so calm and professional just cool -- but she was on duty so we didn't gab with her just took her advice on where to sit. Later she said -- "didn't have to be a body-snatcher" -- the body-snatchers are the ones stationed to remove their shipmates who faint while standing still at the ceremony -- standing still for the first time in two months during the ceremony. Some will faint -- after 8 weeks of PT -- standing still for a half hour can make the strongest just collapse -- and their shipmates are prepared to drag them off stage and revive them.
We took the METRA train to Chicago and the Museum of Science and Industry -- interesting.
But the best time was just walking on the beach somewhere north of Great Lakes -- just walking and talking. Cold -- who cares.
When she told me "Dad -- I'm enlisting" I said all the Dad'ly stuff "what about college -- ROTC -- blah blah"
At PIR I realized she made a very good decision to enlist.
Like her shipmates there -- so competent -- so -- how you say -- yo no se -- so self-reliant? so committed? so dedicated? Something.
So -- Be There. One of the few times totally burned in my memory.
And have a sweater and a windbreaker.
Ric
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Permalink Reply by Glenn on
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Thanks for the post, very interesting. Just wondering though, why are they so restrictive about taking photos outside the drill hall? Just trying to understand.
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Because it is a U.S. military base, and OPSEC - Operation Security - is in force. The size of facilities is no one's business unless they're authorized to know the information. When you go on base for PIR, you're only allowed in certain areas as it is.
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Permalink Reply by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on
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RTC is an active military base and aspects of the base (much about the Battle Stations simulator for example) are classified.
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I'll echo Chris H and Paul, it has everything to Operational Security. All the facilities and training modules are state of the art, and thus are highly classified. An innocently taken random photo could capture an image that is not meant for civilian consumption.
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not to mention the very real issue with Geotagging.............
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