ANYONES KID LEAVING IN MARCH FOR GLAKES?????

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Permalink Reply by Ray Norberto on February 28, 2011 at 9:18pm

First, congratulations and welcome aboard. Did you get the full welcome treatment from the admins?  They do a great job of welcoming every new member!  There are several great boot camp videos on this site, check them out and see if they answer any of your questions.

You will find out about the specific Pass in Review (graduation) date in a form letter filled out by your recruit and which arrives in their second week at Recruit Training Command.  That letter will also include a password for a parking pass for that day, and the names of the four family members who will be able to attend the ceremony.  Others can come to spend time with the recruit on that day, but extra attendees are dependent upon the size of the graduating group.  My son graduated on January 21st, and there were only 5 divisions totaling 371 sailors, so it was easier to get extra members in.  But the facility can graduate up to 17 divisions, so it would be more difficult to get more family in the graduation.

Some ratings (jobs) are designated Grad & Go, so the time would be limited since the sailor would have to check in 'across the street' (at Naval Station Great Lakes) to their 'A' School (job specific training school). Some are Saturday fly outs, as was my son, so we basically had that day and some part of Saturday morning to hang out with him at O'Hare before he flew out.  Otherwise, you can get a good portion of the weekend to visit with your newly minted Seaman!

The letter you receive will clearly spell out many of these details.  And I will reiterate, the boot camp videos on the link above are excellent too.

One piece of advice from my personal experience: before your recruit leaves, make sure they know the four members of the family who will be placed on the list for the ceremony in the Midway Ceremonial Hall.  I had two family members who lost perspective, and made the entire weekend about their attendance at the PIR, and fussed about the possibility of not being allowed in, despite assurances I had from the Public Affairs office they would in all likelihood get in.  They chose to focus on the possible negative.  I wish I had been more decisively clear with them from the get go.  And in the end, it all turns out to be on of the great days of your and your Sailor's life anyway!

Oohrah!