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.