PIR Experience 2015

First of all, I would like to thank all the administrators of this resourceful site. I have been reading it religiously since our son shipped off to RTC on 9/21/15. It helped me to navigate through the entire process rather seamlessly. Please forgive any redundancy in my discussion, as I do realize that many more before me have given these steps.

Our sailor's PIR was on 11/13/15. We got to Chicago on Wednesday(Veteran's Day) and left on Monday the 16th. We flew Jet Blue out of Boston, MA. We used Jet Blue because we like the airline. It wasn't the cheapest, but it certainly didn't break the bank. We also flew into O'Hare, despite all the advice not to. We were not daunted by it's size. It was very easy to get around, and they have buses to take you to your car rental. Once we got our car(Chevy traverse) we exited the airport to the highway quite easily. We stayed at the Residence Inn in Mettawa. It was 20 min from O'Hare, 20 min from the Gurnee Mills mall, 10 min from food/dept stores/grocery, and 15 minutes away from RTC/Great Lakes Naval Base. This hotel is not what I would call cheap, but it had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a fully functional kitchen, along with plenty of amenities. I wanted ample room for our sailor plus my wife and other 2 sons. We also had my wife's parents and niece fly in to meet us as well. This hotel does not offer a PIR discount or even shuttle service to the graduation, but that wasn't priority for us. We loved staying here and will do so again when we return.

I decided to drive to PIR. The Traverse we rented seats 8 and we had 7 going to PIR(will explain this in a bit). So my 14 year old son and I decided to do some "recon" and find the RTC graduation gate. I've read a great deal of confusion as to where the gate is, although I believe our admins of the site did correctly address this in a discussion. The gate is on Ohio Street. AS soon as you take the right the gate is on the right. It's very easy to get to. I even called the RTC Affairs Office to confirm this. There has also been discussion about parking at the Metra parking lot, which is up and to the left of the gate for $1.50-$2 all day. I asked the RTC Affairs Office about parking there. The agent I spoke to said you could pay the fee and park there, but you run the risk of being towed if the Metra finds out you're taking up their spots. How often does it happen? I don't know, but I wasn't taking the chance this weekend. 

We decided on dressing up. Dress for my wife and suits for the guys. We felt our son deserved our best. You will see people wearing all types of apparel. You are not obligated by dress code. 

I urged my wife that being early was imperative, so we drove to the gate for 5:30 am. We were the 5th car in line. GET THERE EARLY. I cannot stress this enough.Make sure you have your gate pass out on the top of your dashboard in front of the driver. Leave it there all weekend(if your sailor is staying in Great Lakes like ours) so you can get on base easily. Also make sure everyone has picture id. If you have young children use their school id. They will ask for it.

The gate actually opened about 6:19am, and we rolled into the parking garage. Now, once you pull into the garage you can see the huge chapel in close proximity. If you've been reading this sight, or even read the notice from RTC on Facebook, you'd know that only those names on the access list are allowed in the Hall, and the rest are supposed to go to the chapel. I told my in laws and niece to stay with us, I mean, they were expecting to go to the chapel anyway so they had nothing to lose. When we got to the entrance of the hall, I gave the sailors on duty all of our ids. They asked if we were all together, smiled at each other, and allowed us all in. Thus we all got to share in the pride of my son's accomplishment. I am not advising that people bring tons of people with them expecting the same result. You should expect to abide by the rules, but it never hurts to try.

If your sailor stays in Great Lakes, the new base is close to RTC. When you get to the end of Ohio Street, take a right. Stay in the right hand lane and take that right at the light. Then you will see a orange rectangular sign stating that visitors use the 2nd right, which is the visitors center. The 1st right is the main gate. You will have to go to the visitors center to pick up you sailor. Once he/she walks down to meet you, you are good to go until liberty ends, which was 9:45 for our son. They will need to be back earlier, for they CANNOT be late. EVER! On Sat/Sun when you go to pick them up, you will have to drive them back on base to their "ship" (after getting them at the visitors center)so that you can sign them out. You are their leave buddy. When you bring them back both days, you will drive on base to bring them back to their ship and sign them back in. 

We used the time to get our son a new cell phone, get him his own plan, get him supplies for school, and took him to the mall in Gurnee to get his internet router and plan through Xfinity for the dorm. He was also briefed about Christmas leave, which is 12/18-1/3/16. If your son/daughter is at Great Lakes for school, they will be home for Christmas. The school shuts down and kicks the sailors out. So with this knowledge, we also bought our son his round trip plane ticket home. This was a memorable experience, and we consider ourselves blessed to be part of it. We are all so proud of our sailor, and are looking forward to his travels, experiences, advancements, and stories for years to come. Bravo Zulu son.