graduation Oct. 10th

[Karen Tackeberry]

I have a couple of questions about graduation for anyone that has been through this already. Our son graduates on Oct. 10th. We understand that he gets 4 passes. However he does have other brothers that would like to go in for the graduation and we are being told that they can go but will be put in a room and only able to enter if there is room. Is this true? Also we are told that someone that is on the pass needs to be in the car right behind us since we won't all be able to get in one car and they will be aloud in. Is this true? Any information you can give us would be appreciated.

[Deanna]

Karen, thank you for all the information. I just got the correct address from my son today. Graduation for Michael is Nov 7th. We are staying in the Naval Lodge. I am afraid that we won't get a phone call for awhile. He just got married two weeks before he left. Michael is 20 years old and going into language. There should be 9 of us going to graduation. I do hope everyone can get in. I do hope the weather will be good in November for us. Thanks to all that replied to me. Do keep in contact.
Deanna

[Karen Tackeberry]

Deanna I wish that I would have known about the Navy Lodge. Is it right on the grounds where the graduation is. And how expensive was it? I'm praying that
when we get in that we'll be able to see our son from not sop far away. From what I understand even if you go early it is already quite filled.

[Alexandra Shipton]

don't send heavy letters unless you are fine with the RDCs opening them. i sent my sailor magazine articles and they were found and he got in trouble so if you are going to do that don't send anymore than two sheets of articles. and don't send colored envelopes, birthday cards (especially the music ones), or big envelopes. anything out of the ordinary will be checked and they will get in trouble. pictures are alright to send. just no nude or sexual or bad ones. i hope your wait goes by fast. i wish you the best of luck

[Sherri]

Karen, I don't know about the extra passes as we only had 4. However, if you have anyone under 12 yrs of age, they don't count as a pass. I hope this helps.
Sherri

[Alexandra Shipton]

well i don't know much about the car situation but my sailor graduated this past weekend and it was pretty crowded. there were barely any seats left when we got there and we even got there early. so it all depends on if there is a lot of people attending the graduation ceremony or not.

[Karen Tackeberry]

Alexandra, How early did you get there and did you take your car in?

[Alexandra Shipton]

well we got there like 30 minutes before it was supposed to start. i think it was around 7:30 we got there but we were aiming for earlier. and yes you can take your car in but there is a massive inspection once you get in so there is a long wait outside and inside to get in and park and get checked. you have to open all compartments open all doors step out of the car and wait for the people to inspect your car.

[randy]

i need help. i took out the land line( phone line) at the house b/c everyone has a cell phone and felt it was wasted money. but now i'm concerned that when my son gets to make his phone call (which i hope is this week sometime), if he has to call collect, he will not be able to. called sprint, and they told me that there is no way for anyone to make a collect call to our cell phones. but they also said that since it is a call from the military boot camp, it would'nt be a collect call anyway, the government covers the call. any help from you gals quickly would truly be appreciated.

[Karen Tackeberry]

Randy sorry I can't help you I just know that my son had a phone card and when he was given persmission he was able to call after about three weeks. He told me that he was calling from a pay phone. He did call my cell phone. I haven't heard fro him since so I may not get a call until just before graduation.

[Tracy]

Our son was given a calling card with so many minutes on it, so they can call cell phones or home it is not a collect call. We heard day one and about a 2 weeks ago and he graduates on the 3rd, don't expect too many calls!! hopefully he will write.... and we should get a phone call after battleships close to graduation.

[Alexandra Shipton]

yea. my boyfriend was able to call my cell phone and his parents cell phones. thats all he really called although he was allowed to call house phones too.

[Roxanna S.]

When I was there for my son's graduation this past Friday, at the gate they didn't have the list of names of who all was attanding. At the gate is where they searched cars depending on which lane you ended up in, and checked ID's. We had a total of 6 adults and one 3 yr old. They checked the names as you checked in after parking. I too was under the impression one of the people on the list at least had to be in the car but in our case that wasn't true. Nor didn they even blink at us for having 2 extras.