What makes December boot camp different?

[Arwen]

UPDATED for 2019

Hi, I'm Arwen. My son went to boot camp in December 2009. I also mentored the groups from 2010, 2011 and 2012, so I pretty much have this thing down to a science.

December bootcamp is unlike any other month, a LOT is different, and I'm here to explain what is different, and what to expect.

First, no, you will NOT get a Christmas phone call. Do not wait up, do not hang by the phone. Phone calls are earned, and it is incredibly rare for a division with less than 3 weeks of training to earn a phone call.  Your recruit's RDC may even "promise" your recruits a call, but it's an empty promise. Usually they attach it to an impossible task, but the recruits don't hear that part. They may write home and tell you they will get a Christmas call, but don't be fooled. In 2010 and 2011, many recruits wrote home that they might call, and none did. In 2012, due to the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy, many recruits were allowed to call home on or around Christmas, but it was a rare situation. UPDATE: Some recruits may get to call Christmas week, regardless of how long they have been in BC, but nothing is ever guaranteed.

There is a slight possibility of a New Year phone call for some of those who arrive in the first week.

There are NO special provisions for the holidays, except a late start to the day. They get to sleep in an hour, have the morning off to study, write letters, and "relax." If it is a religious holiday recruits are given the opportunity to use the morning hours to attend church services at the base chapel.

UPDATE: Please click this link for the new arrival procedures. What happens upon arrival to GL

Recruits get three "guaranteed" phone calls, the "I'm here" call UPDATE:(If they have access to a cell phone) the night they arrive, the "I'm still alive" call - which comes at the end of their third week of training, and the "I'm a sailor" call, which comes after Battlestations 21. A few recruits may miss this call because they are on watch, or are at medical or another appointment. Sometimes RDCs let those recruits make an individual call to make up for it - and sometimes they do not. The third week phone call will come 4-5 weeks after they arrive, and the timing is measured from the date they begin training, not their arrival at boot camp. Occasionally individual recruits earn an earlier call for excellence in an early inspection, but not usually more than 2-3 recruits per division. They can begin earning division "reward" phone calls after week 4.

Once the division is formed (which can take from one hour to five days) the recruits begin "processing days" or "P-days" which do not count toward their 8 weeks, and are not counted on weekends. For most recruits there are 5 days, (days P-1 through P-5), but December recruits can have 10 or more P-days. P-days also have specific tasks, such as being measured for uniforms, getting health exams, vaccinations, and dental checkups, and taking an exam that, if they pass both written and physical portions of the exam, get them a promotion to E-2 at the end of boot camp.

Mail can be slow because of the holidays, but that's not the only reason. You will start getting mail from your recruit long before s/he gets mail from you. Their first few letters will beg you to send mail and ask why you aren't writing. It can be heartbreaking. They won't get mail from you right away even if you overnight it the day you get the address. Until they begin formal training they will be in temporary barracks and sometimes change barracks nightly. In order to get mail, they must first be in a permanently assigned barracks, AND they have to assign a recruit to be the "mail petty officer." Then s/he must complete a USPS mail handling class. So, while they can mail letters when the division goes to the base store for supplies, they can't *get* mail.

Also, if they change divisions during processing, that will delay their mail even longer, so your recruit may not get mail you sent, even if the other recruits are getting mail.

Recruiting offices, MEPS and the processing units close on the Friday the week before Christmas, and don't open again until after the New Year.  They do not send new sailors to boot camp during this time. Based on past years, I expect the Navy to declare the MEPS closure dates to be Dec. 23 through Jan. 4. UPDATE: Stand Down for 2019 is December 20th through January 4th.

To make up for two weeks of no new recruits, they usually send two to three times as many recruits as usual and "hold" most of them to fill new divisions for the next two weeks. Where do they get all these recruits? They are the recruits who are assigned to report during those two weeks. They are all sent early. If you haven't already received notice that your recruit is leaving earlier than scheduled, you will soon.  The final recruits to arrive for training in the week of Dec. 15-16-17 will probably be stuck in processing for two weeks. The Navy starts a new training group (6-15 divisions) every week, even weeks when none arrive, so they have to "save you" some recruits for these groups.  My son arrived on December 16, but didn't start training until Dec 28. UPDATE:There are no new arrivals to RTC during Stand Down.

As I said earlier, processing days do NOT count toward their official training days. Nor do weekends or holidays.

They also lose a lot of training days. Day 1-1  means "Week 1 Day 1" and Day 6-3 means "Week 6 Day 3." Each training day has a specified activity. Firefighting is on a certain day of training, so is weapons qualifications and division pictures. This helps the Navy keep from having too many divisions trying to do one activity on a single day. Divisions cannot "skip forward" because there are likely other divisions still using the training room or equipment needed.

Typically there are two to four divisions on each training day.  Div 001 -003 starts day 1-1 on Monday, then Div 004-006 begins day 1-1 on Tuesday, etc. They try to divide the divisions evenly through the week, so it is a very small training group, there might only be two divisions per day, for three days. If there are an odd number, the performance (900) division is often left alone on a training day. UPDATE: A TG can begin training on any day of the week, but the first divisions in the TG are always the first to begin training.

You may ask, if holidays aren't counted toward training, and they only get a half-day off for holidays, what are they doing that other half-day? Probably practicing their marching, or having uniform or locker inspections, or doing PT. You would not believe how much time is spent on practicing making and unmaking a bed (The Navy Way™) . And ironing lessons. And clothes folding lessons. Not all training is scheduled classroom work.

No, recruits can NOT receive holiday gifts or care packages - unless you want to send a gift card, which they can't use until after graduation. Have your holiday celebration BEFORE they leave, or after PIR. You can send a greeting card, but make the envelope plain white, no musical cards, and absolutely no glitter on the card.. Some RDCs will harass sailors who get mail that "stands out." RDCs want to be home with their families for Christmas, not babysitting 80+ fresh recruits, so they may have a pretty bad attitude toward recruits at this time. The RDC sometimes look for a reason to give the recruits a little extra training. Not intended to punish, just a little motovation. :)

In 2010 there was a recruit whose grandmother insisted that holiday gifts are okay, that her brother said he could get them (back during the Vietnam War), therefore it is okay. "It's only a box of cookies." When they arrived, the RDCs made him sit in front of the entire division. They did eight-counts until he finished eating the entire box of cookies.

Why are they so strict with recruits during the holidays? Because they're trying to get them to understand that once they get into the fleet, if their ship is out to sea on Christmas, Easter, or their birthday, there isn't going to be any special treatment of that day. No one gets calls home, no one gets a day off. Boot camp is supposed to replicate those conditions, so recruits have an idea of what it will be like once they hit the fleet.

Of course, the question everyone wants to know is, "When will my recruit PIR?" The answer is that no one really knows until the form letter arrives, or RTC announces it. Those who have been through the system before can make educated guesses, but the people in charge keep changing up the "rules," and in three years have used three different determinations of PIR dates. Sometimes the recruiters can get the information from their computers, but if your recruit is one of the late arrivals, the recruiters are already out of the office for holiday stand down and aren't available to get the information for you. UPDATE: Before the form letter arrives it is just a guess on when your recruits PIR will be. There have been many changes to processing with the changes in requirements for the PFA. Please look at the "What happens on Arrival" post in the link above. The information that the recruiter has may only be info upon arrival, and that info can change very quickly. 

[Arwen]

If he puts in a request to leave earlier, he can leave months earlier than scheduled.

If you are referring to my comment about "a day before," then yes. If he is scheduled to ship out on Dec. 4, he actually reports to the recruiters' station  on Dec. 3, and is taken to stay at a hotel overnight with other recruits so that they can all report to MEPS at 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 4. The hotel (and food) are free to the recruit during his or her stay.

Essentially, they don't trust recruits to be there and ready on time that morning, so they keep them overnight in order to monitor their wherabouts, and to make it easier for those who live far from MEPS to get there on time.

[lemonelephant]

That part about a request to leave earlier means that he has his recruiter file the form indicating that he is willing, but is not obligated, to accept a ship date if someone with a contract for the same rating is unable to ship as scheduled for some reason. When a ship date comes up, the future Sailor is given a very short time to accept or decline the offered new ship date, which could be a few days to several months after that call.

[lemonelephant]

Arwen, Good info, but your info on the training days is off. I don't know where you got the 40 training days because that has not been true for quite a while. The actual training time is 6 weeks once P-days are over, so there is some time built in to allow for the missed days of training for the holidays. Yes, some of those arriving in December may end up at the RTC 9 to10 weeks (10 Fridays) rather than the typical 8 1/2 weeks (9 Fridays) if the Navy sends too many in a particular week, but most will still be there for the typical time of 9 (and sometimes 8) Fridays because they do try to account for the week/s without PIR when scheduling future Sailors to arrive at the RTC. Storm delays anywhere in the US, which are common during winter months, mess things up because MEPS may call up future Sailors who were to ship later, but who are able to get to the RTC because their area is not affected, and have them ship earlier to fill in so there are not big gaps in those arriving and then when the delay is over, they go ahead and have the ones who were delayed come in, which may overfill a TG so some have to be in the next TG with those arriving the next week.

There are also one to four divisions starting on a particular training day. An 800 and/or 900 division or divisions may start alone, together, or on the same day as a pair of brother divisions. Those starting on the same day (1-1 DOT) usually have BST together.

The RTC does skip weeks when they do not start a training group, which results 9 weeks later of weeks with no PIR (See http://www.navyformoms.com/forum/topics/groups-listed-by-pir-date to see how that has happened in the past.); and yes, that can cause some recruits to be retained in processing if they were among the last to arrive before that happened and the TG was overfilled somehow. Those at MEPS have delayed some to prevent this at times, which resulted in a future Sailor getting to have extra time and maybe even the holiday with their loved ones, but other times they have not.

Also, the only "guaranteed" phone call is the "I'm a Sailor!" call and even that is not guaranteed if the Sailor has other things to do when those calls are being made. (See Phone Cards and Phone Calls.)

The rest of your information is sound advice.

[Arwen]

They keep making changes! Ack! I can't believe I've passed the three-year mark since my son went to boot camp, and it is already coming up on four years. But as soon as my younger son goes, I will be much better able to keep up with these things.

When did the 40-day training schedule end? Oy. They actually kept my son's division until the Wednesday after PIR because they hadn't yet completed their 40 days.

[lemonelephant]

I don't know. BC is 7 (I call it 7 1/2 since it would be recruits arriving on a Monday or Tuesday) to 10 weeks (it is usually only a day or two over 9 weeks though when it happens) according to the RTC and has been for some time. Check the info in Arrival and What Happens at the RTC within Boot Camp Moms (and loved ones). It has been checked and rechecked by many, including some with ties to the RTC.

You will see that there have been some changes, but many things will be the same and the pride you have at seeing your new Sailor will be the same or maybe multiplied. 

[DaniGirl (Mikes Wife)]

This is wonderful Thank You so much for the info. My hubby is to leave Dec 17th. He says he wont leave early but from you are saying he most likely will we just haven't been informed yet??  Also we should tack on maybe almost 2 weeks for his basic training due to the holidays correct??    Again, this info is wonderful. the more prepared i can be and know whats coming then better i will while hes gone and the better i can prepare our kiddos :0)  Any other great info I need to know?? Thanks Again :0)

Dani 

[Arwen]

Don't tack those extra weeks on yet. It may still be that he will be put in with that first week's divisions, and won't be held back at all. It's all wait-and-see.

[Christie_Okie]

My son will also be gone for Christmas and his birthday.....both this month. I am really hoping I get his box and form letter next month. I know that is very wishful thinking. But...I think that is what is going to get me through this process.

[Jcatherine1981]

This was SUPER helpful!  Thank you!  I came here today to ask how I'd know when my son's PIR is and your last paragraph answered that question and saved me a lot of hunting.  He leaves for basic on December 9th.  Do they send the form letter to the family or to the recruiters?  I just want to be sure I have enough time to arrange travel to be there.  

Also, is PIR typically held on a weekend or weekday?  I'm starting a new job Monday and they know I may possibly have to take time off for PIR when I finally know when it will occur.  The more I know about how they are generally scheduled, the better.  

[Arwen]

The form letter is sent to whomever the recruit addresses it to. It is filled out and hand-addressed by your recruit, so make sure s/he has a list of addresses and phone numbers in their wallets. They don't get to keep their phones, and a lot of people these days don't bother memorizing such things.

PIR is always held on a Friday, unless it is a week that has a Thursday or Friday holiday. That should not affect February PIRs.

[Eyesavvy]

Eyesavvy
Thx for the info. My daughter was scheduled to leave on 12/16 & received a call that she would be going to BC on 12/5. I am going to Meps to see her off this morning.

[Christie_Okie]

My son left on 12/4 and I am missing him already. If I could talk to him it wouldn't be so bad. It is hard for me to read all of this and accept it. I am proud of him but it doesn't make any of it easy for me....as his mother.