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Comment by Momisiops on October 13, 2013 at 10:32am

thank you so much for all the information.  i will call my son's recruiter to check about his ship date as well as the change in his contract after submitting his 2-year college credits.  OMG this just gives me jitters:-(  glad I was able to get the information.  my son was with the recruiter just last week and there was no mention about the early holiday stand down.  thanks lemonelephant and arwen!!

Comment by lemonelephant on October 13, 2013 at 1:18am

The last day that recruits will ship is 12 Dec. since the RTC will not receive recruits on 13 Dec.

Comment by Arwen on October 13, 2013 at 1:06am

Most of the Great Lakes staff get two weeks off for Christmas, and the intake process is shut down entirely. This year the stand-down is Dec. 17 to Jan. 4. (my earlier post was apparently incorrect) Recruiters, MEPS, and much of the Great Lakes non-essential staff are released to go on leave or extended liberty.

However, boot camp goes on without a pause. The recruits get a half-day off on Christmas and New Year Day, but that's it. No family visits, no visits off base (except for senior recruits), all they get is a nicer than usual dinner. And they will NOT get a phone call home for the holiday. Last year (2012) was an exception because of the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy, there were special allowances made because of the general feeling of anxiety for families separated at that time.

As LemonElephant said, Dec.13 will be the last day the Navy will ship out recruits. Any recruit with a later date will be notified that they will ship out earlier, then will be "held" at boot camp for an extra week or two until their ship date arrives, so that the Navy can keep running the program on-schedule.

My son was a final-week recruit, and was held in "processing" at Great Lakes for a full two weeks before he began his first day of actual boot camp. He spent nearly 10 weeks at Great Lakes.

For a full description of how the holidays work for December recruits at Great Lakes, go to the Discussion Forum above, and read "What Makes December Boot Camp Different?"

Comment by lemonelephant on October 12, 2013 at 10:14pm

http://www.navycs.com/blogs/2011/10/14/the-voelker-rule

Comment by lemonelephant on October 12, 2013 at 10:13pm

For 2013 Holiday Season Stand-down: Commander, Navy Recruiting Command has authorized a holiday leave period for recruiting activities beginning on close of business December 17, 2013 through January 5, 2013. In conjunction with this period, Recruit Training Command will not receive any recruits during the period from December 13th through January 5, 2014.

Comment by lemonelephant on October 12, 2013 at 10:08pm

The third class swim test consists of TWO modules. Module one is composed of three separate events, a deep water jump from a raised platform using correct form, a 50-yard swim (using any stroke), and a 5-minute prone float face down--the recruit can raise his/her head to breathe as needed, but must continue the prone float while doing so and not end up treading water. Swimmers who successfully pass module one may continue on to module two. Module two consists of coverall inflation.

Comment by Arwen on October 12, 2013 at 8:02pm

I do recommend swim lessons for any recruit who is not a strong swimmer. The swim test (called the Class III swim test) is not hard, but is very specific.

Recruits are asked to jump into the pool from a 10-foot high diving platform, tread water for 5 minutes in deep water, do front and back prone floats, demonstrate the technique of how to surface when there is burning oil on the surface, and create a floatation device out of their pants (they will get instruction on how to do this). All while they cannot reach the bottom to stand up. The pool where this test takes place is about 12 feet deep. Then they swim the length of the pool, into a shallower area, demonstrating two basic strokes (crawl and back-sculling).

There are rescue swimmers in the water and observing from the deck above to rescue any recruit who becomes distressed during a test. Usually they have to rescue a few recruits per day.

If the recruit is weak in the water and struggles, s/he will be pulled from the water by instructors and enrolled on a one-week swim school. The school is held daily for a couple of hours, and recruits DO miss training, homework time, and other things that may make the rest of boot camp difficult.

The recruits can retest as soon as the instructors feel the recruit is ready, they retest. At the end of a week all recruits re-test, and those who do not pass are evaluated. If they believe the recruit is almost there and can pass with another day or two, they may be allowed to keep trying. Others may be pulled from their divisions and put in a holding division until they pass it. A few are designated Class IV swimmers (non-swimmers) - and discharged from the Navy.

There are two other classes of swimmer.

Class II, which is required to enter swimmer rescue school. The other is a Class I swimmer, which requires a multi-day school and is the equivalent to a Red Cross lifeguard, but not as elite as a designated rescue swimmer. Both certifications are optional, and are usually achieved after a sailor reaches the fleet.

Comment by lemonelephant on October 12, 2013 at 6:18pm

Momisiops, get the info on his college credits taken care of before he ships and make sure that the higher rate (rank) is reflected in his contract. If not, he may not get that rate and then he would not be paid for it. I 

Comment by Momisiops on October 12, 2013 at 6:06pm

thanks, Emtffwife61 for that information.  I will do that.  We are travelling out of the country to visit my mom before he goes to BC, and we get back to the US on 12/04, so I should really check this out.

I have one more question.  When he signed his contract, he was still missing his college transcript for 2 years of college.  His recruiter told him that once he gets that in, he would get a higher rank.  Does anyone know if his contract has to be revised to recognize his college credits?

thanks for all the information.  I don't feel like I'm going thru this alone!

Comment by lemonelephant on October 12, 2013 at 3:24pm

Momisiops, for most ratings, he just needs to know the basics--how to float (he has to float face down and not panic) and some basic strokes to get him to the other side of the pool.

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