My PIR experience

[bonniern PIR 10/1 nukesMM 1102a]

Trainging Group 46  PIR 10/01/10  Div 323,324,325,326,327,328,329,330, 821 and 946

 

this is a site for sharing with everyone.  I hope this helps future families.

[Liz71184]

Thanks Ladies!!!

[Josh's mom Alaskan STG]

Well lets try this.
my PIR experience was great.
the morning i left alaska, my youngest son texts me and tells me he missed his bus. great, instant panic, so spent a hr trying to figure out how to get him onto another one, got that accomplished and off to the airport.
flying into seattle, we were on a weather delay and i knew my son would be calling soon and wanted to get onto the ground now!! finally landed, called the hubby and asked if he had heard anything, nothing yet, walked over to my next gate to wait for my next plane and called the hubby back and wasnt on the phone with him for more than a few mins when my sailor called.
I hear "hi, mom", cried and cried, trying not to cry now remembering it. composed myself and talked to him for 40 mins was great. told him about his brother missing his bus and not sure if he would make graduation. asked him where was standing so i could spot him. his response was "mom, im like the tallest guy in my division, look in the back"
get on plane, im so giddy with excitement and proud of my baby boy, couldnt sleep the whole trip. didnt even realize how long the trip was to chicago. get into O'hare airport and walk right past my shuttle service and get lost in the airport for a hr. thankfully they called me and the man on the phone was helpful in directing me back to him. finally get on the shuttle, heading to my hotel.
check into the Red Carpet Inn, not a 5 star luxury hotel, but closest to base. i didnt rent a car, so i needed something close by. Highly recommend renting a car. the cabs in Great Lakes are rip offs, every cabbie had a different story and differnt price to the same destinations. after PIR we grabbed a cab from base to the hotel and for the 3 of us, was only $9, when my son went back to base, was $5 and when him and a buddy came back on saturday mornin the cabbie ripped them off, he charged them $10 a piece. I suggest a car rental. i warned my son to be very careful about getting a cab, since he will be there for a couple more months.
so its thursday morning and i realize i didnt have my shoes for graduation, repacked right before i left and left them behind, posted on here that i may be wearing flip flops if i couldnt figure out how to get to Walmart and thank goodness for Bonnie, she was a angel, i called her and hung out with her and her family for the day and picked up supplies at walmart. Thanks Bonnie your great and every training group needs one of you.
so we are at the mall and run into another navy mom, we are standing around talkin and i get a text from my youngest son, he tells me that he has a 5 hr lay over in chicago and he really wants to make it to PIR, cool. so when i get back to my hotel, i forego the meet and greet to spend 4 hrs on the computer, phone and texting my son. Got it figured out. he got into chicago at 420am, figured out that he could grab a cab from there to catch a Metra train from Chicago to Waukegan get in at 645am, then jump into a cab again from there to the hotel and still was able to grab the last shuttle to PIR. whew!! but we were late getting to there so had to sit in the side balcony bleachers, which wasnt all to bad. had a great view of them marching in. If you are trying to figure out a way out of Chicago to Great Lakes, use Metra, so cheap.

PIR was great, but long winded, about 3/4th of the way through i just wanted them to call liberty call. so right before it was over, my son and i went down the steps, so we werent stampeded and as soon as they called liberty call, it was chaos. i recommend that you set up a meeting location. i spent a few anxious moments looking for my son, but when i found him, ran up to him and got the biggest strongest hug ever. then i hear him say, oh hey. and my youngest son say hey back. he didnt want to take pictures with anyone, just wanted to run out of there. he tells me to meet him at the chapel, its across the street, ya ok =) need more specific directions, luckily we find it, by the way its out the roll up door, straight ahead and to the left of the NEX.
we head over to the NEX to pick up his pictures, which was a breeze,( dont worry about him paying or you paying, or how to pay, no biggie) did a quick shop in the exchange for gifts to take home and ate a quick sub before leaving.
get back to the hotel, visit, talk and had to laugh, cuz all the two boys wanted to do was facebook, text and talk on the phone. that lasted about a hr and half, then they were out cold. once they woke back up, we went and ate dinner at Flannagans, not a bad place to eat. my sailor had chicken alfredo and was trying very hard not to get it onto his whites. we get done with dinner and i ask the waitress for the check and she said her customer, that was sitting a table adjacent to us, had already paid for our dinner, he told her that he was retired Navy and wanted to congratulate my son for serving. makes me cry remembering it.
so it was time to send him back, was hard, but i knew i would get to see him in the morning. so my youngest son and i sit and talk and he tells me that he wants to sign up into the Navy, wow!! im so excited for him. so we will wait and see what happens with that.
Saturday morning my sailor comes back, we meet up with his buddy and his parents and head to the mall. walk all over the place, just looking mostly, eat and hang out. was nice. and they look so dashing in their other uniforms. had to take pictures. head back to the hotel, Sunday was pretty much the same thing, except my sailor bought himself a new phone. becareful with that too. Gurnee Mills loves those kids' money and will do anything to get it.
Sunday nite, time to send my sailor out, he had to make a stop at the Lock and Go for his stuff so he left early and was hard to let him go again, but i held it together as much as possible, until i was walking back to my room and seen another mother about to cry and lost it. was a long nite.
Monday morning, send my youngest son in a cab to WAukegan to the greyhound bus station, which is outdoors by the way. and wait for my shuttle back to O'hare. Go Express shuttle is great for price and service. highly recommend. Long day for me to fly back to alaska and cried off and on all day.
so now waiting for my sailor to move over to A T T school in great lakes and hopin he calls this weekend to let me know whats goin on with him.
All in All, worth every penny spent. Enjoyed meetin other mothers, and even the ones who werent aware of N4M and big thank you to all who had helped me along this adventure.