Grad and Go - what is it, will my sailor be GnG?

[Arwen]

There seems to be some confusion as to what is “grad and go”(GnG)  and who will be GnG.

Grad and Go has nothing to do with where they are going, or what A school they will be attending.. It is purely a matter of who is ready to go.

 

Your sailor may know that s/he is GnG a few weeks after they arrive at Great Lakes, or they may not know until a few days before PIR.

The vast majority of Great Lakes A school sailors are NOT grad and go.

Grad and go sailors are:
1) those in the first two or four divisions, whose orders and travel plans are already finished before PIR. The Navy can't issue orders or make flight arrangements until after the sailors have passed their PFT and Battlestations, and it takes time to process 1,000 or more sets of orders.
2) those whose schools will start on Monday and absolutely must be there before the weekend is over
3) those who the Navy arbitrarily decides need to be out of barracks before the weekend. There are always a few who are GnG for no apparent reason.

Later divisions in the group are almost never GnG. They often remain at RTC for a few additional days after PIR weekend to complete training, and to wait for their orders to be ready.

There are three types of GnG sailors:
1) those who will attend a Great Lakes A school. They will transfer to the A school side of base immediately after PIR and will begin their liberty weekend later in the afternoon.
 2) those who will be put on a bus to the airport immediately after PIR to catch a flight to their new A school. The Navy keeps saying that they don't, that they quit that about 18 months ago, but it's not true. Several N4M parents in the last few months have reported that their  sailors were GnG on Friday, and were put on the plane immediately after PIR.
3) those who will get Friday liberty, and will take the bus to the airport early Saturday to catch a flight. If they will be taking a civilian flight, you can meet them at the airport to get a few more hours together, and to give them their cell phones, laptop computers and other items. If they are on a charter flight, you will not get to visit them. Charter flight sailors take the bus straight to their plane, on the tarmac. They do not spend any time inside the airport terminal.

Sailors may fly out of any of three airports: Chicago O'Hare, Chicago Midway, or Milwaukee.

Remember, if your sailor is a Friday flight GnG, no one is stopping you from visiting your sailors in A-school in addition to or instead of PIR, its worth it if your sailor is a Friday GnG. Fifteen minutes with my sailor would NOT have been good enough for me!

[Ken-55 (OS Dad)]

Any word on liberty on President's Day? . . . I changed my hotel reservation to leaving Tuesday morning, just in case . . . waiting to book my flights.

[Arwen]

No official word, but I would put my money on Monday liberty. It's the usual practice at RTC for sailors to get long weekend liberty on holiday weekends.

[exxie]

How about Divers?  They are staying in GL for Diver Prep . . . not going straight to "A" School.  Do you know if they are  treated as if they're GL "A" Schoolers (i.e. moving their stuff across campus immediately after PIR, and then starting Diver Prep on Monday, or holiday Tuesday)?

[Arwen]

That depends on whether the Navy has prepared their orders to Diver Prep yet. Diver Prep is treated like an A-school.

 

If the division is one whose orders are already processed and distributed before PIR, they will transfer to the other side of the base. If their orders are NOT ready, they will have regular PIR weekend liberty.

 

Do you know what order they are in training? Usually, only the first few divisions are Grad and Go, no matter where they are going school.

[exxie]

It's Ship 4 Div 805.  They are in Training Group 13 and their Day 1-1 was 12/29.  According to earlier estimates, I thought he would Day 1-1 on Friday (12/31), but that's not how it worked out.  So either his group got bumped up or some others got pushed back.  But I know there are divisions who started on Monday, so he's at least two days behind the starters in our grad group.  Whatcha think?

[Arwen]

Since the division started training so late, they will probably not be GnG. I would put money on it, but not a lot.  There are never any guarantees when it comes to the Navy.

[louisejo]

Thank you for this.  So if my sailor already knows he is GnG, and he's graduating on 2/18, then what does that mean?  What if he doesn't (Heaven forbid) graduate?  He goes to Connecticut for A school.  So he must be leaving on Saturday morning.  He said something about that to me.  So his travel plans must have been finished early.  I suppose that doesn't have anything to do with getting hurt or not passing some test. 

[Arwen]

He will get his specific travel plans after Battlestations but before PIR. You may want to schedule your own flight for late afternoon Saturday, so you can hang out together while he waits for his flight. They use all three airports, but O'Hare is the most common. I'd book my flight for around 6 pm Saturday from O'Hare. That way, if the airport is wrong, you will still have time to get from his flight to yours.

 

He could possibly leave Friday, but without advance warning, you should plan for Saturday. At worst you would have a day to explore Chicago museums, or sleep in on Saturday and make the travel day as relaxed.

 

If he doesn't graduate, he will be held until he either completes what holds him back (PFT is the most common stumbling block late in boot camp). He will be given special training to help, that works for the vast majority of recruits. If they do it quickly enough, they may return him to his division for PIR. If it takes too long, they will either assign him to a new division for PIR, or graduate him independently. 

 

If he is one of the small minority who get that far and don't graduate, he would be separated from the Navy with an administrative discharge. SEPS usually takes 2-3 weeks.