Post-PIR Must Know Info

[ProudNavyWife Ship 7 Div110]

Liberty- is ‘time off’ from the daily routine. Graduating Sailors will be granted liberty to go off-base during the day with their families. Please bear in mind the following rules:

1. Graduating Sailors may not smoke, drive, or consume alcoholic beverages while on liberty.

2. Graduating Sailors must stay within a 50-mile radius of RTC.

3. Graduating Sailors must remain in their complete uniform while on liberty. If they are engaging in physical activity or swimming, they must be in authorized Navy issued workout gear.

4. Liberty expires at 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 8 p.m. on Sunday. No overnight liberty is authorized. Due to security checks and transit time, please allow ample time for graduating Sailors to walk back to their assigned ship prior to the end of liberty.

5. Families may not enter the base after graduation and will need to meet graduating Sailors for liberty at the main RTC gate.

6. Graduating Sailors departing RTC for follow-up training the same day as graduation or in a duty status will be granted limited on-base liberty.

7. Graduating Sailors receive an in-depth liberty briefing prior to their graduation day.

Grad & Go
There are two types of "grad & go" sailors- those who have a school at Great Lakes and those whose schools are elsewhere.

Those whose A school is at Great Lakes will return to barracks and move their gear to A school. It will take a few hours, but after that they will get weekend liberty.

Grad & Go sailors whose A school is not at GL may only have a few minutes with their family before leaving for the airport, or may fly out on Saturday and will have Friday liberty.

In both cases, families may meet their sailor at the airport (at the USO) to spend some time with them before their flight.

Overnights
Sailors will NOT be allowed to stay with you in your hotel overnight. They must return to their barracks or school each night BEFORE curfew. If they are not in their barracks by that time, they may lose liberty for the remainder of the weekend, so make sure they return early, just in case there is heavy traffic or some other unexpected delay. RDCs do not accept excuses.

Curfew varies, but divisions may be able to earn (and lose!) extra hours, up to midnight. Your recruit may not know his or her curfew until just before they are released for liberty.

Monday holidays
Sailors who PIR before a Monday holiday often have that Monday for liberty. Check with your sailor, not all holidays are Navy holidays! 

"Liberty" vs "Leave"
"Liberty" is a short period of time a sailor has off, usually a weekend, lasts 72 hours or less, and are restricted to an area within 50 miles from base. This is a fleet-wide policy, not just boot camp, to make sure sailors can report back to their command within an hour during a crisis.

"Leave" is the same as civilian "vacation" and during leave sailors may travel to most places. Sailors must request leave weeks to months in advance, inform their command of their itinerary (where will they be) and may not change plans without informing their command. Sailors will NOT get
leave between boot camp and A school, except for some sailors who graduate just before the winter holiday stand-down.

Most sailors get their first leave between A school and reporting to their first duty station.

Cell phones
Sailors may not keep a cell phone (or anything else) in their pocket. They may not talk or text on the phone while they are walking, and they may not bring their cell phone (or iPod) back to RTC with them. Grad and Go sailors who have already reported to their A schools might be allowed
to keep their cell phone or other electronics. 

If you rent a car Google addresses: RTC, the airport, hotel, Navy Pier, Gurnee Mall, restaurants. Etc & write down the address. If you have a GPS.take it with you, if not rent one with the car. Take plenty of change for the tolls.

Standing Duty
Freshly graduated sailors take turn standing watch on PIR Liberty Weekend. They may stand watch at night and be very tired in the morning, or they may be required to return to barracks for a few hours to stand watch. This is not something special to boot camp, this is a standard Navy-wide
practice, though at most commands there is no liberty on the day they stand watch.

Public Display of Affection
In the Navy physical forms of affection such as hugs, kisses, and holding hands while in uniform are known as a "public display of affection" (PDA) and are forbidden.

There is one exception: families saying goodbye to a sailor before a deployment or greeting a sailor returning from deployment or long separation. Boot camp counts under this exception, with limits. One enthusiastic hug of greeting and a quick kiss are acceptable. French or extended kisses are not. Nor are extended hugs, hanging off your sailor, etc.

Hand-holding at any time is forbidden. There is a compromise, and I consider it to be a fairly romantic one. A sailor may offer his arm to his girlfriend/wife/mother, she lays her hand in the crook of his LEFT elbow in a formal escort-type pose. Likewise, a female sailor can take
the RIGHT arm of her husband/boyfriend/father with her left hand. In a truly romantic gesture, men may lay their right hand over their lady's hand (to keep it warm, or for skin-to-skin contact). The sailor must always have his right arm free to salute an officer or properly displayed flag.

Also, just because you aren't on base, don't assume they aren't looking. RDCs and other boot camp personnel also go to the mall, out to restaurants, to Chicago, etc, and they will be looking for new sailors breaking the rules. Some may actually be assigned this job in popular venues. Even if they run into the recruit by chance and are just out with their own family, they will report the new graduate. You won't likely see them because they will not be in uniform, but they will see your sailor.

And no, they won't punish YOU. They will punish your sailor when s/he returns to barracks. The most common punishment is to have their liberty revoked the next day, or if the behavior is observed on the final day of liberty, new sailors can be retained for an extra week of boot camp. These are not idle threats. They actually do it.

Uniforms
Your sailors will be wearing their dress blues (after Labor Day and before Memorial Day Weekend) or dress whites (from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend) on Friday at PIR and after.

Be sure to bring a lint brush or sticky roll for your recruit to "clean up" his or her blues. The blues are wool and pick up just about anything. If you are bringing a pet, bring one of those sticky-tape rollers to de-fur your sailor.

Be careful with whites, they show everything.

On Saturday and Sunday they will be wearing their service uniforms, aka "peanut butters," which is a khaki shirt and black slacks or skirt. In the winter they may be cold in the short sleeves, so make a stop at the Navy Exchange so they can get a uniform sweater and a name tag (but
have them check with their RDCs first to make sure it's okay).

Side note: Ladies...the question of when they switch from white to blue dress uniforms and vice versa was brought up in another PIR group. I asked Hoppi (aka Angie) and she said: "Great Lakes switches in April and Oct. BTW...She also said: Hawaii never switches to Blue and Iceland never switches to White."