GL A School Moms

They are given an allowance for food (BAS or BSA?) but then it is also deducted every month if they are living in barracks and eating in the galley. Everywhere else is out of pocket. If they are living off base, they won't see the deduction and they would pay for their meals out of pocket.  I think that is the basics  of how it works. 

Sailors can use their phones when not in class or on watch. 

Any suggestions and/or information appreciated. Son is staying at GL for A school, as FC. Thank you in advance.

My son will be graduating A school as a Boatswain Mate this Friday, Oct. 27. We won't be able to make the graduation. Are there any families in this group who has a Boatswain Mate graduating this Friday at GL?

Hello.  Any idea if A school students will be granted any leave during Christmas holidays?

My son graduates this Friday, Dec 8th, div 905 from Great Lakes  Are there any other mom's out there???? 

My son graduates the 8th too.  He is Div 35.

He will not be allowed to stay overnight with you in the hotel, but you can check him out each day.  It varies, but our son was able to go with us after graduation about 4pm (They have to get all settled in their new barracks first).  Some came out sooner than him and a few were still there waiting when we left.  We had to have him back by 9:30 the first night (again this might vary).  Saturday and Sunday we could get him as early as 6am and we had to return him by 10pm.  Your sailor will have exact times you can get him and bring him back.  Make sure to leave plenty of time, we took ours back an hour early each night just to be safe.  He will get instructions for you to follow.  

Have a great weekend!  It's so much fun.  

Good morning friends! Happy Monday! What has your sailors done about internet access on base? My sailor is having a difficult time connecting to the internet provided there. He has been told that it's not that good anyway. 

Thank you!! 

Hello All I'm new to the "A" School moms we just had PIR 4/20/18 what an amazing time so proud, now for the next journey "A " School... Looking for any insight to get thru this phase, my Sailor's job will be a QM ..

Alison Congrats! 

Hi Dena4 Thank you !

Hello my Sailor started his classes today, for QM... 

my sailor finally started his classes yesterday! 

Hi kaj123 is your son in the QM clas??

How do I see the up to date comments on this page?

It doesn't look like there have been any comments since June 14. This isn't a super active group. If you have questions, feel free to post them.

Is there a link or information on what they can take back to A school in GL?

Hi everyone! My Sailor graduates BC on 8/31/18 and then is staying in GL for her A School. One week to go!!

4GensOfSailors Oh, what a great time you have in front of you. My Sailor just graduated on 8/17 and is on hold for orders. From what I can tell, there are a lot of Sailors on hold right now. Please let me know if you have any questions for PIR

Join the Great Lakes A School Q & A (clickable link). It is an active group.

My daughter just graduated last week. My question to those seasoned moms is:  did you have much contact with your sailor?  I feel like my sailor is very brief and that there is a major emotional distance. She didn’t talk about a whole lot while on liberty either so my imagination is running wild. Thanks for any help!!

i'm not seasoned per se but i did go through boot camp myself albeit many years ago however i remember it like yesterday.

she is adjusting. she has a lot to mentally process. just "be there" for her when she is ready to talk/text  i'm sure it melted your heart a bit but be patient. i'm sure that sounds like idle advise but if you wait and give her a little time things will reset themselves. 

I can sort of echo Smoothsailing's advice. Our sailor is our son-in-law. And my daughter and his mother lamented that his communication was not what they thought it would be the first couple weeks out of boot camp, even though he had his phone back. It gradually increased over time. He said later that during that first couple of weeks they were adjusting to a different schedule, and making up for lost sleep if they could. :-) 

i'm gathering info on wifi at GL. allison told me about xfinity. any other comments on how to get wifi ?  my son will only be there a month or so then moving on to FL. is a verizon hotspot going to work on a mac air?

Smoothsailing and blackbirdmom, thank you!  That is very helpful. I’m way excited for my daughters future, but the reality of our relationship changing, especially due to her devoting her life to the Navy, is definitely difficult. I support her 100%. I don’t know what I would do with out my Navy family :). 

Thank you so much for the add on this page.

My son is at GL for A school and will be a GM. He is confused how long school is...at PIR he was told 66 days and now he is hearing possibly a year. Can anyone give me a little more info on how this works?

Class will be a year or he will be there a year with wait/hold time and class? My son is also going for GM and is still waiting for class to start. At his PIR 8/16 he was told class lasted 12 weeks but he had to wait until a class started. He is also going for different training than he originally planned on. 

I think he said a year with classes. My sons PIR was 8/23 and he hasnt started classes yet either. The whole thing is confusing to me. 

Hoping to visit my sailor for Thanksgiving any ideas for lunch/dinner to go my sailor has duty on thanksgiving?

My son has duty until noon on Thanksgiving as well. We're taking him to dinner that evening. I looked on Open Table for available restaurants in the area and made reservations.

Thanks my sailor has not said when they have duty just planned to pick her up Friday but thought I might try to go on base to have lunch or dinner with her.

We got to host a bunch of really wonderful sailors for Thanksgiving 

hey everyone!

does anyone have a recruit that is graduating on March 6, 2020 and will be doing A school at Great Lakes?

Mzjazzy1, my son told us today that he would be staying at Great Lakes for A school. He is graduating on the 6th.

Great!  Did your son state anything regarding liberty after Pir?  Do you know if they will get time away before A school?

Mzjazzy1, my son graduated last week and is at GL for A school.  After PIR you'll have about 15 min with him and he must check in back at his BC ship and check into his ship at GL.  I was able to pick him up around 3pm. While you are waiting you can pick up his graduation pictures and visit the Navy museum. I signed him out and he was able to stay with us at the hotel for the weekend.  He must call his command officer each day to check in.  Enjoy your liberty time with your sailor.  It will go by very fast! 

Thanks for the information navymom1660. What time did your son have to be back at GL on Sunday?

Hi

My husband and I were able to drive on base and park right in front of my son's new barracks (ship).  We had to stay in the lobby while he dropped off his stuff.  We even went to the MWR ( I think it stands for Moral, Wellness and Rec.) .  It was very impressive to see they have a bowling alley, movie theater, small restaurants, arcades and lots of activities for our sailors to sign up for.  If you can drive your sailor to their new ship, I highly recommend it. 

Thank you Regina126 and navymom1660!

Mzjazzy1, your SR will be exhausted after battlestations.  Here is a link with more info https://www.militarynews.com/norfolk-navy-flagship/news/quarterdeck...

.  My son's division was the very last one to complete it.  We didn't get the "I"m a sailor" call until the evening before graduation.  We were in Chicago already.  Need to be patient.  Remember, no news is good news.  My son's PIR was huge with 16 divisions so I knew I had to be patient.  Expect the call the week of PIR.  A good group to join on Facebook is Navy RTC Bootcamp and Beyond.  I got so much wonderful and helpful info from many moms.  You'll see all the posts of " Got the call of I'm a Sailor" and then you'll know you should be getting yours soon.  Glad to help and you'll be able to pass along the info to a new mom as well :)