Great Lakes A School Q&A

joeysproudmom, my son stayed at GL for A school.  He was able to be with us on Friday until 9:00.  Then Sat. and Sunday from 5:00 am until 10:00 pm.  My husband did have to sign him in and out every time he left and came back on post.  Enjoy the weekend.  It's a wonderful, memorable time!

Any Moms with sailors that have an IC rate Interior Communications?

Loved our PIR weekend. My Sailor took a hot shower layed on the bed text his firiends we went  to Gurree Mills Mall Rainforest Cafe was pretty cool. went to theNEX off base had some nice Navy t shirts. My son got his own phone plan at Verizon they do offer a Military discount. Used our PIR car pass to get on the base PIR weekend only It saved time.Esp in the eveing We drove in with the Pass Our sailor sat up front showed ID and we could sign him back in.At least his "ship" let him do that.   ENJOY  BRAVO ZULU

My Sailor kept wanting to be on the go but twice the poor thing fell asleep in the car. He had briefings Friday and Saturday night after we dropped him off so he didn't get a lot of the make up sleep he needed but he was so happy to spend time with us. He had to walk to the gate to meet me in the visitor lot then I'd have to drive back to his ship to sign him out each morning (The pass would have helped there) He called at 6am each day to tell me he was heading to the gate. My hotel was close enough that I still beat him to the gate.

Make sure you get your Sailor back with plenty of time (My son had a 10 PM curfew) since the gate can get a little backed up with all the last minute returns. We made that mistake one night and though we made it with about 15 minutes to spare, My SA was stressing a bit.

I'd just let your Sailor set the pace. some want to relax and some like mine are just excited to be out in the world.

My son and his friend both are going to A school in GL for Damage Control but went to boot camp 19 days apart.  Does anyone have any idea if its possible that they will be somewhat together in A school.  I wasn't sure how often new classes are started.

It just depends on the class numbers. My son is a different rate he had to wait 2 weeks.

Jana, Thank You.  I was wondering if there was a wait to start class sometimes.  It just makes me feel a little better knowing that his friend will be near by even if they don't get to see much of each other.

allboyz,  my son PIR'd 8/16 and didnt start A school till 9/10... i guess they wanted to fill the class, so the kids hang at their new ship & do duties & stuff until then.. plus they can go off base once they are phase 2.  

allboyz. my son is also damage control :)

LauriB, When you say they can go off base, do you mean on weekends.  Do they get much free time in phase 2? Glad to hear your son is also damage control, I may have more questions for you as time goes on.  :)

How long are you in each phase in A school?

PIR liberty is 50 miles.  After that it is 300 miles.

They can go offbase during the weekend days in phase one (minumum two weeks).  Once they hit phase two, they can also go off base on weekday evenings.

Both phases have a curfew, phase two is later than phase one.

Phase three, they can stay offbase on weekend nights.

How long they are in a phase is determined by how fast they can qualify for their privileges.

In all phases, they must have a liberty buddy. This can be a family member with written permission.   All phases may be rescinded at any time if mistakes are made... and sometimes one person can get everyone's liberty taken away.

Here are the Great Lakes liberty phases:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/training-support-center-tsc-great-la...

They usually have a four day weekend.  However, you have no way of knowing his duty rotation yet, and since it is four section duty, he should have at least one of the days as a duty day, and possibly be standing watch.  You can visit with him on base when he has duty (but not watch) in some circumstances.  

(I have no idea if they're doing duty weekends now or straight four section rotation).

He should be in phase two or three of liberty, so should be able to spend some time with family.  

My son called yesterday and told me he will be at great lakes for about 3 weeks for fireman training. His pir is 25 Oct, 2013. I hope this will work so that he can be home for thanksgiving, we are only 40 miles from great lakes.

allboyz,  i think DC is aprox 8-10 weeks & yes, with a buddy, they can go off base on the weekends, dont think they would have much time during since they have school. Im praying after school, he will be able to fly home for a visit.

you can check with the group of your Sailors rate to get more details of what happens during school and whats to come. some get to go home after school and some are going to C school and will report directly to schhool

As for phasing up my sailor enjoyed going into Chicago the train is so close. those families who live close to the base are so fortunate you can visit  or they eventually visit you. My son went to Wisconsin with a buddy. I appreciated their hospitallity.

Leave during A school, even on hold times, is not usual because they can class up so quickly.  However, it isn't against the rules.  Rarely granted though, very rare.  I've seen emergency leaves, of course, and one for a wedding where the A school was a year long.

He can try, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.  

my son just passed battle stations and just got to make his first liberty phone call., and starts A school  this week.  He was so excited.  But he was even more excited to request us sending him his phone.  He has 96 hours.  Will he be able to come home?  from the previous post, maybe not.

bigdog, if he's straight out of boot camp, leave isn't happening. 96 hours sounds like he earned an extra day of liberty... 72 is a normal three day weekend, a 96 is something special.  He won't be able to go home, unless he can also wrangle an "out of bounds" chit... he can ask to go outside the 300 mile liberty limit.  Cant hurt to ask.  

 My daughter had PIR 9/13 and we are trying to figure out a weekend to go back and see her, I know in Phase II they can go off base on the weekends and have to be back by midnight.  So the other thing we are looking at are her "duty days" if she figures out she doesn't have duty on a particular weekend could we assume she could spend the day with us. Are there other things that can make her have to stay on base? 

TracyB, Your daughter may also have an option to earn Bravo Zulu's and use them to get a duty day off. She only needs three, and according to my fiancé, they're easy to get. He helped the new sailors check-in twice while he was on hold, and had a perfect inspection of his room. He's flying me out the weekend of my birthday in October and we already know he'll have a duty day that weekend, but because he has three, he can turn them in for that day off and get to spend all weekend away from base since he'll be phase III.

On average how long does it take to get to phase III?  I know everybody is different but hoping someone had a average number of weeks.

My husaband just got phase II and i asked him last night when i was there and they said they cant test for phase III until a certain amount of time after the phase II test i wanna say he said like 28 or 26 days something like that

Yes I believe you have to be in phase II for 3 weeks.  She thought she could get to phase II in about 2 weeks.  So maybe in 5-6 weeks she might be in phase III.  NavyWife how long did it take your husband to get to Phase II?  I am just trying to plan my next visit and it is all so complicated.  

No worries !!! He did it in two weeks :) they just have to shadow and stuff and then pass the test which is usually on a monday and if they pass then they phase up that friday before the weekend so they can enjoy the perks you could go while they are phase two bc they can stay out till midnight on liberty and there is a lot to do on base while  you are there tooo if you decided to visit for the weekend but you would have plenty of time with your sailor if you visited and they were only phase II

Thanks Navy wife, we may go visit her when she is still in phase II, I am sure we will be back when she is in phase III as well, haha.  I am going to have to ask her about earning "Bravo Zulu's" to use towards days off from duty are you familiar with those?  I just don't want to get there and then she has to do watch or work duty.

No problem!!!! I havent herd anything about Bravo Zulu before but i live close to great lakes and we are married so luckly my husbnad has been able to stay overnight on liberty on the weekends since he graduated unless he has duty on the weekend he just has to put in for an overnight chit, I am not sure how it works otherwise i think phase three they can put in for an overnight chit i belive :0)

My son is now at A school in GL.  His division had their PIR on 9/13/13.

Welcome Navy Blue.  What's your sailor going to school for?

@Ellen... yes, the travel office (SATO) takes care of it all.  However, he has to pay for the leg of the trip to home and then to the duty station, but the folks at the travel office will help him get that done.  

My daughter is there at A school in Great Lakes after her PIR last Friday, 09/13/13.  It is good to get to communicate with her again.  Her classes should begin at the end of the month.

NavyBlue  Hi my son is an IC he is now in A school you need to join our group for IC's  lots of info. and  support http://www.navyformoms.com/group/icsailors   My son PIr was 5/31 any questions ask away if you want friend me.

Congrat to you and your new Sailor  Bravo Zulu !!

On the list of things to bring my sailor for A school after graduation he requested his playstation. I am thinking that he should be plenty busy with school and probably does not need the distraction of his video games. hehe.. So my questions is this- do they even have personal TV's in their rooms to begin with? I heard that some rooms don't even have AC or are clean so I can't imagine they would have the luxury of TV access in their rooms.

Some of the barracks are older... but be assured, they are all very clean.  That's what sailors do while on hold, clean.  And clean some more.  And some more.  

Most of the sailors study at the school building during study hours rather than in the barracks.  If they fall behind at all, they are placed on mandatory study. The Navy pays a lot to train them, they aren't going to get to waste away their time on games very long.

PIR was 9/20. On hold to start A school in Damage Control.  We had a great weekend with him. Since we live a little over an hour away, we can also visit him while he's in A school.  Yay!!!!

He cannot wear his civilian clothes for the first two or three weeks, not until he earns his liberty phase two.  He also will not have unlimited room to store everything.  He can have his things when he checks into his barracks room on TSC (school side of base) on Friday afternoon, or take them on Saturday, but he'll have to keep them locked up.  

Maybe bring him some boxers, sleep pants, his favorite running shoes.  He can have those to relax in when he's in his room.

Proud Navy mom of my son,  He is currently at boot camp at Ship 02 Div 950 and graduates on Oct 25. My son tells me that he is doing well and has met some pretty awesome people that he already considers close friends. I have talked with him a few times on the phone and he sounds absolutely great!!  Anxiously awaiting graduation, I miss him terribly and I can't wait to give him a great big hug!! He will be in A school at Great Lakes. I am glad I will get to spend some time with him. Would like to bring him his computer but will they have internet access there or are computers allowed?

He can have his computer, although it needs to be a laptop or tablet he can put away. While the rules vary, they can't have desktop PCs sitting out.

There is free wifi in a few places on base such as The Loft, if he wants it in his room, he has to get it installed and pay for it.  If he's lucky, he'll get a room where they already have it done, and he can just go in with his roommates.

After PIR, how many days leave do the sailors have? What day exactly do they start A School? Is it the Monday after PIR? I've also been told it's the Wednesday after PIR. Thanks.

Just found out that my son won't be starting his schooling for another month. Any suggestions I can give him to do to occupy his time wisely?  As far as he knows he is a fn or fm at GL.

Send him to the ITT department in the student NEX on base. They'll be able to find him plenty of stuff to do on base or in Chicago for good prices. The loft (gym) on base has a department called "Liberty" in it that does trips on some weekends for the sailors. If you got to www.mwrgl.com you can find all sorts of stuff. The "FUN TIMES" is a newspaper you can find on base or on that website with the Liberty "field trips" and all sorts of activities on base. They have plenty of fun stuff to do for the sailors that's free or discounted. Let me know if you have any questions. We live at GL.