Great Lakes A School Q&A

kcmacc2000- Sailors dont get leave after PIR. If they're staying in GL they do get weekend liberty to spend with their families/friends. They'll be able to leave base during the day and have a curfew to be back at night for that friday, saturday, and sunday. When their classes start will be based off their rate (so, what they're going to school for), the space available in the classes, and their last name. My husband's last name starts with a letter that's towards the beginning of the alphabet, so it took him 3 weeks to start BECC (his first class). While they're on hold waiting for their classes to start, the ship they are on will keep them busy doing cleaning and taking watch shifts. And they'll still be working toward getting more liberty, so they can do more on the weekends and weekdays.

@bigdog... your sailor's time on hold will be full of musters, chores, and duty.  In addition to the excellent suggestions by J's wife, there are plenty of volunteer activities too.  

FN is simply a paygrade for engineering rates (E-3).  Do you know what his rate will be?  His job?

I'm wondering how all of you communicate with your sailors when they are out to sea. I am trying to figure out do we get skype accounts or is our cell phones good enough.

No Skype or cells while they are at sea.  No cell towers, and no coverage.  Your options are snail mail, email using their .mil account, and they can call you using the ship's satellite phone system (which they pay to use).  They can also use phone cards in port, and possibly wifi when in port.  They have limited internet access, if at all, while at sea.  American cell phones don't always work overseas, and if they do, the charges can be killer.

Be aware that the Navy controls all communications on and off their ships at sea.  They need to have the ability to shut down signals, and communications, for security reasons.   

Thank you for all your great responses for what to do while waiting for A School.  I will surely pass them along. Thankful for these sites and expertise.

ktolle, My son is currently somewhere floating in the ocean. We correspond through email, snail mail, and once and a while we can "chat" on FB. He has been at sea for a couple of months and we have had about ten minutes chat time. 

The phone he had just bought became a paperweight, camera and mp3 player. LOL He did buy a phone when he got there, but that was more for communication to him from the Navy. He does not call or text home as it is very expensive (killer like Anti M said)

How do you find out if your son will be starting A school immediately after boot camp.  Through the recruiter? He will be going for electrician's mate.

The recruiter will not have that information.  There is no way to know until he checks into the school, as they have to have warm bodies to count to make up a class.  They don't count them until they graduate and check in.  

He will have indoc first, to learn the base policies and regulations.  Then he will have ATT (technical prep school) which lasts three weeks, then A school.  He may have a hold between indoc and att, and before beginning A school.  You can join one of the snipe moms groups to find out the current average hold, as they can vary wildly, and for a variety of reasons.  

Cody's mom, your recruit should know where he is going for A school.  My daughter is also an EM, just had her PIR last Friday and she is at Great Lakes for A school.  She texted tonight and said it looks like she will be there about 9 months.

I looked it up, an EM will attend both BECC and ATT before A school itself.

Wonder how long it takes to train or call up active duty instructors?  

Hi Moms.  My daughter was supposed to finish A School on Oct. 16th.  She called last night.  She will finish her strand, and then was going to be coming home for two weeks.  Her orders are still up in the air.  Sure enough, even though she will finish school, she is stuck in GL indefinitely, along with a lot of other Sailors, until this budget impass is solved.   She's a HT.  Although I'm able to talk to her daily, it still hurts.  Like she says, she's on "Standby to standby."  Praying for some resolution soon for all of our Sailors.

Orders from A school to a new command are not supposed to be held up.  I'm suspecting that the the travel office is one of the bottlenecks, as that is staffed by civilian workers.  I hope they get this resolved soon. 

Here is the most detailed outline of what is supposed to be happening I've found so far:

http://navylive.dodlive.mil/2013/10/01/what-we-know-now-about-the-g...

What is unclear is if they're moving out only those who have orders cut already, or if no new orders are being cut.  Hope it isn't the second option.  

They've closed the commissaries.  That is unacceptable.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/shutdown-idle-us-based-military-...

beths#14/361, thanks for the info.  We know my son is attending A school in Great Lakes.  Just didn't know how we find out what delays he'll have after reading some comments on here.  My son was originally told by his recruiter that he'd attend A school for 4 months.  So I guess we'll just wait and see what happens!

Whatever amount of seat time is listed, expect quite a bit more than that!  Always been that way, even when I went through A school 30 years ago.  Astonishing how much has not changed one bit.

Ihutch- the NEX (Navy Exchange) is still open. The students only had immediate access to the NEX anyway. The commissary here isn't on the student section of base. So, yes, your son will be able to get everything he needs still.

Abby- I'm sorry your facing such a long wait for his school. I would be way more upset about all these holds if I didn't live here. Hang in there girl.

Cody'sMom- I agree with Anti M that it just depends on the seat time for the classes. Somehow our recruiter was actually dead on with how long he advised us (even with a total of 5 weeks on hold). Buuuut my husband is facing a potential hold in the middle of strand school because of everything going on. Like you said, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. As they say in the Navy, "Stand by to stand by."

The NEX is for profit, so it will be okay.  The commissaries are subsidized, so are closed.  

Abby- Oh good!! Yeah, if it weren't for all the people who are out of jobs and money right now, I'd tell them to take their time. lol 

Can someone direct me on some suggestions as to what to pack and mail to my son once he gets to A-School...ie, should I send him a laptop, his cellphone, etc.  I'm a newbie mom of a soon to be sailor so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ship 13 If you are going to PIR and your son is staying at GL you can bring his phone rem the charger and laptop. He can take them back with him the eveing of PIR.  Also bring his Fav boxers comfy pants and tshirt I brought a backpac.

Jana thank you!!! He will be going to San Antonio, TX for A-School...will he be able to bring them with him?  I guess I can always bring them and if they don't let him take it, I can mail it to him once he's settled, right?

He will probably be flying out in the morning, you can give them to him at the airport.  He can't take anything back to the RTC side of base that evening.

Just in case you have not heard...Sam's club is allowing those with Military ID's to shop without a membership during the govt shutdown and closing commissaries...so if you have military ID, you might want to check it out and see if your Sams club is participating

Costco just got onboard with free memberships for military ID card holders too.

http://www.thriftynorthwestmom.com/costco-discount/

Anyone with an upcoming and or recent graduate of A school stuck right now due to Shutdown???

MyKidsinNavy my daughter's PIR was 9/13/13 and she was supposed to start A school at the end of Sept then was put on hold till 10/16/13...now with the government shutdown she is on hold but doesn't know when she will start, unless things get started again and she can start on the 16th, but I guess things will get pushed back.

My KidsinNavy - My son will be graduating A school in a couple of weeks and has orders already.  He texted yesterday that now he has to wait for hardcopy confirmation of his orders and can't make plans til he gets them. 

my son is currently in A school & is now on hold.. poor kid... lots of cleaning & standing watch. he said they were to graduate Oct 30th, but now that will be pushed back.. I told him, well one plus is if it ends soon maybe you will be home for thanksgiving !  I miss him so...

Im not sure if anyone posted this for you... if your sailor is staying in great lakes, you can bring them some cloths for when they hit phase 2..  we brought my sone his laptop, cell phone & charger, his guitar & he now has his ps3 & recently bought a tv... guess he has a place to store all this in his room.    thats the main thing, is where he/she will be staying & how much room they have... Bring it, worse case is you have to take it back home with you... After PIR they will go back to their ship & get ready to move over to their new ship/Aschool location... you will get them later that afternoon which then, after they are moved they will be able to bring their stuff back with them.  

Hi, Moms, I was told I should join this group because my SR will be attending A School in Great Lakes beginning of November, I had tons of questions, but pretty much received a lot of answers reading your post.  

My son still in Great Lakes and just started A school Wednesday.  He was also on hold because of the shutdown.  I mailed the things he requested.  Held off on sending his clothes.  He told me he'll let me know when to send them because of the phases.  While he was waiting, there was alot of cleaning & being on watch. All in all, he's glad A school started & ready to be stationed! 

Does anybody know when Christmas stand down starts and how many days it last?  

The stand down lasts two weeks, but they don't release the dates officially until sometime in November.  Usually.  It varies year to year when the official dates are given out.  Rule of thumb for stand down: do not guess the dates and book non-refundable tickets.  Do not book any morning flights for the first day, they have to process out thousands of sailors.  Going on leave requires checking out, and in some cases, room inspections (they close some of the barracks).  Get them back one day early.  Winter travel weather through Chicago area is notoriously awful.  

With Christmas on a Wednesday, I'm thinking Monday the 23rd to Jan 3, but DO NOT quote me, that's just a guess.  Also, they would not be able to check out on leave over the weekend unless the stand down officially starts the 20th.  You're not supposed to combine leave and liberty.  You'll hear old salts talking about calling in to check out on leave, but that's for in the fleet, not at a training command.

Will sailors who are in GL at A-School be allowed to go home?  Or do they have to stay in GL?

They will be given the opportunity to take leave to go home.  They will pay for their own travel.  The schools will sit them down and walk them through the process of requesting leave.  Leave is paid vacation days, unlike liberty, which is normal time off.  Liberty is "free", leave is earned.

They earn leave at 2.5 days each month.  If your sailor doesn't have enough days earned, days can be borrowed in advance (usually up to ten days).  Some choose to only take a week over the holidays, as they want days to use to go home after A school.  

Once they get to the fleet, there is no stand down, although there is a more relaxed holiday schedule.  

Thank you Anti M for the leave vs. liberty information!  Very clarifying!

Most civilians don't know the difference, and it really is important to know what type of time off a sailor has.  Liberty has limits (72 hours, 96 hours by special request), and limits on how far they may travel.  Leave is asked for in writing, and they can travel anywhere which is not off limits, although if they're leaving the country, they have to get another layer of permission.  For example, Mexico is currently off limits.  

does anyone know when they go to a school if they get a discount on laptops? If not anyone know of a good laptop that would be good for A school?? not sure if laptops are at A school for kids to use .. thank you for any information

To answer the laptop question yes they get a discount at the NEX on base.