Great Lakes A School Q&A

My condolences to you and your family.  What a difficult time for all of you.

Thanks to all of you...it looks like he is going to be able to come back for the weekend and be at the funeral.  It means so much to all of us!

Mariecb- my condolences for your family. I pray he is allowed to come home without any delays.

Kristn- I advised my son to return by 1/3/13. Chicago weather is harsh and i feared delays due to snow storms and such. As it turns out though, my son is expected to graduate the day before Christmas leave so he can not buy tickets yet until he knows where he will be stationed.

If he is graduating the day before he goes on leave, he should have orders in hand any day.  He can talk to SATO about routing him home en route for leave on his way to his new command. He then just pays them for the leg home.  

In any case, he can talk to the travel office on base.  Sometimes they can pull off last minute travel.  There's also MWR ITT who can help book tickets.  

ok I have a guestion maybe some one can help me..My grandson left for the Navy on the 22 of Nov .. will he be able to call us and let us know when grauration is .. and what divison he is n .. or any thing

nan54-BH, Your grandson will send a form letter home that gives his division number and graduation date. While waiting for the letter join the following group for information and to chat with others who have a loved one in BC (boot camp)

Boot Camp Moms

Here is another good group for newcomers:

http://navyformoms.com/group/newmomsstophere

nana54-BH the day he gets there he should be able to call you for a quick second to say he arrived. You will not receive his box until days later, and then as ellen0502 stated a form letter will arrive with his address and graduation date along with a password so do not throw away this form letter. I have found this group to be very helpful and informative. Once you find out when his graduation date is you can join that specific group for additional support. Hope this helps

At ellen0502 and proudmomma94.. thank u for all ur help .. and info...

Are there parents and family members out there checking and rechecking the weather every hour to see if it has changed for the Thanksgiving Weekend?

I had planned on going out Wednesday and returning Sunday-but Mother Nature is putting up some road blocks..if I can't make it-does anyone know what happens on base for the holiday?

Yes, they can get mail at Great Lakes.  They can receive packages, but have them find out if they're allowed food in the barracks.  Some require them to have resealable containers.

Hi NavyMomYve, you should be able to contact her on her cell whenever you want, unless she's in school or on watch.  Other than that, there are pretty much no restrictions.  Yay!!!!

Well, they can't walk and talk while in uniform, so you have to catch her sitting down!

I am so glad to hear that the restrictions are lifted once they are in A school!  I can't wait until I can call and talk pretty much whenever we want.  

Hi Amani, my daughter finished A School about a month ago, is an E2 as well, and is leaving Monday for Sasebo, Japan.  She's not the only one in her group that was sent overseas, so unfortunately, I would say yes, it is a possibility.  It's a tough pill to swallow, but they go wherever the Navy needs them most.  Although it's very bittersweet, the pride you have in your sailor surpasses it.  Keep us posted, and there are groups for every location, base, ship, country, etc. on here for support.  God Bless your family, and Happy Thanksgiving to all.

If there are single sailors, they stand a bit better chance of going overseas.  Sometimes the detailers have no option, and have to take the first warm body to fill a billet.  Th try not to end the junior married guys, but there is no guarantee.

@Vmom, the airlines only offer a limited number of military priced seats per flight.  Sometimes none at all.  If everyone flying is military, they still only offer a couple seats.  The discount isn't that great anyway.

Just curious...for any bubble heads...do they usually stay State Side since they are deployed for months at a time or will they be sent overseas?  

Our only forward deployed subs are in Guam and Hawaii.  Hawaii counts as OCONUS too.  So yeah, they usually stay stateside, but they can be sent overseas.  We do have sub support commands overseas.  That counts as shore duty, not usual for first term sailors.  Nothing is impossible though.

However, I didn't think any sub volunteer (they're ALL volunteers) went to school in Great Lakes.  Thought that was all in Groton.

My SR will be in Great Lakes for 14 weeks and then transfer to Groton for 7 weeks.  He will be a machinist mate on a sub (or so the plan was last week.).  LOL

Ah, that makes sense.  I'm used to nukes and SECF.  My nephew is on a sub out of Groton, he loves the small crew and how family-like they get to be.  It is a unique and busy life!

My Sailors in Great LakesFor A schoool.  Said he might be ther for a year which is alright with me seeing we live in Michigan.

DTbowl where at in Michigan? You can inbox me if you don't want to post it on here

They earn 2.5 days each month.  After boot camp, they have about five days.  They can borrow their own days forward to have enough for the holiday stand down, up to ten days.

So my husband and I are flying in late on Thursday evening and I was wondering if anyone who lives near Navy Lodge can recommend a good place to eat with a bar/micro brew nearby?  I think I've heard of a place named Flannigans but do not want to journey all over Great lakes for some good beer and pub food.

Thank you all so much for directions, Moira

I found out at PIR that my son had new orders to report to Groton first so I will be transferring over to their site.  Thank you for your support!

Anybody know when holiday leave is?

Dec 20 ~ Jan 5

Do not book flights before noon on the 20th, and try to have them back a day early.

My son's flight leaves around 1 and he said he can get on the 7:30 a.m. shuttle on the 20th?!  Also, I mentioned going back a day early and he said he would then have to stay in another ship that night and move back to his ship on the 5th so he wants to fly back on the 5th.  I hope it all works out for him and us!!

Hi all,

Thanks again for directions to the V. Center lot. We got our sailor just fine. It was so hard to leave him though. I did get a message from someone who said she never met another Moira, and didn't get a chance to respond. Now I can't find it. Anyway, we're Irish on both sides, couldn't forget it if I wanted to, but I married outside of the Irish, but he's mostly Scottish.

Thanks again for all the support,

Moira

mariecb - my son was also told if he comes back a day early then he would have to move to another ship.  So he is also flying back on the 5th, its just not worth it to move your things over for a night.  I am a little nervous about the flight they got him on the 5th though, its later in the day.

I'm reaching out to our experienced moms. My son is finished with A school at Great Lakes. He has his verbal orders and now we await the official orders.

Does anyone have an idea of how this process works? He told me that he will have time home before his official assignment-which is so conveniently around the holidays.

My question is how often do the official orders not match the verbal? We are thrilled with his verbal order.

Hi CQEOC, Congratulations on your son finishing A School.  I can only speak from my daughter's experience.  She was given her verbal orders, and hers did change.  I don't know how often this happens, but it did happen in our case.  She was originally supposed to go to Virginia, and is now in Sasebo, Japan. She was able to use 19 days of her accumulated leave and was home for Thanksgiving.  I'm quite certain that is normal for them to come home before their first deployment, regardless of where they are headed.   

Janai'sMom, Thank you so much for the reply! He is scheduled to go to VA, with a ship assignment but had applied to the Riverine program (which he really wants). I guess I can hope that his might change-although-Japan is really, really far away!

Congratulations to your daughter and you. I am so proud of our kids!

Well, the saying is verbal orders aren't worth the paper they're written on.  Plan as though he's getting what he was told, but don't do anything so concrete it can't be changed.  I'm thinking more along the lines of spouses changing jobs and colleges and renting apartments based on verbal orders.  Nothing so drastic for a single sailor.  I never had it happen to me, but it happened to a couple friends.  I did get a set of orders I never asked for once, but that's to be expected.  Turned out I loved the place and found a husband there by accident!

Are there any airlines with good military discounts that you know of? When is the best time to book tickets?

Are the tickets for you or the sailor?

The number of military discount are limited per flight, they're not that great anyway.  I use Kayak to find the cheapest flights, although in winter, direct flights are ore reliable, even though they may cost more.