Great Lakes A School Q&A

Darlene, my son just finished up a 10 day leave that began May 20th. He graduated A school March 23rd so he had a two month hold before he could take leave and come home. He is now in C school in Dam Neck, VA so I will be leaving this great group.  The Navy paid for his flight to Dam Neck and he was responsible for the difference to fly into Greensboro, NC and they take that out of their accounts. Your son has been accruing leave time since he started boot camp so that should not be an issue. The Navy has a program that the sailors can participate in between school and deployment that allows them to work for 5 consecutive days at the Recruiting Office they were recruited from and it does not count as leave even though they are home. Might be something for your sailor to look into.  The travel agency on base makes all flight arrangements so after your son receives his written orders, he may just want to stay on top of that.  My son still did not have his reservations made 5 days before he was supposed to leave so he had to remind them he was flying out.  Good luck to you and your son.

Thank you,good luck and god bless

Darlene, their leave begins when they have leave papers in hand, and have checked out on leave.  He earns 2.5 days a month from the day he left for boot camp.  It equals 30 days a year, although they do not always get to take it when they like.

The time spent after graduation waiting for orders is hold time, he would muster, do any assigned work (cleaning, mostly) stand duty when required and so on.  He would have normal liberty (regular time off such as weekends and evenings).  

GSM is about 8 weeks long.  If she has to wait to class up, she will be on hold beforehand.  Always expect the stay at Great Lakes to be longer than the listed seat time for school itself.

She should get orders halfway through, although that can vary.  If there are no available billets, she will wait at Great Lakes until something opens up.

Hello NavyMom5.7. I am Angelina and My Younger Brother is my Sailor. Their is probably a group with the name of PIR 4/3. In every new group their are veteran Navy Moms and they give sooo much info. right down to where to stay when you go to your Daughter's Graduation. If you go under groups and type in search Just like that PIR 4/3 you will find them. And Congrads in advance.

Hello AggieMOM I will be traveling to Great Lakes end of the Month. I will keep my eyes open for hotels closer to Downtown Chicago. I will probably be taking my Dog so I plan to stay at the Motel 6 Waukegan again like I did for my Brother Grad in April

myMinzy Thank You  for that advice You know I can apply it to many things going on at work. Thank you  again. What ship is your son on? and thank you for the correction of my typo Of 4/3 instead of 7/3 sometimes I log on soo late at night I am tried. My Brother is on the USS Wisconsin but I am pretty sure he will be moving soon.

He cannot fly home unless he is granted leave.  That would be unusual during A school.  There is a 300 mile liberty limit, and he must have a liberty buddy with him at all times.

Here is the basic liberty phase information, although it does not address the recall mile limit:

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

My son started A school for FC on May 9. How can I find out when he would be given leave to come home prior to starting C school?  I think I've read that the Navy makes the travel arrangements, but when will we find out the dates?  

You can't find the exact dates until he has orders.  That is much closer to the end of school than the beginning.  In some cases, depending on funding and the availability of C school seats, FCs have been know to graduate and then be placed on hold until orders open up.   This is very much a fluid situation.

Is FC school 20 weeks? So as a ballpark, if he started in early May, he will be done sometime in mid September?

Before an FC begins A school, they must complete ATT (apprentice technical training, an electronic prep school).  That is roughly nine weeks.  Then they go back on hold to wait to class up for FC A school.  That is 20 weeks.  However, the holds vary, so most FC are at Great Lakes for about a year.

https://www.cool.navy.mil/enlisted/rating_info_cards/fc.pdf

OS is 10~12 weeks.

It is quite normal to have a short hold period before beginning any Navy school.

The attrition rate for ND can be as high as 80%.  If they do not pass, they will be re-assigned a new rating.

http://www.navycs.com/navy-jobs/navy-diver.html

Navy Diver class "A" school is 15 weeks in duration, and it is located in Panama City, Florida. Before attending the class "A" school, a seven week preparatory school will be completed at Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois.

My son is in phase 3 of A school. When he is home, is he allowed to drive?  I wasn't sure if he had to be done with A school before driving privilages were given.

He can drive.  Phase one is when it is prohibited.

Great, thanks Anti M!!!!

Hi Shiloh- Is your son about to do Dive Prep at GL...or Dive school in PC?

I just found out my son graduates from A School next Wednesday!! Woohoo I'm so excited!! Praying he will be home soon for a visit!!

My son will be a Fleet Returnee to Great Lakes for A school, is there a certain size TV he is allowed to bring?

The schools do not make exceptions for fleet returnees who are not E-5 and above.  It sucks, and it sucks hard, but he truly must grin and bear it, and above all, do not piss off those in charge of him.  We had a fleet returnee striking for ET school, an E-3 who thought the rules should not apply to her.  She got written up by three different petty officers in one duty weekend (slept through muster, out of uniform, talked back to the the second class PO).  That Monday she was packing her seabag, she'd lost her school.   I understand what it is like to be a fleet returnee myself, it is not easy, but sometimes you have to put up with it to get ahead.  Give him my sympathy.

EM school is in several parts, but altogether the schooling itself is 18 weeks.  There may be holds between the sections, so do expect a longer stay at Great Lakes than that.  It can easily run six months or more.

https://www.cool.navy.mil/enlisted/rating_info_cards/em.pdf

Because his school is not more than 20 weeks, the Navy will not pay to move you up to Great Lakes, nor can he get permission to live off base during that time.  The hold times do not count toward Live Ashore eligibility.

You will receive BAH, the housing allowance, based on where you live.  That takes about four to eight weeks to show up in his check.  Once he gets the initial amount, it will show up half in each paycheck each month.  

During school only.  Different schools have different policies, most only allow the student sailors to live off base or in base housing if the school is over 20 weeks.  After that, when he receives orders to the fleet, you two can certainly live together.  When he is in the fleet, your BAH will be for the sip code of his new duty station.  

Remember, A school is quite different than the fleet.

Sorry, zip code!

I have a question, my son received his orders;San Diego,Calif on USS  William  Lawrence July 11,does navy set up flight and pickup from air port for  that? he will come home next week for 2 weeks on his dime,but not sure about his return to Calif?

The Navy arranges his flights ... what he was supposed to have done is let them arrange his travel home "en route", then charge him for that leg.  Never jump the gun on purchasing plane tickets.  He needs to go talk to the travel office (SATO) as soon as he can, because paying for a trip home before arranging the official travel is not the way it works.  Always  wait for the orders to come in and go to the official travel office.  Buying his own tickets may end up costing more if he has to fly back to Great Lakes.  

There are shuttles from the airport to the base, or taxis.  He will be reimbursed.

He said they are making their arrangements on Thursday,They are helping him..he hasn't done anything yet.

Okay, it sounded like he had, I'm sorry.

They will arrange his flights, and he only pays for the part going home.  Has he requested a sponsor from his ship yet?  He should, they can be very helpful when he gets to California.  They may be able to help him get transportation, possibly even have the duty driver come get him.

Here is some helpful information:

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/navybasesunits/ss/SanDiego_2.htm

Will they tell him about requesting a sponsor before he leaves?I will tell him about that,  thank you very much.

Just talked to him,he has already been in contact with his sponsor! I guess  he knows more about things then i realize,still worry because i am "the mom" and being the first time he has been away from family...only 18 years old...growing up in the Navy! Thank you again for your help and guidance

MY son is home! finished A school with flying colors,Thank You for all the help,leaving this group... San Diego here he comes!

Awaiting, hey, sorry to hear they won;t let him stay with you.  However, in the fleet, you absolutely can live together.  You can choose between renting offbase or using your BAH for the military housing (not always on base).   Whenever he is in port, he would go to work pretty much like a regular job, but with duty days.  He may go to sea, and then the usual deployment stuff would apply.  However, there are Family Readiness Groups and an ombudsman to help you  stay informed and involved.  It is much different than school. 

No problem with being busy, I get it.  Hug your little ones for me!

There is a lot to do on base, and fireworks.  It is pretty big.

https://www.facebook.com/GreatLakes4thofJuly

any IC this is a great group so helpful and lots of info

http://navyformoms.com/group/icsailors