Great Lakes A School Q&A

Got it!

My SR advised me that he will be going to A school in Great Lakes after his PIR 11/26.

@jaron'smom-when i spoke to him on saturday he did nit tell me. I will ask on the next call

Does A School starts every Monday? My SR PIR on 11/14 and I wonder if he will start his school on the following Monday

my son is at great lakes waiting to get into A school, how long do you have to wait to get into A school at great lakes after boot camp graduation, does anyone know?

The stand down begins the 19th, so they will check into their A school command (but not begin school), then put in their leave papers with everyone else.

My son is waiting to start A School in GM... I think he is getting a little bored of cleaning :) 

my son went in to be a gunnersmate, as of last sunday my son stil had not started school yet

i was wondering the same thing, my son graduated oct 12 from  boot camp and last i taked to him he said was waiting to be put in a school and that was last sunday..

I think they have transportation, but not sure cause my son s going to missour for christmas to his dads. your son might want to ask about transprtation to be sure.

Okay, when traveling TO home, do not book a flight before noon.  The schools are checking out thousands of students sailors on leave, it is chaotic.

For transportation to the airport, he can sign up for an MWR shuttle.  He has to pay for it, but it is cheap.  

Coming back, yes, have him on a very early flight.  Some even come back a day early, so as not to risk cancelled flights.  First flight of the day he needs to be back if you can swing it.  Never cut it close when returning from leave, even if a delay is not his fault, he may catch heck about it.  

Returning from the airport to base, I do not know if there are shuttles.  He can check on that.  If not, or if the timing is wrong, he can take a cab.  No worries, there will be hundreds of returning students and they will be splitting fares.  Try calling Sarge's taxi (his number is all over the PIR groups) and see if he is running any holiday specials.  I bet he is.

My son is Gunnersmate, graduated boot camp 10/24.

Mine was div 950, but he says all the GM are together so they may know each other now.

this was posted to the Great Lakes - A School Facebook page:

ATTENTION ATTENTION STAND DOWN INFO HERE

With stand down coming and for those that don't know what that is it is the time for Christmas break at great lakes a school it is from DEC 19th to JAN 5th. The navy's goal is to get as many people off the base at that time. Your sailor will have a briefing about what they can do while on leave and what they cant do they will also be given directions on what to do if their flights are delayed or canceled. TELL YOUR SAILOR TO PAY ATTENTION AT THIS MEETING MOST SAILORS NAP THOUGH IT THEN WHEN THEIR FLIGHTS ARE CANCELLED THEY CALL MOMMY AND DADDY TO HELP THEM.They are told who to call and where the number is on there orders and yes every set of orders has a phone number to call in case things happen which i can promise will over stand down. So with that said your sailor needs to pay attention doing stand down briefing . I will be posting more about stand down as it gets closer but for now remember this
1. tell sailor to pay attention in briefing 
2. don't book any flights earlier to leave Chicago before 9 am
3. if your sailor takes all the stand down leave then when they are done in A school they will not get leave before reporting to new duty station unless they are going over seas.

Also, my son has been at A schools since May and stated they will have transportation to the airport.

I have no idea, but I would think so.

They do brief the ones graduating from RTC, although perhaps a bit later.

I see it says no flights before 9, but noon is a better bet.

One thing: DO NOT LOSE THE LEAVE PAPERS while they are home.  Put them with their return plane tickets. THEY WILL GET IN TROUBLE IF THEY TRY TO CHECK BACK IN WITHOUT THEM.  

I'm way ahead of the process but reading other posts, it's hard not to want to get some thoughts on previous situations. If my son will be RTC during stand down time, what do the recruits do during that time? Thank you for any comments

Thank you Pollux, his recruiter had indicated that he may get put in push division to finish during part of the holiday, so I was wondering once seeing other posts how that worked for recruits. I think my best bet it to not get hopes up and just wait until we get notification.

My son will be in the reserves  after A & C school. Do you advise him to go ahead and take the full Christmas leave or should he not take all of it? Or does everyone get Christmas and other leave?

TSC ???

THANK YOU POLLUX.....

HELP HELP!!!!! The child care center on Base does not take drop-inns. I NEED someone to watch my 9 year old and 4 year old during PIR. Does anyone know of a daycare center off base but close? I am hesitant but, if I HAVE to I will pay someone who is not going to PIR  ( with references , SAFTEY thing) DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A DAY CARE

Call the hotel where you will be staying and see if they have the local numbers for trusted babysitters.  Some do.

Or try sittercity or care.com and look for a military spouse who sits and takes drops ins.  

My son just graduated 10/31/14.  I asked him what his title was and he said Fireman. Does anyone know how long his A school will be and does he go to C school after?

Fireman is the engineering equivalent of Seaman or Airman, also all are paygrade of E-3.  Nothing to do with actual firefighting, and very generic. Ask him his rate and see what he says.  His A school for his rating is something else entirely!  Unless he has gone into the PACT program.  That is three weeks of training, no rating, no A or C school.

Gigi, he will request to take leave "en route".  When the travel office arranges his travel from Great Lakes, they will put in a flight home, then on to Hawaii.  A week to ten days of leave is common, plus they get a couple "travel days".  He does have to pay for the flight home, but the travel office arranges that (comes out of his pay if they're still doing it the same way they did when I was in, and they may be). The Navy arranges flights in bulk, do not try to get a flight to save money, the lowest prices are already contracted out.  He may also request advance travel pay.  

Anti M ... His rate is DC.

Wow, lots of videos for DC!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvzdTIg2b_k

The one rating which actually fights fires, although every sailor on a ship does, because you can't call 911.  Even I was trained for it in boot camp.

DCs also are very good at emergency hull repair, eek!

Not sure if that is the flood trainer at GLakes, there are several around the US.

Thanks to everyone for all the information. 

Does anyone here have a sailor who just graduated 10/31?

My son said because he is staying at GL for A school we will have 10 min then he will have Cinderella liberty after we go to our school and check in. He also said they would put them on a bus and take them to a different base.. Did he mean, another place on the base at GL? 

Great Lakes is two bases, RTC (boot camp) and TSC (Training Service Center, the A schools and other training).  So after PIR, he will visit briefly with you, then take all his belongings over to TSC and check in.  Takes a few hours, so you will be able to go eat a snack, maybe visit the base museum.  Then you pick him up until his curfew.  

thank you for the information. So I guess the real question is how far is it from A school to the NAVY LODGE

SOOOO it is one big piece of land with two different sections? Or is the TSC base in a completely different location?

Lisa, are you talking about Gateway Inns & Suites?  That is the Inn that is actually on base.

Training Service Command.  That is all the A and C schools, other any other training/school (ATT, PACT, pre-BUDS) at Great Lakes.  Basically any student sailor cannot use the Gateway or Lodge except for graduation.  Most families do not use the Gateway unless they themselves have military ID.

My son leaves for BC on Jan. 7, 2015, and he will stay at the GL for A school (rating - GM). What is the housing situation there? I read somewhere that they can have their own blanket that they would put away during the day, as well as their own towels. I am wondering if it is somewhat set up like a college dorm room? Do they bring a tv for the room? What about a clothes hamper? Also, if they have food snacks, how are these stored? Just trying to learn as much as possible so I am prepared? i would appreciate any help.