Great Lakes A School Q&A

Gateway on base can be problematic for A school sailors, as it is off limits to them most of the time, and you need military ID to book a room and have base access.

From the liberty phase guidelines:

 2) Students are prohibited from entering Bldg 30 (Boorda Hall), Bldg 62 (Navy Gateway Inns and Suites), the 400 complex (with the exception of BEQ 439) and on-base housing (which includes the Navy Lodge) and Forest City Housing unless you are listed as a resident. During recruit graduation weekend from Recruit Training Command, if recruits attaching to to TSC-GL have family staying in the Navy Lodge or Gateway Inns and Suites, they will be required to route a special request chit to the OIC to be able to enter and meet the family at their room. 

Hi Rhonda the Courtyard Marriott cost for $94.00 per night - for PIR and the other 2 nights it was $84.00 using other discounts !!!

My daughter doesn't leave for bootcamp until July 14, 2015 and I've been looking at hotels for September and want to stay at Navy Lodge. Are they allowed to visit at Navy Lodge and go in your room?

yes ashleysmom they are allowed to visit at Navy Lodge-just no overnight stays-

Is there any post about the actual Great Lakes "A" School? My SR will be staying at GL and I was wondering if they will have their own rooms and what can he have in his room. OR if they will share a room or if its more like boot camp and they will be in a huge room? How long will they be there for OS? and about when do they find out where they go after A school? Any info is helpful.

Because there are several schools, usually you can find a group specific to that school.

He will be sharing a room with two or three others who will be in the same school, although not the same class.  More like a college dorm, with big wardrobe lockers.  They may have personal items, but most must be locked up when they are not in the room.  Some barracks (called ships), do not allow food, some do.  Some allow a game system, but they must have permission.  Their space is limited, and if they must change rooms or barracks, they have to be able to carry it all themselves, or get friends to help.  Keep it simple.

OS A school is ten weeks, but he may be there a couple weeks longer, waiting for other to graduate and have enough students for a class.  They get orders for their permanent duty station about halfway through.

oh thank you! That helps! I know its the Great Lakes A School, so there are several of these?

Great Lakes is a training command, Training Service Center, or TSC, with a number of different schools, mostly technical or engineering ratings.  An OS would not go anywhere else for school.  The location is set, although sometimes the Navy will move a specific school.  

There are training commands all over, but each is very specific.  Those going into aviation tend to go to Pensacola, subs go to Groton, nukes to Goose Creek, hospital corpsmen to Texas, and so on.  

Can new sailors have non-regulation luggage at TSC? We're bringing him some civvies for when he phases up and I was wondering if we can pack them in his Filson duffel.

If it is plain black, then no one will notice.  Anything he carries over his shoulder when he is in uniform is supposed to be black.  

Thanks Anti M!

If his duffel is not black, just get a cheap one to stuff it in?  If he wants his own for later, that is.  He won't always be in uniform.

I think I'll just have his mom bring stuff in her luggage and he can bring his backpack to the hotel to take it back with him. I don't think it's a lot of stuff. We can always send him the Filson later. Too bad, it would look great with his woodland camo! :)

The new digi woodland camos?  My husband had the old kind; wore them to bits after he retired.

I think so. My guy is very much looking forward to not having to wear his "blueberries" anymore once he gets across the street!

Not many wear the woodland, gives me a good guess what he'll be doing.  No need to be paranoid, just aware.

I remember I was very excited to get out of the ancient utilities I wore in boot camp, and into dungarees.  And even though I had to pay for them, the "ice cream" and "Johnny Cash" uniforms were pretty cool compared to the dress suit I was stuck with (and which the women still wear today).  

I miss dungarees.  My dad wore them in WWII, looked nearly the same as the ones I wore!

Oh I love the dungarees. Makes me think of Steve McQueen in The Sand Pebbles. They've done away with a lot of the really cool uniforms over the years :-\

Don't mind the cap, I just threw it on for the pic.

My dad:

Love it!

Well we made it thru Navy A School in Waukegan, IL 

My daughter has been there since December, 2014.   She is finally home again with us-  We Love having her home again !! 

She will be deploying to Japan on Memorial Day !   She is so excited to finally start her Navy Career!  

Signed One Proud Mom !!  Thank you for listening thru this entire process !! I wish all of you Well on your Navy Journeys ! 

Safe Travels to you All !! 

Terri 

Japan is great, have you found one of the Japan moms groups yet?  Fabulous ladies, very active.

I was stationed in Japan a couple times, as was my husband.  We have several bases there, do you know which one?  She should get a civilian passport, it opens up many leisure travel opportunities, and is invaluable in an emergency when out of country.  The no fee one is useless except when traveling on orders.

They do not give gate passes for A school grad.  Your sailor must meet you at the gate and escort you.  Every one must have some type of ID, and sometimes they check the car registration.

My son will graduate 5/24/15.  I saw that he will have to report to GL A school after graduation.  We have a conflict...of course everything happens at the same time.  Once they are in A school how often do they get liberty?  Do they get liberty on weekends in A school? I wanted everyone to visit with him but it might not be possible since we need to be in Boston on Sunday-we would have to leave Saturday AM.

Liberty is normal time off, they earn their liberty privileges in phases.  Even then, the Great Lakes liberty limit is 300 miles as the crow flies.   No flying home on long weekends.  Some weekends they will have duty, once they are in school they learn their rotation (usually 4 section).

Here are the liberty phases for Great Lakes, each A school has something similar.

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

I wrote a short blog on the differences between liberty and leave:

http://navyformoms.com/profiles/blogs/leave-vs-liberty

Jennifer12470, my son is at Great Lakes for A school.  He is usually off on weekends(liberty) unless he has duty.  After PIR he was ready to be picked up at about 3 PM and we had to bring him back to base before 10pm.  We had enough time for dinner and visiting around our hotel (Navy Lodge) with all of the family. 

Hope that helps. 

momstuy thank you that helps a lot!  We are staying at Holiday Inn Express only 5 miles from the base so I'm hoping some relaxing time for him.

Anti M thank you so much for all the information!  I am thinking we will schedule for the whole family time to visit him another time that instead of that weekend. 

My son graduates boot camp July 2nd. He will then go right into A school there. He and his fiancé planned on getting married after A school. Does he get much time off to go off base during A school? Is it better to get married during A school or after?

Do they get the weekend off after graduating July 2nd when going into QM A school at Great Lakes?

Thanks Raven81712

My daughter just left us yesterday to become a Corpman, for Recruit Training in IL!  Just trying to keep my emotions in check....so very proud of her!  Was so good to hear her voice last night on her call to home.

MomofMo12, the Corpsman A school moved to San Antonio TX a few years back.  Are you in the boot camp group?

Joining in prayer!

My son will be attending A school in GL, how long is A school?

@ Alex's mom, there are many A schools at Great Lakes, from weeks to months long.  What rating did he sign up for?

Okay, that is a very long school.  First he has to go through indoc, learn about the base, duty days, etc.  About a week. Then he waits to begin ATT, which is about 10 weeks (electronic prep school).  Then he waits for A school, which is either 15 or 17 weeks (varies as they change the courses)  depending on if he is and ET or an FC.  After that, he gets orders to a C school in another location, and may have to wait on hold to go to that specialty school.  They keep them busy while on hold, it is very common.

Overall, he should spend nearly a year at Great Lakes, including boot camp.

I found out today that Alex's classification is FC, A School is nine weeks Right?? Then where do they go for C School?

FC's may go to Sand Diego for C school also.

The C school in Dam Neck is for the CWIS missile  system, AEGIS is in Dalhgren, and other weapons systems are in San Diego.

My son's PIR was 7/10/15 and is now at Training Support Center Great Lakes A school and his rating is IC.  Would you have any information on what to expect.  When does he begin classes, the curriculum etc?  Also he is now E2.  What are the steps for increasing rank and what does he need to do for Phase 1, 2 & 3. If he does not start classes until next week what should he be doing to get ahead while he has this time available?  thank you.

Is there a facebook group as well. If so how do we join?  Is there a specific group or facebook group just for IC A school Great lakes?