PIR FAQ

[Arwen]

Public Display of Affection

In the Navy physical forms of affection such as hugs, kisses, and holding hands while in uniform are known as a "public display of affection" (PDA) and as such are forbidden.

There is one exception: families saying goodbye to a sailor before a deployment or greeting a sailor returning from deployment or long separation. Boot camp counts under this exception, with limits. One enthusiastic hug of greeting and a quick kiss are acceptable. French or extended kisses are not. Nor are extended hugs, hanging off your sailor, etc. Girlfriends and wives, save the good stuff for the hotel room!

Hand-holding at any time is forbidden. There is a compromise, and I consider it to be a sweet one. A sailor may offer his arm to his girlfriend/wife/mother, she lays her hand in the crook of his LEFT elbow in formal escort fashion. Likewise, a female sailor can take the RIGHT arm of her husband/boyfriend/father with her left hand. In a truely romantic gesture, men may lay their right hand over their girlfriend/wife's hand (to keep it warm, or for skin-to-skin contact). The sailor must ALWAYS have his right arm free to salute an officer or flag, should one show up.

Also, just because you aren't on base, don't assume they aren't looking. RDCs and other boot camp personnel also go to the mall, out to restaurants, to Chicago, etc, and they will be looking for new sailors breaking the rules. Some may actually be assigned this job in popular venues. Even if they run into the recruit by chance and are just out with their own family, they will report the new graduate. You won't likely see them because they will not be in uniform, but they will see you.

And no, they won't try to punish YOU for your infraction. They will punish your sailor when s/he returns to barracks. The most common punishment is to have their liberty revoked the next day, or for the remainder of the weekend!

About uniforms

Your sailors will be wearing their dress blues, not their whites, on Friday at PIR and after. If you wear something light colored, be sure to bring a lint brush for your recruit to "clean up" his or her blues. They're wool and pick up just about anything. If you are bringing a pet, bring one of those sticky-tape rollers to de-fur your sailor.

Friday is the day to do something clean. Dress uniforms show EVERYTHING. This is not the day to risk going to an Italian eatery. Changing into a swim suit and going to a swimming or going to Chicago art museums are "safer" choices to keep their blues perfect.

On Saturday and Sunday they will be wearing their service uniforms, which is a khaki shirt with black slacks or skirt. This uniform is more forgiving and is a better choice for hair appointments, spaghetti or other possibly messy accidents.

 

They will already have one or two ribbons. The first (red and yellow) ribbon is for being in the military during time of armed conflict. Many earn a navy-blue and green Marksman ribbon for accuracy during pistol training. Some may earn Sharpshooter or expert, which are distinguished by a small letter (S or E) pinned on the ribbon. Be sure to praise them for these ribbons, they are very proud to wear them and will appreciate the recognition, expecially those who
earn an E!

Dress for the day
PIR is a formal military event. As such, please dress to show respect for your sailor's accomplishment (not every recruit makes it through boot camp) and to the Navy for hosting the spectacular event. Your sailor will be wearing his best uniform, the equivalent of a suit and tie. There is no "dress code" but consider the situation. You don't have to wear formal clothes, but please, no micro-minis, no beat-up jeans or sweatshirts. When I went, most ladies wore slacks, denim slacks (dressy jeans) or skirts with sweaters or blouses. A few wore dresses.

Wear whatever shoes you prefer. If you are used to wearing heels, wear them, if you prefer flats or other shoes, those are fine as well. The walk is relatively short (less than 1/4 mile) on sidewalks that are very well maintained. There is no need to wear "comfortable walking shoes." Wear whatever type you wear most of the time. I wore 3" heels, which I wear every day at work, and was perfectly fine. Some girlfriends wore stilettos, and were also fine. Most of your time on base you will be seated.

Come prepared for the weather, if you arrive early you may be waiting outside for a while. Watch weather forecasts and be prepared with whatever is appropriate, from sunglasses and sunscreen to raincoats and umbrellas.

 

Hotels

There are a lot of hotels in the Great Lakes area. You have a wide range of choices. The closest is Navy Lodge, which is in the Navy Family Housing part of the base. It costs $65 per room. Some of their rooms have full kitchens (so you can make a real home-cooked meal). have as many as 2 queen beds per room, and it allows pets.

There are a large number of hotels in the $70-$100/night range within 10 minutes of the hotel. Most of them are decent, clean hotels. Be aware that the Ramada Inn hosts a Meet and Greet for  all PIR families each Thursday night. It is open to any PIR family, not just guests of the hotel.

The coolest hotel is also one of the more expensive ones. It's the Key Lime Cove, a hotel and indoor waterpark. It's about $110 per night, but it also has all of the entertainment you need, including a dozen water slides, indoor pools, hot tubs, arcades, restaurants, and more. It's like a tropical vacation in Chicago. You can do this instead of the Navy Pier and other expensive entertainment options. Just make sure your sailor has Navy swim gear for swimming, they MUST be in uniform even when swimming.

Getting on base
There are two options for getting on base, driving your own car (you will need your parking pass) or take a shuttle (taxi) from your hotel to the front gate. You will be dropped off just inside the gate.

If you drive you will check in at the gate using your gate pass. You received the password to get your gate pass in the form letter your recruit sent the first week. This will be available to download and print out 11 days before graduation. Plan on getting to the base between 5:30 and 6:30 to get a place in line. From the gate, drive about 1/4 mile to the parking area, then go to the guest check-in. Then they will escort you as a group to MCPON Hall, where the PIR ceremony will take place.

Your gate pass is also good Saturday and Sunday to pick up and drop off your sailor. You are allowed to go as far as the end of the parking lot used for PIR parking.

If you choose to take a shuttle, the shuttle will drop you off just inside the gate, at the taxi/shuttle staging area. This is also where you can catch a taxi at any time during PIR weekend. From the staging area, check in at the front gate. From there you can walk to MCPON Hall, which is the first building on the left.

If you need assistance, there are recruits waiting with wheelchairs or other assistance to get you to MCPON Hall, and special seating areas - right up front. Only one guest can accompany a disabled person in that seating area.

When you leave, if you took a shuttle, you can either take the shuttle back to your hotel or walk one block to the train station and take the train to Chicago. You can buy weekend (3-day) train passes for $7 each. This is an inexpensive option, considering the cost of parking in Chicago is about $20 for each location.

What if more than four people want to attend my sailor's PIR? Each recruit gets four adults
(age 12 and older) at the ceremony, guaranteed. At large ceremonies (14 or more divisions graduating) getting additional guests in can be more difficult. For smaller ceremonies it is easy to get a few extra guests in.

If the graduation is medium-sized (10-12 divisions) and they aren't certain how many guests will be there, additional guests will have to wait outside until they can determine how much seating remains. At my son's graduation there were nine divisions, and there were whole bleacher sections empty. No one was being held outside.

Grad and Go
First you need to know if they will be "grad and go" (GnG). GnG grads are scheduled to leave for their A-school as soon as they graduate. Most GnG graduates are in the first two divisions in a group, though some individuals from other divisions may be GnG. They may be informed of their GnG status as early as the first week, others may not be told until the day before PIR.

Some GnG sailors may have to leave immediately after the ceremony, getting only a short time with their families. For those who know ahead that their sailor will leave Friday, some route their trip home to stay for a few days at their sailor's A-school location for a visit there.

Other GnG grads (called Saturday shippers) will leave on Saturday, either very early in the morning or mid-afternoon. If this is the case, they can have liberty on Friday.

Families of GnG sailors can meet their sailor at the USO at the airport to hang out together until it is time for their flight. You can give them their cell phones and other personal electronics (mp3 players, handheld game systems or laptop computers) at that time.

GnG sailors who will got to school at Great Lakes will spend about 3-5 hours transferring "across the street" to their school at the NTC (Naval Training Center), then will get liberty the rest of the weekend. For the most part they will have to live by the same rules as those who are still at the RTC (Recruit Training Center) but slightly relaxed.

Liberty
Sailors will be released directly from the PIR ceremony to liberty. However, many will want to return to barracks, usually to get something s/he wants to give you, such as their portraits or divisions t-shirts. This sometimes takes as long as a half hour, so I recommend that you ask your sailor to give it to you Saturday morning, when you won't lose all that time together.

Sailors will NOT be allowed to stay with you at night. Each night they will have a curfew, which depends on the whims of their RDCs and can change each night. They have to be in their barracks and ready for inspection no later than one minute before curfew. Drop your sailors off AT LEAST a half-hour before curfew is up. Plan for 1 hour early, just in case there is bad traffic or some other unexpected delay. It is a 15 minute walk from the gates to barracks. Don't leave anything to chance. If they are late by even 10 seconds they may lose their liberty the next day.

Liberty and leave are two different things. In civilian terms, liberty is a weekend off, while leave is vacation, charged against the sailor Like civilian vacation time leave is requested ahead of time (usually 2 months before). Sailors may not take leave until they have completed A school.

Cell Phones
You can bring your sailor's cell phone for him/her to use, but there are several rules about cell phones. First sailors may not "walk and talk." If a sailor wants to talk on their cell phone, they must literally sit down or stand in one place. They are effectively "trapped" by the call. They also may not carry their phone in a pocket. They must hold it in their hand or give it to you to carry.

They can NOT bring their phones with them back to barracks. You have to keep it. If your sailor is GnG, as mentioned before, you can bring it to him/her at the airport, or give it to them once they are "across the street" at Great Lakes NTC. If your sailor is shipping out later in the week, plan to send it in the mail in a week or two, once you have his/her new address.

What to do with your sailor PIR weekend

Your sailors will be required to stay within 50 miles of RTC Great Lakes. Don't worry, there is a lot to do in the area.

All non GnG sailors get three days, including Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Most will have to stand watch once. If they have morning watch they will be released late, if they have mid-day watch they will have to return to RTC, then can go out again. If they have evening watch, they will have to return early.

If you don't have enough time to go anywhere before or after watch, you can hang out with your sailor at Ricky Heaven (just inside RTC gates), which has a food court, arcade, lounge and a convenience store (with souvenir items available).

Let your sailor pick his/her own activities for PIR. They have been told what to do (even when to go to the bathroom) for nine weeks. They will want to make their own decisions for a few days. Send your sailor a list of options and tell them to pick three, one for each day. It can include:

*Gurnee Mills Mall (includes a theater, a Rainforest Cafe and more)
*Downtown Chicago/Navy Pier/Imax Theater
*Medieval Times (a medieval themed dinner theater with activities)

*Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

*Hang out at the hotel and relax, sleep and take long hot showers
*Salon and/or day spa: for female sailors, many of them want to go to a spa and hair salon to repair the damage boot camp does to hair, nails and complexion.

[diannep]

Good post, Arwen. 

Everyone, just remember...if they go swimming at your hotel, they need to be in Navy-issued swimsuit!  So make sure to remind them to bring that after PIR.

On the incident at the Ramada earlier in 2010, it was more of an isolated event...quite shocking, yes...but the GM has assured the PIR groups that security steps are in place and guests are not at risk.  One member of a former PIR group herself was a hotel GM. She called and discussed her security concerns with the GM and he assured her group that all was well.  She reported afterwards that they had a wonderful time and felt very secure. This took place outside of the hotel and I was told was gang-related and the target very specific.  Not too comforting, I know...but being from Miami, my family has learned to live with events like this.  Many who have stayed at the Ramada have been very happy there, including JessicaBSailor.  It would be a shame to let one incident ruin the reputation of the hotel.  Yes, I agree with Arwen that you should not be walking through the neighborhood...but with temps rather chilly this time of year, I doubt that would be taking place anyway!  :-) 

[CastonguayShip02Div912]

thank you for the information, its a great help! so thankful for people putting information on here!

[Arwen]

The train station is one block from the main RTC gate, and runs every one or two hours. You have to leave PIR pretty fast to catch the first Metra Rail train into Chicago. Trains leave the station to head for Chicago at 10:45 am and noon on Friday.

 

Once you're in Chicago, there are buses and trains going almost everywhere. Don't forget to pick up a schedule and allow plenty of time for your recruit to get back to barracks! It's better to be early for a train and sit around (good time to bond and chat) rather than miss the last train that would get your sailor back on time. If that happens, a nice expensive taxi ride can come to the rescue, which is still cheaper than parking in Chicago!

[momofms72]

So...my soon-to-be sailor is going to Florida for A-school. How or when will he find out when he leaves for FL? His recruiter said he'll probably leave on Saturday, early in the AM. How will I know for sure? Does anyone know that can help me out? And as far as his cell phone, can I give it to him when he leaves the next day at the airport, if that's when he leaves, or is that against the rules? I was hoping he could take it with him, so at least I could have that contact with him. Augh, so many rules we have to follow for our sailors. I'll do it though. I just need some answers from someone who knows.

[diannep]

momofms:  Your recruit will be told if he is Sat. GradNGo. If that is the case, you can meet him at the airport that day (very EARLY in the morning...they are bussed out in the wee hours).  There, as long as he is not on a charter plane, you can give him his cell, laptop, etc.  Most airlines will allow military families to have a gate pass so you can visit with your sailor while he is waiting for his flight.  Have ID for this.  If he is not Sat. GradNGo, and is held on RTC for a few days until he flies out, then you will need to ship him these things once he arrives at "A" School and gives you his address.

[SailorsWife'10]

Excellent information! I was so looking forward to smooching my sailor at graduation lmao but now I know that'll get him in trouble! So very excited, this site has really helped me out! I'm going to check out that Navy hotel because if I can bring my dog I know my husband would be in heaven! LOL.

[ame7]

Arwen, thanks for the great info.  Just out of curiosity, what kind of rules are the RDCs and Navy personnel looking for new recruits to break?  Is it mostly uniform infractions? Conduct? .....Just wondering.

[Arwen]

The recruits will get a long list of rules before they are released for liberty. They are looking for anything from walking while talking on a cell phone, to forgetting to wear their cover (hat) outdoors, to holding hands. Also, driving a car, being out of uniform, being more than 50 miles from the RTC.Two that get them in the most trouble are drinking (even those age 21 or older may not have ANY alcohol, not even a beer) and being in a forbidden location (some neighborhoods and businesses are off limits).

 

The list seems endless.

[diannep]

watkins:  Residence Inn welcomes pets!  Just in case the Navy Lodge does not.

Oh, and to add to Arwen's post above, my son was so scared to do anything wrong on Liberty (not like him...he was the class clown in school!).  He had forgotten whether they wear their covers in the car or not...and got very nervous about that...he said they were threatened with being asmoed(setback and held on base) if they violated the rules.  So no way would he do anything not allowed.  They all worked too hard to become sailors to risk anything.  One mom had posted in a past PIR group that her hubby couldn't wait to "kick back some beer" with her new sailor after PIR. A couple of us veterans tried to tell her NO WAY!  She didn't want to accept it...but when we told her what could happen to him, I think she realized this was serious business!  :-)

[ame7]

Thanks for the info.....I'm "all about following rules" and so is my daughter, so I'm sure she'll be fine.  Probably moreso, after boot camp.  So, ARE they supposed to wear their covers in the car?? 

[diannep]

Arwen??? I believe so....my son did.  But Arwen can confirm this!

[Arwen]

No covers in the car. As long as the sailor is in an enclosed space, covers are not worn.

 

We did get confused in one place. The train station had a large (huge) roofed area over the loading area, but no walls. It was so big we couldn't see outside. or figure out whether he should wear a cover or not. Eventually we decided not, and never found out if we were right or wrong.

 

Also, while MOST are too scared to do anything wrong (mine was so stressed out about it he didn't want to do much in public) there are always a few in every PIR group who think they can get away with something.