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Events
**UPDATE 4/26/2022** Effective with the May 6, 2022 PIR 4 guests will be allowed. Still must be fully vaccinated to attend.
**UPDATE as of 11/10/2022 PIR vaccination is no longer required.
**UPDATE 7/29/2021** You now must be fully vaccinated in order to attend PIR:
In light of observed changes and impact of the Coronavirus Delta Variant and out of an abundance of caution for our recruits, Sailors, staff, and guests, Recruit Training Command is restricting Pass-in-Review (recruit graduation) to ONLY fully immunized guests (14-days post final COVID vaccination dose).
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR UP TO DATE INFO:
**UPDATE 8/25/2022 - MASK MANDATE IS LIFTED. Vaccinations still required.
**UPDATE 11/10/22 PIR - Vaccinations no longer required.
RESUMING LIVE PIR - 8/13/2021
Please note! Changes to this guide happened in October 2017. Tickets are now issued for all guests, and all guests must have a ticket to enter base. A separate parking pass is no longer needed to drive on to base for parking.
Please see changes to attending PIR in the PAGES column. The PAGES are located under the member icons on the right side.
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- Graduation Info
- PDF – 2.7 MB
- PNG – 2.3 MB
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Son just left for basic
This is so ridiculous, I’m sitting at work crying my eyes out because I didn’t get a chance to say good-bye to my son. He left little over an hour ago to go with the recruiter to the hotel and they fly out tomorrow to Great Lakes for basic.
He’s going on 23, has been living with friends and lately with his girlfriend, so it’s not like I’ve seen him much in the past year. Still… Doesn’t help that my own mother just called to say she was there, got to see him and he was so broke up he couldn’t talk. Just not fair, I thought I had tonight. Last I saw him was Sunday when he stopped by to get $$ for a theme park trip. He was with some friends so I couldn’t say anything. I know I’ll see him again in Aug. for PIR.
Views: 150
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Barb (Proud KS Navy Mom) on
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Hang in there KittyKatz. Take comfort knowing Grandma was there. My son left last week and he was 1 of 3 that were leaving from MEPS for the Navy. One of the recruits had no family there at al! She was extremely upset and I took it upon myself to 'adopt' her for the time being. Gave her encouraging words and included her in the hugs right before they boarded the plane.
Start writing your letters and as soon as you get your Form Letter you will be relieved! Hopefully he will have a chance to writie you a note on the back to let you know everything is fine.
~Hugs~ to you :)
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Permalink Reply by KittyKatz84 on
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I had no idea you could be at MEPS with them. My son is sitting over there all by himself. They'll be bussed over to the airport and flying out tonight.
I did talk to him last night and he seems to be doing ok.
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We went to MEPS to see him "Sworn In"...then we followed the van to the airport and stayed with him until he boarded the plane. We are fortunate enough to have excellent Recruiters who encourage families to see the "Swearing In". I can't say enough about them! They have offered so much advice and encouragement! They also told us to send his cell phone with him, it came back in his "Box", but he was able to call us as he traveled to Great Lakes. He called us after he landed, then as he was waiting at the airport to go to the USO, then once from the USO. His 30 second phone call later that night was made from his cell...then we got it back in the Box.
As far as the letter writing goes...find some funny postcards or cards and send those to him. He'll appreciate it more than you realize. Especially since he knows you're not a letter writer :) Send him Sports Stats or print song lyrics off the internet. It doesn't really matter what you send...just send something!
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My son didn't tell me much about what was going on or the process. Never knew which office he was going to or even the name of the recruiter. Also the recruiter messed things up good and a new recruiter had to take over last minute. His file had "accidently" gotten shredded. Things originally promised fell through (he wanted nuclear tech) and he almost didn't get his E3 rating.
To make things worse I asked him last night what job he got classed for. He tells me Electronics and Computer Science. I asked him why in the world and he said that's what MEPS placed him for. He's good in science, but the natural ones like biology. When he took a beginning computer class a few years back in college he failed miserably and claimed to have hated it. Think he was doing it for me since I work with computer software and so does my father. He also had been thinking about getting into the medical field.
He doesn't know whether I like to write or not. Unfortunately we were never really close in a way to share like that. I have no problem writing as you can see here, I just have an issue with what to write him. It's just not natural to me.
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Permalink Reply by Concernedad on
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Now would be a great time to start writing him letters telling him how you feel. He will appreciate the mail unlike any other time in his life, and there will be no distractions to take him away from reading them. Just starting writing and numbering the outside of the envelope so he and you will know which order to read them.
I would suggest not making it too heavy though, as he will be already going through a lot of stress.
And do your best to attend PIR. He will appreciate greatly you being there.
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Unfortunately I'm not a big letter writer and my son and I never had a relationship that we could just talk to shoot the breeze. Not like my younger son who I'm closer to. I'll have to figure out something.
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On this site somewhere you will find great questionaires. My son's not a letter writer and it made it much easier for him to fill in the blanks. Plus it will help you with questions you might not know to ask.
I also went to websites and printed out his favorite comic strips and sent them to him. Also, a puzzle he might like will be appreciated.
They just appreciate getting mail when they can, it's one of their few rewards.
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Got the 30-sec phone call last night at 10:15. Thank goodness I had known it was coming so I made sure I had my cell on me. Can’t imagine how devastated he’d be if he had to leave a message. Wasn’t sure he’d call me, though I suppose his girlfriend was probably working. Was a bit amusing, I could hear someone in the background saying hurry up, hand over the phone (it was his cell). He texted my husband all during the flight and at O’Hare. Needed a bit of cheering up, doubting his decision.
Once I get the address I’m going to tell everyone to send him stuff. He’s going to get barraged. I told him Wed. night that he could earn phone time after a few weeks and that I didn’t mind if he called his girlfriend. I also told him that PIR would probably be Aug. 17th or 24th. He was surprised I knew stuff he didn’t. Asked me how I knew the date and I said I counted the weeks out. LOL
Lovely that their first week is going to be in the 90’s. This summer sure is going to be a hot one. We live in Michigan so we’ll be having the same weather as them. Suppose if they’ll be in the water a lot it should be ok.
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LOL! First off, they won't be in the water much. I believe they have one week dedicated to water training.
Also, from everything I've ever seen, the phone calls home seem to be totally random (unless they need to get some personal info based on their future rating). I wouldn't want you to think, if you're not getting calls home, he's not doing well. He, more than likely, will get a phone call in week three, but it will be brief.
As to information about graduation, and what they're about to face, you will know more than they do. My son always wanted to be surprised by what was upcoming, but he was impressed that I could tell him stuff they don't while you're there.
I wouldn't worry too much about the heat as much of their training will be done indoors.
Oh yeah, the first week is the toughest.
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Just wanted to let anyone who has read/replied to this post that my son is in SEPS now and currently in Ship 5. They giged him on his past history of depression and 7 month treatment for it almost 5 years ago.
I found out by a letter from him yesterday. He told me to write because he was lonely. I figured he'd be home by the weekend and anything wouldn't reach him before he left. I just read that it may be another week to 10 days before he will come home. That totally stinks. He wasn't depressed before he certainly will be now. The Ship 5 group also said they get calls. He hasn't yet, don't know if he knows.
Well I guess this'll be my last post, I'll be removing my subscription soon.
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