Tip for Driving to Graduation

[Jenn_NicksWifey]

My husband just finished bootcamp and we went to his graduation 7/20.  It is an amazing, amazing thing.  But, I thought I would hop over to the groups who have Sailors graduating and give you a tip about driving to the RTC gate. 

You will most likely be coming from Buckley Rd and will have to make a right turn into RTC.  If this is the case, drive past.  Yes, I know, scary, but drive past the gate.  You will go through a ramp sort of like a highway ramp and come to a traffic light.  Turn right, this is Sheridan.  You will come to the main gate for Great Lakes Naval Base.  On the right, you will see a small brown sign that says "All visitors use second right".  That second right will take you to the Visitors' Center parking lot.  Just use it to turn around.  You want to be going the other direction when you approach the RTC gate.  Leave the Visitor Center parking lot and make a left.  Go to the traffic light and take another left.  This will bring you right to the RTC gate again.  Except this time, you will be making a left turn and you will get a green arrow!  No more waiting in line!  Plus, the Visitors' Center is where your Sailor will march to after signing in to A School if s/he is staying at Great Lakes,  so you'll know exactly where it is. 

If anyone has questions about graduation or what happens when your Sailor stays at Great Lakes for A School, please reply under this discussion, and your reply will go to my email.  I will answer everything I can. 

Congratulations and welcome to the Navy family!!

Jenn.

[SailorMom92 (DIV 244)]

thanks so much!!  did you share about your experience before during and after PIR?  would love to read, if you did

[Jenn_NicksWifey]

I did type up a little bit, but most was in response to questions.  I'll give you a rundown of events.  We got in Thursday afternoon and did go to Sarge's Meet & Greet.  Sarge & Marge are great people and have tons of good info (and a variation of the above driving tip).  I think I barely slept at all that night.  I was excited and nervous and, well mostly excited.  We got up at 5:30am.  I have two kids, a baby girl of 7 months and a boy almost 9, my mom was with me to help with the kids and we were meeting his parents at the graduation.  They drove in the morning of because they both had work commitments Thursday and Saturday.  We finally got out of the hotel at around 6:30am.  We stayed at the Gateway Inn, since I'm a spouse and had my military ID, I could book a room there.  I highly recommend it for anyone who is able, especially if your Sailor is staying in Great Lakes for A School.  The barracks turned out to be a 5 minute walk from the hotel.  Saves tons of transportation time. 

So, definitely consider using the above method for getting in.  We only had to travel the green arrow because we were coming out the main gate, but it only took about 10 minutes for us to get to the security gate at RTC.  My mom and I had to show our licenses.  I had brought the kids' birth certificates because it says they need them on the form letter, but they never asked.  I would still bring them, just in case.  Once you are in, you basically just follow the cars to the parking area.  If you get there early enough, there is a parking garage, which would be great in inclement weather.  You park and walk, follow the people.  There is a museum that the line to get in winds through.  I don't remember much about it at all.  I wish I had paid attention.  You can't take pictures in there though.  Once you get to the head of the line, you go to the next person with a list.  There is a long table of maybe 6 or 8 people sitting with highlighters in their hands.  You give them your ID and tell them your Sailor's name.  They mark you off the list.  If you are not on the list, there is an area you can wait.  My husband's best friend came, which was so sweet of him to drive in at that hour in the morning.  They've been friends since they were 6, so just over 20 years.  He wasn't on the list, but he was able to get in.  We only had 7 divisions, which I'm told is a small training group.  Once you get through the "list people", you go into the drill hall.  If you have a stroller, they ask you to please stow it behind the curtain.  I took a small umbrella stroller and leaving it there was no big deal.  Then you get to the bleachers.  They are hard and uncomfortable.  I have a well-padded rear end and I was sore by the end of the ceremony.  I recommend a little cushion.  They do sell cushions there, I'm not sure of the price.  As you enter the drill hall, if you look to your left, there is a little cart selling souvenirs.  You can't get these items anywhere but at PIR.  I bought 2 dixie cup hats for the kids.  So then we started looking for my in-laws to sit with them.  My heart totally sank when I saw they were sitting at the very top.  I knew it was going to take forever to get to my Sailor at liberty call.  But we sat there anyway.  It was really hot up there.  I had to take the baby out once because she was fussy before the ceremony started and it was much, much cooler at floor level.  If I went again, I would sit on the first row.  There is not much room to squeeze by your neighbors so if you are prone to having to get up, sit toward the aisle and be patient with those who have to go by you.  If you can hold it for the duration, sit in the middle, you won't have your feet stepped on so much!  The ceremony started promptly at 9.  BTW, the doors close at 845. If you're not in, you're not going to be. 

Once the ceremony started, I think I was in a daze.  I wish we had gotten the video.  Especially since the Sailors cannot see what is going on since they have to stand at attention, and there really were no dress rehearsals.  They practiced the march in only a little.  I vaguely remember the band being very good.  I had worried that the baby would cry, but she seemed to really enjoy it.  Once the divisions started in, I had eyes only for my Sailor, whom I spotted right away.  He happened to be on the outside row.  I did try to take pictures of all the divisions for my PIR group but I got greedy and tried to zoom too much so they came out blurry.  I couldn't tell on the screen of the camera, but once I moved them to my computer it was blurry.  The ceremony was...  long, it seemed, although very good.  I kept thinking, "Get on with it, I want to hug my husband!!"  But there was a nifty display by the 900 division and some singing.  I kept watching my hubby and I could have sworn he was looking back at me.  I passed it off to missing him so much.  Turns out, he was looking at me!  He said he very subtly shifted when they executed a turn so that he could see around the Sailor in front of him.  He found us by searching the crowd for the baby in blue camos.  And thought, "I wonder who wanted to sit way up there?  That was dumb".  So at least we were on the same page!  After much, much waiting and a cranky baby, they announced liberty call.  When I finally got to him, I hugged him so hard!  I had kept it together pretty well until then, but I sobbed into his uniform.  Lucky for me, I don't wear makeup, so no marks.  Everyone was hustled out of the drill hall within 15 minutes of liberty call.  The Sailors staying at GL had to be back to their ship at 1230 to pack.  We walked across the way and there was the NEX and a couple fast food places.  We all had lunch and visited.  My Sailor had already picked up his photos and they were in his rack, so we did not have to stand in line for those.  If you can write to your SR, suggest it.  There was a line to pick them up and no one wants to spend that precious time waiting in another line.  We shopped in the NEX and by then, he wanted to get back to his ship so he wasn't late.  In the Navy, if you're on time, you're late.  That's a recurrent theme.  We went back to the hotel and got the baby a much needed nap, visited with his parents and waited for him to call us.  You can do this two ways.  You can leave and have your Sailor call you when he's done, or you can guesstimate the time and try to beat him to the visitors' center so you can watch the newly minted Sailors march up singing cadence.  I wish I had watched them march up.  I did get to see some others come up though, so I didn't miss out totally.  He called me at about 2:30.  I picked him up.  Take your cell phone! There are only 2 or 3 phones in the visitors center and a lot of Sailors trying to connect with their families.  Lines are long and no one can have their cell phone, so they all have to punch in a thousand numbers from their calling card.  Your Sailor has probably made friends and would like to help them out by letting them call from a phone they don't have to wait in line for. 

Their rules for liberty that weekend were:  50 mile limit, liberty expires at 2200 (10pm) Here's where the recurrent theme comes in again.  They have "until 2200" but they have to muster (which is like roll call) at 2145 (945) in their ship.  Plan your day accordingly.  Make sure your Sailor has his ID, glow belt and full uniform, including raincoat/backpack/etc before you set out to take him/her back.  They were able to leave the ship at 0500 Saturday and Sunday morning.  I did not have to sign him out.  Another bonus for staying on base is that he just left at 0500 and walked to the hotel.  By 0510, he was knocking at my door.  He did end up going back early on Friday and Sunday.  Friday night he wanted to make sure he unpacked and wasn't rushed on Monday and he went back early on Sunday night so he could get a decent night's sleep to start the week out.

So I didn't plan on this being so long, but there it is in excruciating detail.  If you have questions, I will try to answer as best as I can. 

[SailorMom92 (DIV 244)]

wow!! this is awesome.  thank you.  My son will be going out of state for his A-School.  So I am thinking he will have to be back on base earlier Friday night. I am actually going to print this off for my husband to read.  so much helpful info especially about  his ID, glow belt and full uniform, including raincoat/backpack/etc before we set out to take him back.  Now when you say Gateway, that's right on base?  We are staying at the Lodge.  So I am hoping they will have tons of info.  

[Jenn_NicksWifey]

Sorry for the late reply, I spent the weekend in Great Lakes with my hubby.  Yes, the Gateway is on base. 

If he is shipping out Saturday, he will likely have to be back around 8pm.  He'll pack, maybe catch a nap and will be bussed to the airport VERY early.  My husband said the buses left at 12:30am.  So you can go to the airport and spend a little more time with him.  He should have his orders and know which airport he'll be flying out of and at what time his flight is.  Once he's there, he is officially checked out of RTC, so he can have his "stuff" like a cell, laptop, etc. 

Congratulations on your soon-to-be-Sailor!  Battlestations are coming up soon, I hope you can sleep!  I know I had a hard time sleeping knowing he was doing his final test.  He couldn't tell me much about it, but he did say it wasn't as bad as they make it sound.