This site is for mothers of kids in the U.S. Navy and for Moms who have questions about Navy life for their kids.
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FOLLOW THESE STEPS TO GET STARTED:
Choose your Username. For the privacy and safety of you and/or your sailor, NO LAST NAMES ARE ALLOWED, even if your last name differs from that of your sailor (please make sure your URL address does not include your last name either). Also, please do not include your email address in your user name. Go to "Settings" above to set your Username. While there, complete your Profile so you can post and share photos and videos of your Sailor and share stories with other moms!
Make sure to read our Community Guidelines and this Navy Operations Security (OPSEC) checklist - loose lips sink ships!
Join groups! Browse for groups for your PIR date, your sailor's occupational specialty, "A" school, assigned ship, homeport city, your own city or state, and a myriad of other interests. Jump in and introduce yourself! Start making friends that can last a lifetime.
Link to Navy Speak - Navy Terms & Acronyms: Navy Speak
All Hands Magazine's full length documentary "Making a Sailor": This video follows four recruits through Boot Camp in the spring of 2018 who were assigned to DIV 229, an integrated division, which had PIR on 05/25/2018.
Boot Camp: Making a Sailor (Full Length Documentary - 2018)
Boot Camp: Behind the Scenes at RTC
...and visit Navy.com - America's Navy and Navy.mil also Navy Live - The Official Blog of the Navy to learn more.
OPSEC - Navy Operations Security
Always keep Navy Operations Security in mind. In the Navy, it's essential to remember that "loose lips sink ships." OPSEC is everyone's responsibility.
DON'T post critical information including future destinations or ports of call; future operations, exercises or missions; deployment or homecoming dates.
DO be smart, use your head, always think OPSEC when using texts, email, phone, and social media, and watch this video: "Importance of Navy OPSEC."
Follow this link for OPSEC Guidelines:
Events
**UPDATE as of 11/10/2022 PIR vaccination is no longer required.
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR UP TO DATE INFO:
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
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- PNG – 2.3 MB
- JPG – 3.4 MB
- Printable PDF – 2.0 MB
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Boot Camp Advice
First off I would like to thank all the amazing people who make N4M work. We just returned from my son's PIR and it was amazing. The journey was so much better because of all the information, guidance, and support I found here.
If you are new to this site the best thing I can tell you is READ EVERYTHING! They have gathered all of the information you need to know to make it through the 8-9 weeks and made it available here. 99% of your questions can be answered in the information provided. Special thanks to Lemonelephant, CatMom and Diannep for all their guidance and support. When I was at PIR people kept coming to me for information because I had learned so much here :)
If your SR has not yet left for Great Lakes I would strongly suggest you use the information provided about the last 30 days. Set up their bank account (NFCU is great) get their affairs in order, prepare their wallet, make sure they have addresses and stamps and get a re-loadable phone card. They will give them some but believe me, you don't want them to run out of minutes in the middle of a precious phone call.
If you have an Anchors Aweigh party, have guests write cards or notes that you can send on to your SR while they are at GL. I had blank note cards and pens, stickers and stamps/ink pads set up for people to create cards and then sent them one at a time while he was at RTC.
Once they leave it is like a black hole and that is the hardest part. My son was away at college so I thought I was going to be prepared, but it is really different because you know you cannot contact your SR whenever you want. Waiting for the box and the form letter was the hardest part for me. Reaching out to others here on N4M and the Facebook page really helped a lot. Just be mindful of OPESEC / PERSEC. In the end we created a "secret" FB group that was only available by invitation for our division. These ties helped throughout the whole time he was there and made for a wonderful PIR experience when we got together.
WRITE, WRITE, WRITE! You will see this over and over in the discussions. Letters are gold. I wrote a letter every day starting with the day he left. I numbered them on the envelope and as soon as I got his address I mailed them all and then at least one a day. I wrote about anything and everything. I printed out silly picture, cartoons, sports scores, pictures of the dog, anything. I found cheap cards. It really doesn't matter. I also found a list of inspirational quotes and added one to the end of each letter I wrote. In addition he received letters from his sister, GF, Father and friends and family. He said he got the most mail in the division and no matter how crappy his day was, when mail call came, he always had something.
Get ready for PIR! That is exciting and gives you something to do! Order PIR ribbons from Unique Memory Makers, they are made by one of the FB administrators and they are great. Buy or make yourself a blue candle. You can order Navy gear from Armed Forces Gear and there are really nice challenge coins available at PIR Gifts and also on Ebay and Amazon. They also sell Boot Camp challenge coins at PIR. I actually had a basket set aside with a list of things to make sure not to forget. You will read about good ideas from lots of different sources, this will make sure you don't forget anything. (Camera, chargers, memory cards, lint rollers, IDs, etc.) Oh and remember to make a poster or create something to display on your door.
Go to Sarge's Meet and Greet. He is a great guy and it is a fun way to meet everyone you have been talking to in cyber space.
There are a lot of great hotels in the area and many have discounts for Navy families. I would personally recommend renting a car. It gave us a lot of flexibility the whole weekend. If you fly Southwest join their Rapid Rewards (if you are not already a member). A week before PIR they sent an offer for a full size car for under $13/day! Just be ready to be flexible about what you will be doing. Our Sailor had been in a push division and completed BS21 on Thur morning and then had PIR practice. When he called we were already in GL and he was EXHAUSTED. We spent a lot of the weekend hanging out in our hotel room watching football (Army - Navy game / Go Navy!) and talking.
That brings up another point. Our Sailor stayed at GL and was informed that he couldn't go to the Navy Lodge (or the Gateway) and that they wouldn't give a chit to go. No reason given but it effected about 4 or 5 families that I know of including us. I don't believe this happens often and it certainly did not effect anyone not staying in GL. The point is, you need to be able to go with the flow. We easily found another hotel and Navy Lodge was very accommodating about giving us a refund.
PIR is amazing! Just make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to get there. We left at 6:15 and there was already a line. The best advice is to stay in the left lane, pass the entrance and turn around. You can then easily make the left turn in to graduation. Saved us a good 30-40 minutes. Where you sit is dependent upon where your sailor is (they can tell you when the make the I'm a sailor call.) My son was AROC for his division so I knew he would be up front. We sat less then 20 feet in front of him. He said later he was absolutely shocked to see us so close :) But if your Sailor is further back you might want to sit higher up. They have a sign in front of where each division will line up. It gets warm in there! We ended up not having to spend any real time outside either so it was quite comfortable even though it was December.
So now we are home and we move on to the next step in this grand adventure. I will be leaving the Boot Camp group and moving over to our A School "family." It has sometimes felt like forever but now looking back it seems like it was over in a flash and I am a proud Navy Mom. So good luck to everyone here. God bless all of the people who work so hard to help us through this process. HOOYAH!!!
Views: 448
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by NavyBratMom on
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Hooyah!
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Permalink Reply by elizamomof3 on
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hooyah. great advice. best to you and your sailor
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Permalink Reply by Djsmom on
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Your post was very informative and I can't wait to go to my sons PIR 2/6/15. Congratulations to your son!
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Permalink Reply by My2kidz on
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Glad it was helpful. Boot Camp is like when they are a really little baby and you are so anxious about everything and it seems like you will never get a decent nights sleep. And the next second they are on the school bus! Good luck to you and your SR.
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Permalink Reply by Viv on
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Thank you do much for this info. My son just left today for BC. Congratulations to your SR!
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The next week or so is the most stressful. Just try to keep busy and start writing!
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Permalink Reply by adpsmom on
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My son arrived at BC last night. Got the call at 12:35. I have already written my first letter! Thanks for all of the great info. Can't wait until PIR!!!!!
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so grateful for the information my daughter graduates the 22nd of January so now I know what to expect
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Permalink Reply by lemonelephant on
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audrey, there is no PIR on the 22nd. Do you mean 01/23/2015? If so, join PIR 01/23/2015 TG 11 - 10 Divisions (067-074, 804 and 911). You joined PIR 02/06/2015 TG 13 - 13 Divisions (085-094,806, 913 and 914) so you can leave that group if you do not have a recruit there (or stay and help others if you want).
Check your My Page.
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Hooyah! You are getting close. Good luck to your daughter for all of her tests and I hope you have a wonderful PIR experience. It has been really cold in GL (my son is there for A school) so bundle up :)
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Permalink Reply by Worriedmom on
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I'm in the black hole right now. It is good to know that I am not alone. I can't wait to hear from her!
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You are not alone, hundreds of families are right there with you. Honestly, the first two weeks are truly the hardest. When I finally got the form letter (10 days in) he had written silly notes all over it, including inside the envelope flap. I was so happy I cried for an hour. I wasn't really sad, because I knew this was what he wanted. But I was so incredibly anxious. I just kept reading all I could on this site. It really will help. Once you start getting letters and (hopefully) a call or two, it will be much better. Just write every day and number your envelopes. I kept my letters upbeat and included jokes and an inspirational saying. Now that he is in A school he asked me to keep up with the inspirational sayings so before I go to bed each night I text him a new one so he has it when he first wakes up. Good luck to you and your SR. You can do this!
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