This site is for mothers of kids in the U.S. Navy and for Moms who have questions about Navy life for their kids.

FIRST TIME HERE?

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:

OPSEC GUIDELINES

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:

RTC Graduation

**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.

Format Downloads:

Navy Speak

Click here to learn common Navy terms and acronyms!  (Hint:  When you can speak an entire sentence using only acronyms and one verb, you're truly a Navy mom.)

N4M Merchandise


Shirts, caps, mugs and more can be found at CafePress.

Please note: Profits generated in the production of this merchandise are not being awarded to the Navy or any of its suppliers. Any profit made is retained by CafePress.

Navy.com Para Familias

Visite esta página para explorar en su idioma las oportunidades de educación y carreras para sus hijos en el Navy. Navy.com

Badge

Loading…

Your recruit's final MEPS experience - an overview of their last hours as civilians

The day before your recruit is due to ship out s/he will report to his/her recruiter's office, for yet another drug test, weigh-in, and another round of paperwork. Then the recruiter will drive him/her to a hotel near MEPS, where recruits get a meal ticket and a room. They cannot have ANYONE in their rooms, even spouse/children, and must be in that room by curfew. In many places they are told they may not leave the hotel, even to have a last dinner with the family, but there is a lounge/restaurant at most hotels used by MEPS to house incoming recruits.

In the morning all recruits at MEPS (all services) will be picked up at about 5:30 am, either by a bus/van if there are a lot of them, or by their recruiter, and taken to MEPS.

When s/he arrives at MEPS he/she will take a final physical exam, another weigh-in and drug test, then wait to be called by a processing clerk. When recruits finally get their turn at the desk, they provide IDs once again, sign a thick packet of papers, then sit in a waiting area to wait for all recruits to finish.

When everyone is finished with paperwork (at this point recruits are mixed - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard), they are all taken to a special room where they will be sworn in. This can take place anytime between about 9 a.m. and noon. If family members are waiting in the MEPS waiting room, they can be there for this part. They often do two ceremonies, one ending with "So help me God" and one finishing with "I do so affirm," as preferred by each recruit. It's a very crowded little room, with almost no space for an audience, so pictures are difficult. Many MEPS officers, who lead the oath, will recreate this ceremony with individual recruits for family members to take pictures.

Then the recruits go back to the office, each is given their file, recruits are separated into small groups according to their service/destination and given meal vouchers to eat at the airport. One recruit will be put "in charge" of the group. They will be loaded onto a van, charter bus or are given subway/train tickets to the airport. At this point they will be expected to stay with the group but are not supervised.

You CAN go to the airport (separately) to meet your recruit, you may be able to get a gate pass to sit with your recruit at the USO or the gate if there is time before the flight. A better option is to make sure your recruit has his/her cell phone to call and chat while waiting. They cannot use their phone at MEPS or on the plane, but they can call from both the originating airport and the Chicago airport.

When your recruit arrives at the Chicago airport, they can take an hour to get a meal if it's not already really late. They should make it a big meal - they have a long night ahead of them.  Then they report to the airport USO office, where they wait for a bus to pick up them up and take them to RTC.

Once they step on the bus they must turn their cell phone off. Those who have cell phones will get to make a 10 second call from their phones a few hours later, it could be 5 p.m. or 1 a.m., depending on how late their flight gets in. Within an hour of that call, the recruits put their phones in a box with all of their other belongings (even their underwear!) to ship home. Usually the battery is put in one shoe and the phone in the other.

For more information about what happens next, you should watch the video Navy Racks: Boot Camp. It's a little bit dated, the uniforms are different now - but it gives an excellent overview of what their experience will be.

Views: 94247

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

I left info for you on your My Page. We are here for you, so don't freak out--well, not too much.

Has this ever happened to any other recruit?  My daughter has been in the DEP program for 10 months and scheduled to leave for boot camp June 17.  She went to meaps and due to a small cut like a blister then sent her home? She just got a letter 2 days ago stating that due to medical reasons ie. the cut, she is not eligible until July 7 to be in the navy?  Now there is no job for her as she was going to be an air traffic controller.  What do we do?  She wants to be in and her chief is working on a roll back date but

??

Yes, injuries, even small cuts, especially to the hands or feet can delay shipping to the RTC because they would make the recruit uncomfortable when training and training could exacerbate the injury and the physicians at MEPS want to send recruits who are ready to train and fit for full duty (FFD). Those delays can result in a change in contract because ship dates are supposed to be based on when "A" School will start. 

She and her recruiter need to work to get her an acceptable contract even if it means a later ship date, but she can only be in DEP for a maximum of 365 days (15 months if she went in as a Junior in high school). I'm sure her recruiter has put in a DAR requesting an acceptable contract for her, hopefully in her AC.

My son just graduated from high school on Friday and leaves July 8th for basic. I have no clue what he needs to bring with him. I keep getting mixed information from every one who's "sons friend, friends daughter, boy next door" of what he needs can someone please help me?!? What supplies will he need to take with him?
Don't worry to much mom they all go through it. They get scared. My son told me at the hotel it was the worst decision of his life. He made it through BC and was so proud then off to a school and now in Japan. I think they all get cold feet. He never regretted it and looks back and laughs BC is not that bad just a shock to their system. I was in the navy and some how we survive it and grow up saying prayers for you

Been there done that! My son enlisted last August and literally counted down the days until his leave date of July 9th this year. Then that morning of sign in, I could tell he was so scared and I just wanted to hold my little boy again and make everything all better. He did go but it had bothered me until I got the first call and he told me he was RPOC for the division. But then this 3rd week call and after having been sick all week I could tell he was homesick. I too believe that BC is the hardest part and getting through it will only make them stronger. I send prayers for you and him!

Oh my goodness!  I'm so sorry to hear that.  Was the bone there the first two times also?

Here it says all their belongings (even underwear) are sent back home, but on another thread it says to send them with stamps, a thin wallet, a little spending cash, numbers and addresses of family....etc. So which is it? Are they just going to send that stuff home in a box too?

There are things the recruits can keep and things that they can't. Things to Do in the Last Month before Your Future Sailor Leaves for... is accurate and includes the links that the RTC has put out as to what your future Sailor will be able to keep.

My son left for bootcamp Monday August 4th, and I received his box Thursday August 7th and his wallet wasn't in it. I'm assuming he was able to keep it. He had his ID, some moleskin strips, a phone card and cash when he left. The box he sent home had his cell phone, toiletries, and clothes in it. Before he left he emptied his wallet of some gift cards and gave them to his younger brother and sister so I am fairly certain he would have sent home anything he wasn't allowed to keep with him.

Check your My Page.

RSS

© 2024   Created by Navy for Moms Admin.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service