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**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).  

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**UPDATE 11/10/22 PIR - Vaccinations no longer required.

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Can someone inform me of what to do at graduation and what to do after I am getting very confused. You ladies have been such a blessing. Can someone just give me an idea of what will happen? He is going to charleston afterwards for nuke power school.

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Hi Rachel!  A couple of things I found helpful are links on the "Boot camp moms and loved ones" page.  Go to the PIR day and Liberty during PIR link.  A few paragraphs down that page are links called "It gets better and some helpful hints" by TJ's mom.  And "My 1/24/14 PIR experiences" by A's momma--Erin.  Both had really helpful information!

There's a lot going on when it comes to graduation... but you can handle it with no problem.  Just plan ahead!

Number one, bear in mind your SR's graduation date may change due to unforeseen problems.  He could get sick, not pass a PFT, not pass Battle Stations, etc.  These things happen, but not that often.

I only bring this up because you should try to keep your travel arrangements somewhat flexible - I know, easier said than done!

For our son's graduation, we figured out a lot of ways of being with him.  We arrived on Thursday, made sure we had time to go to Sarge's Meet and Greet that evening - he's full of good information about how to get the most out of graduation - and made sure we settled in well enough so we could entertain our son without interruption the day of graduation without mess-ups.

We made sure we had accommodations that provided us the opportunity to give our son a home cooked meal Friday night - one of the things he had been missing the most!

We also went online and found his favorite restaurant - Portillo's - and made sure we knew how to get there ahead of time so we wouldn't waste anytime by getting lost on graduation day.

Portillo's is where we had his Friday graduation lunch.  A few friends and family also met us there as a surprise for our son!

A word of advice (at least in our son's case) be ready to do a lot of listening!  After two months of being restricted in so many different ways, these sailors have A LOT to talk about after they have graduated!

Graduation is early in the morning and does not last that long.  So unless your son has to pull a watch you will have him from the middle/late morning on Friday up until later on that evening when he has to return to base.

Some sailors want to get away for the day... like go to Chicago or to Gurney Mall.  If that's the case, once again make sure your plans are well laid out - know where you're going, how you're going to get there, what you need to bring with you, etc.  You don't want to waste time wondering what you're going to do next, or getting lost!  Plus the sailor's are rather paranoid about getting back to base on time in the evening.

Between lunch and dinner, our son really enjoyed a couple of things we took for granted: taking a nap on a soft bed; and taking a bath in a real bath tub.

Also, bear in mind he will not have a change of clothes with him.  Granted, he is supposed to stay in uniform while off the base, but, for his time in the hotel room having a pair of sweats or shorts and a t-shirt will really be refreshing for him (don't forget civilian underwear, socks and shoes!).

We stayed at the Navy Lodge and they were very accommodating for all of our needs!

As far as bringing your son his personal belongings like a cell phone clothing or a computer, you can't do that on graduation day, because he is returning to his barracks where those items are not permitted.

I encourage you to stay through Saturday (or even Sunday), for a couple of reasons.

Our son, also a Nuke, was bused to O'Hare airport first thing Saturday morning.  Of course we didn't know the exact time until he was on the bus and was able to call us at our hotel.  Then we had to scramble!  So keep your cell phone handy at all times.

Then, his plane did not depart for Goose Creek from O'Hare until about 7:00PM Saturday evening.  So we had another nearly full day with him!  Yay!

Had we known this though ... we would have made bigger and better plans for Saturday - like heading into Chicago using the "L" that departs from the basement level of the airport and takes you directly into the city.  We could have gone shopping, ate at Lou Malnotti's, etc.  Instead we all hung around the airport all day eating airport food.

Now don't get me wrong, it was great being with him an extra full day, and getting to know his Nuke friends that he was traveling with, but boy, could we have planned that better!

At the very least, we could have brought food with us to the airport and had a picnic!

Again, bear in mind, travel times may change, so you will have to play Saturday by ear.

Saturday is also the day you can give your son his personal belongings, because he can have them from this point forward.  At Goose Creek he can have civilian clothes, food, cell phones, game systems, computers, etc.  Just don't bring him too much.  He will already have a duffel bag that is filled to the gills, so what ever you bring him make sure it is the size of a small carry on.

Another thing to consider is purchasing a Navy Challenge Coin for him.  Our son loves collecting things, and Navy Challenge coins are a great collection to start.  They not only represent accomplishments, but also the sailor's duty stations, ratings, ships served on, etc.

My best advice for you?  Enjoy the time you have with your son.  Don't over-plan Friday and Saturday and don't sweat the small stuff.  Make your plans flexible enough so he can choose what he wants to do during his limited liberty.  But DO make plans instead of just winging it.

And remember, ALWAYS remind him how proud you are of him and continue to encourage him with your love and support.

A-School, Power School and Prototype are progressively more difficult and can be a rough row to hoe for our kids.  Our son, who is currently in Prototype really appreciates our daily phone calls/FaceTime calls - even if it's only a 5-minute call.

Best wishes and have fun!

Rachel, I left info that will help you on your My Page earlier this week.

My experience with graduation: We stayed at Ramada Inn on Green Bay. I do not recommend this place. Supposedly they are under new management, again, so they are supposedly trying to get better but our initial contact with the front desk person did not sit well. They did eventually fix our issues and claim that the passion that have us problems was not going to be Aarons much longer because others had problems with her as well. Anyway, because of the problems I was really nervous about taking their shuttle. I was really nervous about how to get where we needed to go on time. I used Google maps on my phone so that I could keep track of traffic. We left the hotel a little after six, turned down Buckley, then turned down Ohio and went into the gate. We were in our seats by 7:05. It was kind of crappy getting the that early because we had to wait so long but I would rather do than have to fight for seats. We sat up in the balcony. My husband complained because of the bars in front of us but we got a good view of everything up there. The bars kind of sucked for videos and pictures,but it was Better than being on the ground in my opinion.

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