Corps school graduation [Archive] - Scuttlebutt Forum by Corpsman.com

Auld Fella

06-18-2007, 21:48

I'm proud to say my son is graduating from Corpsman school this Friday :not:and he has asked us to come to GL for the occasion. We're very happy to do so, but we're curious what the graduation is like. I can't imagine it's as big a show as the graduation from boot camp was.

Anyone able to enlighten me on what to expect? And any suggestions for an appropriate graduation present for our new corpsman?

Da-Chief

06-18-2007, 22:20

Greetings,
0700-0745 Students help Parents and guests get on base.. ;-)

0800 Colors, parents and guests are invited to watch.

0830 (? I BELIEVE) Ceremony starts lasts apprx: 1hr depending on the class size.

We tried to have all the students out to their parents after grad etc with orders departing by 1030. If they don't have orders and are on hold, they have to stick around to sign a contract with HMC Pace for the hold company. He tries to have them out by 1100.

Your son can tell you more. No the grad is nothing like Boot, but it is nice and I can tell you if the A/C is running, the grad hall is colder then a witches "BLEEP". Bring a sweater or something.. ;-)

They will be selling Corps Momentos after grad.

Hope this helps!

Darrell " Da-Chief" Crone

popsie

06-18-2007, 22:44

Auld fella, enjoy the moment sharing such a milestone with your son and his accomplishments in his new journey in life. My best wishes to you all.

AVTDOC96

06-19-2007, 04:36

Auld fella,

Congrats to your son.

DeeDee

06-19-2007, 05:55

Congrats to your son Auld Fella
You will need a visitors pass (obtained at the visitors center next to the mail gate) to get on base - make sure you have current vehicle registration and proof of insurance - you can either have your son meet you at that building or he can direct you to pick him up at the gate by corps school and drive over there together. There is a TINY parking lot at the train station right across from the Corps gate for pick up and drop off where you MIGHT be able to squeeze in and wait for him there :) Have fun at the grad - one of the best things about it is you can walk around during the ceremony and take all the pics you want - unlike Boot grad where you are sitting in the stands the entire time

ENJOY
DeeDee

Auld Fella

06-19-2007, 07:24

Wow - thank you all for such helpful information! What a wonderful place this is! One other quick question prompted by DeeDee's helpful tips about getting the vehicle registration to get on base. We went through that process after boot, and while it wasn't difficult it did take about an hour to run the gauntlet.

So here's my question: how far from the gate by the Corps School is the building where graduation is held? If it's fairly close I might consider just parking off base and walking, with my son meeting us at the gate to get us on base. Thoughts?

By the way, quick story my son told us you might enjoy: for clinicals he's been working in the clinic where sick recruits are sent, and a couple recruits mistakenly addressed him as "petty officer" (he's E-3). He absolutely loved that!! His first small taste of not being at the bottom of the totem pole!

Brought to mind one of my favorite lines from one of the original Star Wars movies where Luke Skywalker - still in the heat of an ongoing battle - got excited about shooting down his first enemy spaceship, to which Han Solo responded, "Great kid, just don't get cocky!"

DeeDee

06-19-2007, 13:32

The Corps School gate is relatively close to the School House - the only problem you may have is walking on - not sure what they will require from you to walk on the base - I'll pop in on Da-Chief and send him this way and see what he can add to the conversation :D

Da-Chief

06-19-2007, 13:39

You don't have to walk unless you park at the train station.. (Make sure you pay if you do!)

get a Pass out of Gate 1 Main Gate on NTC Side not RTC.

Should not take 1 hour. Your son should be expediting this for you. Tell him to get with his instructor to find out how to do this.

V/R
HMC

Paul's dad

06-19-2007, 15:13

getting a gate pass is quick and easy, I meet my son @ the train station (it's right across from the gate) on Thur. afternoon and we drove about a block to the building where it took about 10 mins. Also, if he is departing right after grad he will have ALL of his gear so you may not want to carry it across the street to the train sta.
The grad is very nice and a great opportunity for pics with your grad and his shipmates before during and after the ceremony. The colors ceremony is done very well and gave me a great feeling of pride for my country, my son, and all his shipmates. Congrats to your son and GOOD LUCK!

DeeDee

06-19-2007, 15:19

Auld Fella - have a great time - take LOTS of pictures and get a chance to meet the people your son has been telling you about during his A school time - If he is anything like my son - there are NO pictures in existence (other than ones you wouldn't want to share with the family) of his time there - heck I gave my son 2 (yeah TWO) disposable cameras while he was in "A" school and not one of them even got opened - He's been at Camp Lejeune since March 22 and hasn't used them there either - SHEESH - looks like the photo albums will be pretty empty as far as his life goes - tried to tell him that the pics come in handy in the future for looking back - even if they are embarrassing (believe me I have a couple of his dad before we met that aren't fit for publication LOL ) - when you see him take LOTS of pics as these are probably the only ones you will have.

Have a great time - make sure he gets his bunz in here to toot his own horn about finishing too
DeeDee
DeeDee

Auld Fella

06-19-2007, 17:21

Thanks again for all the helpful info. I should clarify that my hour long gauntlet after boot was a string of errors, mostly of our own making. My son told us to get the pass ourselves, and it wasn't until we got to the front of the line we learned he had to be there with us. Then we had to wait while he walked over, since we obviously couldn't come on base to drive him, and he wasn't allowed at that point to leave base to drive with us. Once we all finally were together at the right spot it didn't take too long. But it took a while getting our collective poop together!

In retrospect I realize our son, who was about an hour out of boot camp, didn't want to draw ANY attention to himself by asking the question of how to do all this. Guess that's one of the things you learn in boot camp!!

Thanks for the photo suggestion, too. I'm sure he has zero photos from GL other than what we took at boot graduation. I'm just impressed your son told you something about his shipmates - I sometimes think our son should be in Intelligence - we can't DRAG information out of him!!

I'll try to prompt him to post when he's home next week for a brief leave before reporting to Camp Pendelton. Not that he LISTENS to the old man anymore .... :swn:

young fella

06-22-2007, 11:55

ok due to the prompting of the auld fella who happens to be my dad, i am here to join this site for what ever reasons i can think of! i graduated today and is awesome to have something on my sleeve other than french fries. things however are not in the best shape for graduates now as there are over 200 people on hold and they say that taking leave is highly discouraged, and they will only give you 5 of the promised 14 days if you do take that option. so for me who had plans in advance for these two weeks and no orders yet its a pain in the rear. I'm going to try and argue my way to getting the 2 weeks now since I'm not going to be that far from the base and don't mind spending a day of travel and the gas to come back if my orders post (which probably wont happen.) so if anybody has suggestions of who to talk to in order to do that I would appreciate the help.

also for those going to NHCS or are thinking of joining the corps one real big piece of advice, things change every day and very few know what is going to happen tomorrow, so don't get ticked off by it, roll with the punches and make the best out of each situation you are in.

have a great day
HN Ryan Culhane

Ryan, If you get a chance work on your Typing while on hold..---Chief

8404

06-22-2007, 12:16

HN ryan culhane;

A hearty congratulations HN, wear your caduceus with pride. Your advice on Corps school is sound.

Da-Chief

06-22-2007, 12:35

Ryan,
You want to see HMC Pace or HMCS Constantine about the leave.. Up in Student Control, Tell him HMC Crone sent you.
Drop my name will help you out.
Later
HMC

crazycajun

06-22-2007, 17:19

young fellow (Ryan),

Congrats on your completion of Corps School.

DeeDee

06-22-2007, 18:05

Congrats Ryan

DeeDee

Da-Chief

06-23-2007, 09:27

Jeez,
I should not write nor post when I am without sleep for 3 days.. I come off like a "CRANKY OLD FART!":err:

Congrats Shipmate, if there is anything I can do for you drop me a line..

:elvis:

Darrell

Paul's dad

06-23-2007, 09:55

Ryan,
Congrats on your grad from Corpsman School! I wish you the best of luck w/getting leave, and receiving your orders asap. I know my son was ready for a little r&r after beiing in G.L. for Basic & Corps. school.

Auld Fella

06-29-2007, 17:57

Thanks for all the encouraging words for my son who graduated a week ago. He is still on hold awaiting orders at GL, but is increasingly looking on the bright side - he told me today it wasn't so bad being paid to sit around and do nothing ... something he used to do a lot of without any compensation! Good to see his sense of humor again as he was originally pretty bummed out about not being able to take leave as planned.

And Da-Chief, no need to apologize about your typo comments - it was very true! Ryan just laughed and said he hasn't been using the computer much in A school so his keyboarding is rusty. Me, pretty much EVERYTHING is rusty ...

8404

06-29-2007, 18:07

Auld Fella;

Time to ride it in to the 'bone yard' and have your keel scraped eh...

Auld Fella

08-08-2007, 08:21

Just a brief update on this thread, for those interested.

Young Fella's orders finally posted after being on hold at Great Lakes for over a month. He's currently on his (postponed) leave before reporting to Camp LeJeune. We get to spend a few days with him as soon as he returns from visiting his girlfriend!

Not sure if he got in any keyboarding practice or not while on hold, Da-Chief, but I'm pretty sure he caught up on his movie watching list! That oughta hold him for a while!

The adventure continues ...

8404

08-08-2007, 10:52

Congratulations on young fella's status. What unit is he assigned with at Legeune?

Also, yes, we are all interested! Please keep us posted sir.

Auld Fella

08-21-2007, 18:49

8404,

Oops - been away for a while and missed responding to your question. Sorry!

Not sure exactly how to answer your question as to what unit he is with now (non-military ignorance showing through! :weye: ) but he said he's assigned to the hospital there while on hold until his FMSS class starts in October.

It was great spending some time with him again during his leave, and I was encouraged to see that by the end of his leave he said he was actually looking forward to getting down to Camp LeJeune. I wish I could say the same thing about my poor wife and our younger daughters. We're all very proud of him, but we miss him.

<sigh> Parenting. It ain't for wimps, is it?

Auld Fella

Da-Chief

08-21-2007, 20:16

Auld,
Nope it sure isn't. I look at my kids every day and think the same thing.

I turned into a old softie..

;-)

HMC

Kaymanism

08-23-2007, 04:16

Auld he isnt kidding,

Think stale marshmallow ;)

Glad to see this went well for you. I actually just did a search because I realized I had NO CLUE what to tell my parents for my graduation tomorrow. Luckily my wife lives in Chicago so we have an on base pass so this will go as smooth as anything else can in the Navy. Best of luck to you and your son in the upcoming years while he is in the Navy.

Murph