Nine-Week Training Schedule
The First Half of Your Navy Boot Camp Journey:
I hope you're ready for an intense time. Your experience at Boot Camp begins as soon as you step off of the bus and are met by one of your Division Commanders. If you show up at Boot Camp having not prepared physically for the experience, you are in for a wild ride on that front. Be prepared, mentally, to be picked apart for being different. Here is a brief run-down on what you'll experience in the next 10 weeks of your training:
Week (1) of Training
During week one you will go through processing. You will fill out a lot of forms regarding health, benefits, wages, direct deposit, insurance, the Montgomery G.I. Bill and much more. If you haven't yet memorized your social security number, you will want to this before leaving for boot camp, you'll be writing it on everything. Once you've finished processing, then the real fun starts.
Week (2) of Training
Week two finds you tired, irritable and wondering what the heck you got yourself into. You will get use to waking up at 0600, I promise. This week you will begin physical conditioning and participate in a confidence course. The focus for this week of training is team-building. You will learn to rely on your shipmates, and the confidence course is a big start.
Week (3) of Training
In a hands-on environment, this week you will learn first aid techniques, signalling with flags, the proper procedure to board and disembark a ship, and basic seamanship. You will do this training on a real ship situated in a large hangar. Your first PT (physical training) test is administered during week three, the areas tested are 1.5 mile run, push-ups and sit-ups. This is often called the PT0, because it is the starting point from which you will improve.
Week (4) of Training
Time for weapon training. You will go through safety training, then weapon training in a supervised range environment. This is the halfway point in your academic training, as well as the week during which you will take your graduation photos in preparation for your Pass and Review ceremony.
The Second Half of Your Boot Camp Journey:
You've reached the home stretch at this point, with four more weeks to go! Here's what you'll be doing during the second half of your boot camp journey.
Week (5) of Training
More classes, more training, and a lot more PT. By this point you've learned how to do everything the way the Navy wants you too, and though you may not feel like it -- you've changed. Rigorous training and a restricted diet, a fast paced and active training style in and out of the classroom, and a behavioral structure deeply rooted in forming a team bond between you and up to 100 total strangers have all contributed to your change, and in most cases this change is for the best.
Week (6) of Training
Fire fighting training, and shipboard damage control classes. This week you will learn how to put fires out, how to properly don fire safety gear in case you must fight a fire aboard the ship, how to open and close watertight doors, and operate fire fighting equipment. This week also finds you and your shipmates inside the gas chamber, being exposed to tear gas while you and everyone else recites name and social security number. You will also go through the confidence course again, further solidifying the concept of teamwork and comraderie.
Week (7) of Training
At this point, you're nearly finished with boot camp. Excitement sets in and now you're ready for the final test: Battle Stations! Battle Stations is a twelve hour event held to test your entire division on how well you've absorbed everything you've learned thus far. If you are present at the call for Battle Stations, this means you have successfully passed all academic and physical challenges presented to you up to this point, and are ready for this final test.
You will be pushed to the very brink here, and will find that once it is over and you stand in the finishing room, dirty, beyond weary, emotional and drained. All that fades away as the Commanding Officer in charge of RTC Great Lakes comes in to personally congratulate you, presenting you and your division with your new status as a United States Sailor -- your Navy ball cap.
Week (8) of Training
Graduation/Pass and Review. Aside from everything mentioned above, part of your training has been in drill and ceremony. That portion of your training will come in to play here, where you march proudly, shoulders squared and with a bolstered confidence before friends, family, and thousands of supportive individuals from all walks of life. There is nothing like it in the whole world.
After completing the eight weeks of original boot camp, recruits become sailors and stay at Great Lakes for an additional two weeks to really hammer down what they learned at BMT and adjust from civilian to sailor life. The objective is to provide sailors with additional resources and fleet-centric training that will contribute to their success in the Navy.
“Our ships, submarines, aircraft and other fleet units have got a lot on their plate,” the commander of Naval Service Training Command, told reporters. “And they do not have the time to do basic training. That’s my job to do basic training.”
What happens after boot camp?
After (PIR) Pass and Review, your newly capped Sailor will pack his or her sea bag, be given orders and travel information for their next duty station where their next level of training starts - "A" School. Here they'll be on a much more mundane journey to learning their actual JOB while serving in the United States Navy. During "A" school they'll experience life as a Sailor in a whole new way...
https://navydads.ning.com/forum/topics/navy-bootcamp-weekly-training
Replies
Estell Tabor said:
Really good information here,but I wish someone could do a covid version.
Wait until he gets a hold of a .50 caliber machine gun!
Becky Liberatore said:
This was really helpful to ease my anxiety. Pretty cool that my sailor now knows how to use weapons other than nerf swords!! C:
My son left Nov 21 and we were told the first week was for processing and then 8 weeks after that he would graduate. Not for sure if Thanksgiving will help or hurt the week of processing ? Good luck
Rodney
Tom Brown said:
It is possible....It is a matter of how quickly the Divisions are formed...but normally he can plan on the 8 weeks. He may also end up in a "push" division...where the time is made up. Ultimately, "hurry up and wait" for it all to play out. He will know very shortly. Make plans only when you know for sure....
My son leaves for basic on Nov. 29. His recruiters are giving him different information than is posted here about Week 1 of basic training. His information is that "P Days" (Processing Days) are not included in the 8 weeks that are scheduled for training - they are in addition to those 8 weeks. So, if his "P Days" take a week then his entire time at Great Lakes will be 9 weeks, not 8. Can anyone shed further light on this?
Do NOT count on calls- you are entitled to TWO calls...."I'm here" and "I'm a sailor". In general you'll get a call around week 3 or 4 that is more or less a "I'm still alive" call. You may receive more. Calls are earned and calls are lost as a division and are at the discretion of the RDC's. Yeah- it takes awhile to get the mail system sorted out for a new division and the mail officer trained and up to speed.
watch your OPSEC...RTC considers BS21 schedules secure info.......
Seth Feldman said:
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