FReeper Canteen ~ Road Trip: Recruit Training Command Great Lakes, Illinois ~ 12 JUL 2016

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | laurenmarlowe

[Kathy in Alaska]

 

 

 

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~

Road Trip: Recruit Training Command Great Lakes, Illinois

Recruit Training Command Great Lakes (RTC Great Lakes), is a unit within the United States Navy primarily responsible for conducting the initial orientation and indoctrination of incoming recruits. It commonly is referred to as boot camp, recruit training, or RTC.

Since the BRAC-directed closures of Recruit Training Commands in Orlando, Florida and San Diego, California in 1999, RTC Great Lakes has been the only enlisted basic training location in the U.S. Navy and has been called "The Quarterdeck of the Navy" since it was first utilized in July 1911.

Running approximately eight weeks long, all enlistees into the U.S. Navy commence their enlistments at this command. Upon successful completion of basic training, qualifying sailors are sent to various apprenticeship, or "A schools", located across the United States for training in their occupational specialty, or ratings. Those who have not yet received a specific rating enter the fleet with a general designation of airman, fireman, or seaman.

U.S. Navy recruits begin their journey at Building 1405, Golden Thirteen, the Recruit In-processing Center in Camp Moffett. Recruits arrive at all hours, but mostly during the night. Before formal training can begin at Recruit Training Command, Recruits are screened medically, dentally, and administratively.

The first week of training, called P-Days (processing days), lasts for approximately five days but can run a little longer depending on weekends, holidays, and the schedule of arriving Recruits. During P-days, recruits are taught the basics of watch standing, they are given information to memorize, and they begin learning to organize their gear.

P-Days conclude with a commissioning ceremony, led by the Recruit's Group Commander (Ship's Officer) in which their division's guidon (divisional flag displaying division number) is unrolled. This ceremony marks the official start of their training.

Learn More About Recruit Training Command Great Lakes HERE!!

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT~Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. 

Please remember: The Canteen is a place to honor and entertain our troops. The Canteen is family friendly. Let's have fun!

We pray for your continued strength, to be strong in the face of adversity.

We pray for your safety, that you will return to your families and friends soon.

We pray that your hope, courage, and dignity remain unbroken, so that you may show others the way.

God Bless You All ~ Today, Tomorrow and Always

 

 

[PROCON]

Evening Navy Bro and a salute out to all you fine U.S. Navy Vets!

I hope you got my FReep mail, best wishes!

[11th_VA]

I survived my ‘Swine Flu’ shots there, Fall 1976 :P

[ConorMacNessa]

Good evening, Army Bro!

I did receive it, thank you! I have just gotten home and haven't had time to respond to all the prayers and kind words.

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[radu]

Greetings to all at the Canteen!

To all our military men and women, past and present,
THANK YOU
for your service!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Welcome to the Canteen, New Jersey Realist. We thank you for your service to our country.

[ConorMacNessa]

Welcome To All Who Enter This Canteen, To Our Serving Military, To Our Veterans, To All Military Families, To Our FRiends and To Our Allies!



Missing Man Setting

"The Empty Chair"

By Captain Carroll "Lex" Lefon, USN (RET), on December 21st, 2004

"In the wardroom onboard the aircraft carrier from which I recently debarked was a small, round table, with single chair. No one ever sat there, and the reasons, both for the table being there, and for the fact that the chair was always empty, will tell the reader a little bit about who we are as a culture. The wardroom, of course, is where the officers will dine; morning, noon and evening. It is not only a place to eat – it is also a kind of oasis from the sometimes dreary, often difficult exigencies of the service. A place of social discourse, of momentary relief from the burdens of the day. The only things explicitly forbidden by inviolable tradition in the wardroom are the wearing of a cover or sword by an officer not actually on watch, or conversation which touches upon politics or religion. But aboard ships which observe the custom, another implicit taboo concerns the empty chair: No matter how crowded the room, no matter who is waiting to be seated, that chair is never moved, never taken.

The table is by the main entrance to the wardroom. You will see it when you enter, and you will see it when you leave. It draws your eyes because it is meant to. And because it draws your eyes it draws your thoughts. And though it will be there every day for as long as you are at sea, you will look at it every time and your eyes will momentarily grow distant as you think for a moment. As you quietly give thanks.

AS YOU REMEMBER.

The small, round table is covered with a gold linen tablecloth. A single place setting rests there, of fine bone china. A wineglass stands upon the table, inverted, empty. On the dinner plate is a pinch of salt. On the bread plate is a slice of lemon. Besides the plate lies a bible. There is a small vase with a single red rose upon the table. Around the vase is wound a yellow ribbon. There is the empty chair.

We will remember because over the course of our careers, we will have had the opportunity to enjoy many a formal evening of dinner and dancing in the fine company of those with whom we have the honor to serve, and their lovely ladies. And as the night wears on, our faces will in time become flushed with pleasure of each other’s company, with the exertions on the dance floor, with the effects of our libations. But while the feast is still at its best, order will be called to the room – we will be asked to raise our glasses to the empty table, and we will be asked to remember:

The table is round to show our everlasting concern for those who are missing. The single setting reminds us that every one of them went to their fates alone, that every life was unique.

The tablecloth is gold symbolizing the purity of their motives when they answered the call to duty.

The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of the life of each of the missing, and their loved ones who kept the faith.

The yellow ribbon around the vase symbolizes our continued determination to remember them.

The slice of lemon reminds us of the bitterness of their fate.
The salt symbolizes the tears shed by those who loved them.
The bible represents the faith that sustained them.
The glass is inverted — they cannot share in the toast.
The chair is empty — they are not here. They are missing.

And we will remember, and we will raise our glasses to those who went before us, and who gave all that they had for us. And a part of the flush in our faces will pale as we remember that nothing worth having ever came without a cost. We will remember that many of our brothers and sisters have paid that cost in blood. We will remember that the reckoning is not over.

We many of us will settle with our families into our holiday season, our Christmas season for those who celebrate it, content in our fortune and prosperity. We will meet old friends with smiles and laughter. We will meet our members of our family with hugs. We will eat well, and exchange gifts and raise our glasses to the year passed in gratitude, and to the year to come with hope. We will sleep the sleep of the protected, secure in our homes, secure in our homeland.

But for many families, there will be an empty chair at the table this year. A place that is not filled.

WE SHOULD REMEMBER."

Many Thanks To Alfa6 For Finding Capt. Lefon's Chronicle Of "The Empty Chair."

"Träumerei"
Robert Schumann
(Click)

Never Forget The Brave Men And Women Who
Gave Their Lives To Secure Our Freedom!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Only if I have a chair...I can’t stand very long. I’ll need a long handled scrubber. LOL!

[radu]

WOOHOO Conor!! *HUGZ*

Great to see you this evening! You’ve been missed.

[mountainlion]

I even had a cousin in the Navy, a guy named Arlie Burke.

What a neat family I was born into.

[Kathy in Alaska]

My brother did his boot camp at Great Lakes, too. He was a plank owner (I think that is what you call it) of the USS Bagley.

[ConorMacNessa]

Sorry, Kathy - and they don't use swiffers in the Navy. :)

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[radu]

Howdy, Kathy.

‘Puters can be such a pain at times, can’t they?

[ConorMacNessa]

Good evening, Radu!

*HUGS*

Great to be back, thanks!

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[radu]

Howdy, ms. feather! *Hugz*

Long time, no see. Hope all’s going well.

[ConorMacNessa]

Lion, would that be "31-Knots" Burke?

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Mayor, and thank you for today’s sustenance for body and soul.

Hope your Monday has gone well.

[radu]

Howdy, PRO!

Have a good Monday?

[left that other site]

Hi Everybody!

((((HUGS))))

[Kathy in Alaska]

Yes they can...especially when you are clock watching.

I’ll be back in a bit. Going home and see what the day brought.

[Elderberry]

I was there for Boot Camp in 74, all 10 weeks and 5 days of it.