Is Chicago's Great Lake Naval Base Still Open And Do They Train Soldiers For...

[global1]

two weeks for special training, before sending them to Iraq.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. Do you mean Glenview?

That's been closed for maybe ten years.

[Wiley50]

9. I think you are asking about Waukeegan

I was a visitor there when I was about 12. Mom and I drove up from TN to visit a childhood friend of hers
who was an officer there. I remember we all took a sidetrip camping in Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin near Baraboo (winter home of Ringling Bros Circus. I remember waking up with my face under the edge of a floor less tent to meet a chipmunk who came right up and sniffed my nose.

I didn't like the officer's wife and her friends. They were real authoritarian types and gossiped openly in front of me how they didn't approve of the freedom my mom gave me. I still have trouble with women with Illinois accents, but I'm working on it. They probably don't like my southern.

[SnoopDog]

11. The Internets say North Chicago....

And Waukegan is with one 'e'!!!

[Wiley50]

17. OK spelling nazi, Great Lakes Naval Air Station was in Waukegan

at least it was in the 60's

Maybe that's it

I guess Waukegan is now North Chicago accounting for urban sprawl

[SnoopDog]

20. Sorry Wiley... just that ...

my dad was born in Waukegan and wanted to make sure you knew how to spell that city's name!!

[Nickster]

40. I think you're thinking of Glenview Naval Air Station. Great Lakes is the main boot camp for sailors

It's always been North Chicago. It borders Waukegan, but it's within North Chicago's boundaries. Glenview is about 25 miles south of Waukegan and had the naval air station until it closed up a few years back. I haven't been on every square foot of Great Lakes, but I don't believe they ever had an air strip there.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. I was in Great Lakes for boot camp ....... in fucking January and fucking February.

World War II era barracks.

Lots of wall leaks.

Drafts.

Makes a well digger's ass seem warm and inviting.

They got a real deal on Habitability Green. Eveything that wasn't painted gray was painted Habitability Green.

We got issued two scratchy wool blankets and a pillow and a fart sack.

I'm still cold just thinking about it.

I hope to fuck its not still open.

Maybe some enterprising recruit class used the barracks as firewood.

[Webster Green]

8. It was the shits!

I wound up there in 1964.

Quite a wake-up call! :P

[Stinky The Clown]

10. Two years before me .....

Somebody who was there before me said to volunteer as compartment cleaner - which meant cleaning toilets. The deal was, when all the other assholes went out for morning formation or whatever the hell we called it, we got to stay behind to clean the shitters. But we could smoke and Coke and stay warm(er) while they froze their asses off.

Mama Stinky didn't raise no dumbassess. :)

[Ezlivin]

35. I had to hug ice to get warmer

I was sent to Great Lakes NTC for a C School. Unfortunately I had been stationed at Pearl Harbor for the previous year, so when I arrived for the eight week school in February I was colder than I had ever been.

They had this crazy rule that if you were E-4 or below you had to march in formation to and from school. I was an E-5 at the time and many of my classmates were E-4 but were coming off of sea duty; we thought it was an insult to treat active duty sailors like they were recruits. Needless to say I ended up "marching" my buds to and from school (we actually just walked, but quickly formed up if anyone saw brass approaching).

[Mark E. Smith]

41. Still there

Did my boot there. Caught the crud and it took me months to spit it all out.

[reformedrethug]

3. As far as I know

or remember from my time in the Marine Corps, Great Lakes is used as a Naval Boot camp for initial training then from there they go to their "A" schools which is basically training for what they enlisted for.

[global1]

5. The Reason I'm Asking Is I Got The Following E-Mail And It Didn't Sound Right To Me.......

I've been getting a lot of e-mails from my Repug friend - a couple everyday. They are all negative Obama shots - some very racist in composition. Today he sent me this - not really partisan - but I thought too that if Great Lakes Naval Base is still open - they use it for Naval Recruits Basic Training and not to train soldiers deploying to Iraq. This just sounded bogus to me. The sentiment was nice - but something just didn't seem right. Here's the e-mail:

The Sack Lunches

I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. 'I'm glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,' I thought.

Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation. 'Where are you headed?' I asked the soldier seated nearest to me.

'Chicago - to Great Lakes Base. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Iraq '

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached Chicago, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time.

As I reached for my wallet, I overheard soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch.

'No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn't be worth five bucks. I'll wait till we get to Chicago '

His friend agreed.

I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. 'Take a lunch to all those soldiers.'
She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. 'My son was a soldier in Iraq; it's almost like you are doing it for him.'

Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which do you like best - beef or chicken?'

'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class. 'This is your thanks.'

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. 'I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.' He handed me twenty-five dollars.

Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand, an said, 'I want to shake your hand.'

Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain's hand. With a booming voice he said, 'I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.

When we landed in Chicago I gathered my belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.'

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals.

It seemed so little...

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life wrote a blank check Made payable to 'The United States of America ' for an amount of 'up to and including my life.' That is Honor, and there are way too many people in This country who no longer understand it.'

[Bozita]

16. Simply amazing how many times $25 was mentioned. Betting that would raise some eyebrows...

... with folks who work with number things like probability.

[dysfunctional press]

21. the thing that bugs me is when they talk about the troops in iraq being there to "defend america"

they're doing no such thing. :grr:

(i'm looking at YOU sarah palin)

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. Bogus on several levels

1.- Great Lakes is a USN Recruit Training Center, the only one remaining. Trust me, they have no time to train troops..

2.- It is against FAA Regs for Airplane Captains to leave the Cabin for ANY reason since 9.11

And that is the tip of the iceberg

[JJ]

30. highly doubt it happened

They're always making up shit like this, some sort of wing-nut morality play showing how liberals have ruined America, except for those few "true patriots"

[Richard Steele]

32. Oh, give me a fucking break.

That never happened. That's some standardized
RW "tearjerking patriot-porn" BS right there.

[Ezlivin]

37. And the soldiers were Democrats

That's the ironic twist.

[GinaMaria]

4. Great Lakes Naval base was still open as of a few months ago

that's the last time I took the train north. It stops at the naval base train station and picks up sailors on leave or with a pass. As for their training programs... I don't have a clue. I assumed since it was a naval base they only trained naval personnel which I didn't think were needed in Iraq. I thought soldiers were army, but I could be mistaken.

Are you looking for a training program?

[SnoopDog]

6. My dad was at Great Lakes...

In WWII. As he described himself - he was a 'shitty little kid' - meaning he was not a 6'5'' bodybuilder killing machine soldier. But in those days - nobody was...

But, as America demanded American's service - he joined to fight for America. A Democrat my father was...An American although he had no need to boast about it.... To fight for America because it was a real war... Not like Viet Nam or Iraq.

[Skittles]

7. I took my mum to the commissary there earlier this month

it was also where I got my highschool dates - I had a USAF dependent's ID and the guys there were young, had money, access to really cheap beer and no parents around. YEE HAW!!

[EC]

12. My across the street neighbor is stationed there.

It's still open...Don't know if they are training soldiers before ship-out though...Neighbor moved into house across the street about 1 1/2 years ago, don't think he's shipping out though...

[HawkerHurricane]

13. Great Lakes NTC is still open.

It's the only remaining navy boot camp in the U.S. They don't train soldiers. Or even marines. Just sailors. Sailors going to Iraq may have training there, but I doubt it.

SM1(SW) USN, ret.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. San Diego is closed?

[HawkerHurricane]

15. Yes.

RTC is now a City Firefighter/Police training area, most of NTC is now Navy Housing, except for the golf course and NEX. They call it "Liberty Station".

[puerco-bellies]

19. Bummer.. I did my boot camp at Worm Island (San Diego RTC)

We used to call Great Lakes RTC "Great Mistakes".

[PsN2Wind]

23. Didn't know you were a signalman HH

My wife never quite caught on to me telling her, when she was hanging her underware on the clothes line,that it looked like she was signaling the fleet.

[HawkerHurricane]

39. One of the last...

The specialty was disbanded in October of 2004. I 'retired' in February. I was technically the last signalman aboard, since the guys under me had either been discharged or converted to other jobs.

[JimWis]

18. Even if they were soldiers, maybe Army, they may have been

going to Great Lakes for some specialized thing that the Navy trained in. It's not uncommon for military to sometimes take a special type of training between services. It's only two weeks, so could be anything. Also, in regards to that email, people sometimes refer to all military as soldiers, regardless of what branch or uniform they are in. I was lucky, I did my Navy boot camp in San Diego where it was warm. Never thought about you guys that went to Great Lakes being there in the winter.

[PsN2Wind]

22. Being out on the grinder at USNTC San Diego

in August was no picnic but from what the guys told me about Great Lakes in the winter, it was Heaven

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Hubby got pneumonia at Great Lakes

:-)

[PsN2Wind]

27. Went thru Boot Camp summer '57

just in time for the "Asiatic Flu".

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. a couple decades after you did

and well before I met him

1984 IIRC...

He almost didn't get enough time to actually graduate with class, but he did... and then went on to 20 years of service

We joke that if he ever gets called back, probably will be to push boots

:-)

And I go... please lord no

I was a DI in somebody else's military... can be fun NOT... really

[HawkerHurricane]

38. I went through 'boot' in 1984...

but in Orlando, Florida ("Navy Boot Camp DisneyWorld")

And served 20 years.

If I get recalled, it will be to teach Signalmen, since they disbanded the rate.

[cherokeeprogressive]

26. The bus ride from MEPS in L.A. to NTC in San Diego was something I'll never forget.

Rod Serling couldn't have written it any better.

Two men in civilian clothes. Boom box playing rock and roll. We stopped at a Sizzler in Oceanside for dinner and were told to order whatever we wanted. We did.

At the gate at NTC the bus stopped, and without a word the two civvies took their boom box and walked off. Two Sailors in uniform stepped on the bus, and the screaming didn't stop for eight weeks.

[PsN2Wind]

28. My first time in an airplane

Flew from Oakland Airport to Lindberg Field in a small, maybe a dozen passenger, PAL Boeing twin engine tail dragger, designated in Naval Air as an SNB, nicknamed "Slow Navy Bomber".

[cherokeeprogressive]

31. My Pop's drill instructer sucker punched him and knocked him out on the grinder for

watching planes flying over head. That was the fifties. His story is that one moment he was looking up at an airplane, the next he was waking up and his company was halfway across the grinder.

I spent most of my time marveling at the Osprey, as it was being flown in tests at the time.

[NickB79]

33. You know the old joke about falling into the cold waters of the Great Lakes, don't you?

Men don't drown when they fall into Lake Superior; they choke on their testicles.

[JimWis]

34. The grinder. That brings back memories. I was there in summer

too. 1966.

[YvonneCa]

36. What an interesting thread. :) I lived at...

...Great Lakes for 4 years as a kid. Other than that, I've been a San Diegan my whole life (Dad was in the Navy). I remember snow on the 'grinder' in the winter and base streets (and schools) being closed for snow days and SLEDDING. :7 It was a very cold place in the winter....DEFINITELY better weather in SD. :)