Great Lakes Naval Base - Great Lakes Naval Recruit Training Command 3355 Illinois Street Great Lakes, IL 60088 Phone: 847.688.3500 Website | Map | Email Post Office

Established in 1911 at Naval Station Great Lakes, "Navy Quarters" is the Navy's largest training installation and the Navy's only boot camp.

Great Lakes Naval Base

Great Lakes Naval Base

This year, more than 38,000 recruits will become sailors on the Great Lakes Recruiting Team during the eight-week training course. This year, we will host 48 graduation ceremonies, bringing more than 125,000 visitors to Lake County.

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About 40 percent of new sailors coming out of boot camp stay in the Great Lakes to train at the Great Lakes Training Support Center.

Training Support Center Great Lakes trains and mentors new apprentice-level Sailors and provides functional support to training sites (LS) in the Great Lakes, including the Surface Combat Systems Center, Surface Warfare School Command, Explosive Disposal and Diving Center, and the Navy. Special Combat Training School.

Located on more than 1,600 acres on Lake Michigan, Naval Station Great Lakes supports more than 50 tenant commands and elements, with more than 25,000 Sailors, Marines, Soldiers, Airmen and Department of Defense civilians living and working on the installation. Our operations were integrated with military pensioners and education assistance payments in 2016. Had a $1.3 billion economic impact on Illinois.

Effective immediately, everyone on the campus of Naval Station Great Lakes will be required to wear a mask, meaning all guests attending the graduation ceremony must wear a mask while on campus to pick up tickets at the Welcome Center and during recruit training. the team The number of guests allowed has been increased to four. If you've already provided your guest security access form that lists two people, prepare additional guest information to provide to your recruiter when they call. All guests, including active duty personnel and veterans, must have a ticket. (Children age 2 and under do not count toward the guest limit.) Guests are still required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Guests aged 12 and over must provide a vaccinated (14 days after last dose) - COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card to participate. If you cannot provide proof of vaccination, you will not be issued tickets and will not be able to attend prom.

Chicago Tonight' In Your Neighborhood: Naval Station Great Lakes In North Chicago

Reminder: Due to changes in our health care status and policies, graduation ceremony policies are subject to change at any time. Please continue to follow the RTC social media accounts for updates and visit www.bootcamp.navy.mil for the latest information. For specific questions, please contact the RTC Public Affairs Office.

Created by J Rudney, LLC | Media Resources | FAQ | View site map | Availability Statement | Privacy Policy Located approximately 35 miles from downtown Chicago, Naval Station Great Lakes is the largest military installation in the state of Illinois and the Navy's only boot camp. It borders North Chicago.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon McPhann, 29, was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and enlisted when he was 20 years old.

Great Lakes Naval Base

"I'm proud to be in the military because I serve my country," McPhann said. “I can make people proud. Even if I have never met someone before, I can be the person who makes a difference in their life.

A Cartoon Map Of The Us. Naval Training Center At Great Lakes, Illinois Being As True And Faithful A Graphical Accounting As The Cartographer's Art Will Allow, Taking Into Careful Account Prominent

The admissions officer never imagined McPhan would be interested in culinary school, but he did. He worked as a cook on a ship for five years before returning to Naval Station Great Lakes.

"I was in school and my brother was in the Navy and my grandmother said I should try the military," McPhan said. "It's beneficial to you, and it's something you can count on for the rest of your life."

"We have to get up at 4 am to eat breakfast at 6 am," he said. "The last meal was over at 5:30 p.m., so we managed until 6:30. It was tough, but it makes you a better person.

"The only thing that makes society better for veterans is for people to understand that life was hard for them," McPhan said. "During the Vietnam War, they didn't have the resources we have now."

Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., (august 14, 2007)

Less than a mile from the establishment, Captain James A. Lowell is home to the Federal Health Care Center, which serves approximately 40,000 Navy personnel each year.

The hospital is a unique partnership between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense and is the only federal hospital in the country.

"I think the veterans will really enjoy being in an environment where they can see young active people sharing old stories and training, especially from the Vietnam days," said Dr. Robert Buckley, Principal, Captain James A. Lowell Federal. Health Center "And similarly, I think active-duty officers would love to hear stories from our veterans ... I can tell you that nowhere, at least in the VA [Veterans Affairs], are you going to see a 2- or 3-year 97-year-old WWII vet -Older patients with their mother going to the children's clinic while watching the radiation being taken.

Great Lakes Naval Base

In 2010, Apollo 13 astronaut Captain James A. The hospital was renamed in honor of Lowell, USN. Former North Chicago VA Medical Center and former Great Lakes Naval Health Clinic.

Naval Station Great Lakes Hi Res Stock Photography And Images

Christopher Smith is an Army veteran and executive director of USO Illinois, an organization founded in 1941 to assist service members and their families with food services and activities.

"My experience in the military was amazing," Smith said. “Unfortunately, I lost my father when I was a teenager and I decided to join as a tribute to his service and it provided me with lifelong lessons, discipline and leadership that continue to this day.

"The most important life lesson for me is to put others first," Smith said. "As an officer in the military, your soldiers come first, they eat first, they're supplied first, because their well-being and their efficiency drives the whole team. So for me, whether I'm a parent, a spouse or a USO executive, my first priority is to make sure everyone is taken care of.

In his current role, Smith is responsible for nine centers across the state, including the USO's Great Lakes Center.

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Jeremiah Hours, center manager for USO Great Lakes and a retired Navy chief warrant officer, says the USO's focus is providing additional support.

"Our mission is that there is power behind power," said Ours. "We're really trying to provide a home away from home ... a free zone where they can come and relax and put their military burdens aside for a while." We are here to give them a sense of comfort and peace so that they can get some rest before they go back and do the hard work that our country asks of them.

Soldier Krista Schanot and her family took advantage of these resources while living abroad in Tokyo for 20 years.

Great Lakes Naval Base

"When your husband is in the military, you have to be tough," Schanot said. “I left my home country when I was 20 and you have to be tough. You are all alone."

Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., (sept. 21, 2012) Graduating Sailors Arrive At Midway Ceremonial Drill Hall For A Pass In Review By Vice Chief Of Naval Operations Adm. Mark Ferguson At Recruit Training Command. (

All of Schanot's children were born at the Yokosuka Naval Base, and she often had to adjust to her husband being gone for months at a time.

"Sometimes you see how people don't appreciate what they have, and I see how my kids sacrifice holidays, birthdays, and you see that others don't care, and I want them to do that, to experience that," Schanot said. .

She had recently returned to the base where her husband had completed training camp years earlier. Schanot works as an operations specialist for the USO while her husband trains new sailors.

"To every soldier's wife," said Schanot. "I know there are challenges, but if you trust the support of the military and you trust each other and you're married to a wonderful person, you trust each other."

Great Lakes, Il Naval Training Center

Schanot spreads this message to those who have nothing in the military, but want to support their military.

"Use your rights first," Schannot added. "I don't understand why people don't vote... Appreciate the freedom you enjoy. What you buy gives you freedom because someone is sacrificing for it.

"It's something to be proud of," Smith said. “Those of us who raise our hands and swear to our constitution do so selflessly. So, I am humbled when people thank me for my service, because I didn't do it to be thanked.

Great Lakes Naval Base

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