Here is the breakdown for you guys and your sailor if they are flying out to A school Sat or Sun:

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1 Here is the breakdown for you guys and your sailor if they are flying out to A school Sat or Sun: FULL AIRPORT protocol and an issue to WATCH out for after PIR: FIRST, as my sailor experienced, and Kathy DeCarlo did also, our sailors thought that family could not accompany them to the gate. This is not true. Family can accompany their sailor to the gate with a gate pass from ticketing. Your sailor will most likely leave for the airport and fly out Saturday at some point. There are a few now departing on Sunday, but that is not the norm. His/her bus will leave RTC for the airport starting as early as 1230am and yes, he/she could be waiting around for a flight that leaves at noon. My Sailor's bus left RTC at 330am and arrived at Ohare at 425am. Non stop from RTC. Her flight was at 12:50pm. Yes, you can meet them at the airport, even when/where the bus drops them off if you like, as I did. At Ohare, ALL buses drop sailors at the FIRST set of doors at Terminal 2. At Midway all buses drop at the southern most doors of terminal 1B Airport tips: 1. Recommend sailors change into NSU's after arrival to the airport. Much nicer to travel in. The Navy requires them to check out and report for duty in their dress

2 uniform (blues or whites). The whites will get trashed if they stay in them all day. They can change back into whites and be "squared away" when they arrive at their next duty station. They should pack their NSU's and black belt at the top of their sea bag before leaving RTC. 2. Midway Airport - bus from RTC drops them of at door 1, which is the left side of the terminal when facing from the front. Best place to park is the short term departures garage. We walked right in to where they are dropped off. A. Be patient when they arrive. The USO rep knows what he is doing and gets them sorted out. B. Sailors and families with gate passes can go through the Military security line which bypasses all civilians waiting to clear security and takes you to the front of the line. C. Once the sailors are checked in at the airport, they are instructed not to leave the airport, but are free to move around inside the airport. 3.Chicago-O'Hare - for sailors arriving at Chicago O'Hare they will be dropped of at terminal 2, door 2 b. Wheel Chair / handicap parking. This is handled at the parking garage. We parked in handicap parking. They have sailors manning wheel chairs. They will wheel your family member in and out. Sailors were in the parking garage on the ground floor. There is a room right next to the elevator. Recommend that anyone needing wheelchair access get

3 there early. The process after the bus drops them of: They will probably have a fellow sailors that are appointed as a CAM leader. This is someone that is SORT OF in charge of making sure a group of sailors get to their gate. Our CAM leader (just a fellow sailor previously chosen by their RDC) really didn't do much, other than oversee them through checking their bags, getting through security and to the gate. After that, the sailors could wander around the airport until their flight left. They were instructed NOT to leave the airport.the entire process (at Ohare) that occurred between the bus drop of and getting through security goes as follows: 1. They were instructed by the USO (a volunteer) to check their bags and print their boarding pass at the electronic kiosks in front of the ticketing counters (little ATM looking machines) and there are a couple banks of them JUST for military checkin. We couldn't hear, but your sailor can check up to THREE Bags and this I STRONGLY recommend. My sailor thought she could only check her SeaBag which left her with the following to carry: 1. VERY full backpack - RTC issue 2. Dress uniform garment bag - large 3. Over coat (too hot to wear in the airport so had to carry) 4. Cap (cannot wear in doors so must carry)

4 5. Ear mufs 6. Scarf 7. VERY Large and FULL 16x20 manilla envelope with ALL medical records, full X-rays, etc. Does not fit in anything, MAYBE the garment bag. 8. Multi page ORDERS printed out 8x11 9. HUGE seabag, 4 feet tall, as big around as your sailor (checked) After your sailor prints their boarding pass and enters how many bags they are checking, the airline baggage clerk (standing right next to the boarding pass kiosks) will call their last name when she/she prints your sailor's baggage tickets to afix to the checked bags. Once you get that handled, you can go request your guest pass from ticketing with your sailor. Once you have your guest pass, you can proceed through security. (This is kind of a huge cluster mess and you can't hear when they call your sailors last name, sailors in their all talking) Once through security, you're all good to hang out with your sailor and give them their cell phone/charger etc. Security doesn't open until 4am so if his/her bus arrives earlier than that they'll have to wait to go through security. If you meet him/her there after they have gone through security, they can come back to ticketing when you do arrive later and ask ticketing for a "Guest Pass" so you can

5 accompany him/her to his gate and wait with them until their plane departs. This is what I did and it is smooth as silk. They even open the security line rope so you CUT TO THE FRONT of the security line (Military privilege). I actually had a flight on a different airline at 330pm on a different concourse, but that didn't matter. I got my guest pass and cleared security. After my sailor's plane took off, I continued to my airline, checked in at the kiosk, printed my boarding pass, and then waited for my plane. Super simple. A few misc items: Your SR will know what time their bus departs RTC when you see them at PIR along with which airport. They will get that info with their orders a day or two before PIR. Every Division has different times in which they must return back to the barracks after PIR on Friday. My sailor was required to be back by 730, and it's a 15 minute walk from the gate to the barracks, and your SR will not want to cut that close, so we dropped her of at 7pm. Someone in another PIR group asked about how to find their SR at the airport. That is why I decided I needed to catch her AS SHE STEPPED of the bus! Otherwise I would recommend designating a time to meet at Ticketing if you are unable to meet your SR at the bus when getting dropped at the terminal. Worse case scenario is your SR checks their luggage

6 and goes through security to the terminal, has a shipmate watch their remaining items (if any) and your SR returns to ticketing to meet you, and assist you in gaining your Guest Pass to accompanies you BACK through security to the gate. Click here to download to your mobile device: revised 11/13/14