Recruit Graduation
Attendance Information
The recruit graduation ceremony, also known as Pass-In-Review, is a formal ceremony honoring your recruit’s hard work and dedication to a new way of life, and ties together the future of the Navy with our long-held Naval traditions and customs. Find the forms and information you need here to attend graduation and celebrate your recruit’s accomplishments.
Dear Family & Friends,
Welcome from Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes! Thank you for supporting your Sailor’s commitment to enlist in the United States Navy. You have already played a critical role in molding your new Sailor into the man or woman they are today. Your continued support will help them navigate the transformation from civilian to Sailor and successfully serve our nation in the future.
Required Documents
Graduation Ceremony Attendance Instructions
The best reference to get the most up-to-date information is from Recruit Training Command’s (RTC) website under the Graduation Tab. Here you will find information and answers to many of the common questions.
Recruit's Address & Division Number
• Your recruit’s address and division number is provided for free using the Sandboxx App or Website.
• You can find your recruits physical mailing address on the Sandboxx App or Website under the Profile section in your Address Book, as long as your recruit listed you as a contact.
• The Training Group, Graduation Date, and number of guest are found on RTC’s website in the Graduation Tab under Graduation Dates.
Guest Access Forms
Access Forms let Recruit Training Command know who can be allowed to attend graduation ceremonies, and your recruit will make the final determination of who will actually be allowed to attend. Send the Guest Access Form to your recruit by week 4 of basic training so they can make their decisions and submit the correct names for who will be allowed to get a ticket to attend the ceremony.
The number of allowed guests will be based on the RTC policy based on the size of the Training Group. The Training Group page is located here, and will let you know how many guests are allowed at each week’s ceremony.
• Training Groups with 10 or fewer divisions will be allowed 4 guests.
• Training Groups with 11 or more divisions will be allowed 3 guests.
Note: Active duty military, veterans and children 3 and older MUST be included on the access list as part of the guest allotment. Service members may NOT drive on board Recruit Training Command with only military identification.
The Guest Access Form is located on RTC’s website. This form MUST be downloaded, printed, filled out, and mailed to your recruit by week 4 of basic training.
MWR Great Lakes Area
Family and Friends Travel Guide
Click the button to download the Great Lakes area Morale, Welfare and Recreation guide for recruit graduation travel information.
FAQs
This information is very important to all parties, from RTC to the recruit and their supporters.
Recruits are provided an opportunity to have a notification sent out electronically very early in their processing days (P-days) or a physical letter later in training. This information is necessary to inform as many people as possible of a recruit’s mailing address so they may begin writing to their recruit as soon as possible to help them to accomplish their goals in the military.
When notified electronically, Sandboxx will send the recruits mailing address and Commanding Officer’s letter to as many people as requested by the recruit.
To gain access to the address information, supporters who receive a Sandboxx notification via text message or email simply need to download the free Sandboxx app or go to the free website.
Once completed with the registration, their recruit’s address is available in the Profile section of the Sandboxx app or website. This information can be added to the address information of the “form” letter and can be used to write to your recruit as soon as it is received.
A recruit’s address, if sent electronically, will be located in the Sandboxx app or website, if your recruit listed you as a contact. It is found in the Profile section under Address Book. This is the information that you write into the form letter.
This is the address that the recruit provided and it is accurate.
This address can be used to write your recruit as soon as it is received.
The Commanding Officer’s Letter is a “Welcome Aboard” letter to supporters from RTC’s skipper.
24 hours after completing the account creation and by opting into Sandboxx emails, an email will be sent to all the supporters who are listed by the recruit. This email contains a letter from the Commanding Officer of RTC, which has very important information.
If your recruit did not choose to notify you electronically via Sandboxx, a paper letter will be sent by regular mail to one designated person, per the recruit, during their processing days.
Some of the information that is included are RTC’s social media links, a link to RTC’s website, graduation attendance information and instructions, and a quick link to the Training Group portion of RTC’s graduation page.
The recruit graduation date is located on RTC’s Training Group section of their webpage. This page is sorted by Training Groups & Recruit Divisions and also has a key to explain how many guests are allowed at each week’s graduation ceremony.
Anchor aweigh, my boys, anchors aweigh
Farewell to foreign shores
We sail at break of day, ay, ay, ay
Through our last night ashore, drink to the foam
Until we meet once more
Here’s wishing you a happy voyage home