Hi! So, my boyfriend is currently at Cape May for boot camp, and I will be going down there with his parents for his graduation on March 7. His mom is under the impression that right after his graduation(but still the day of) he will be able to come home with us. My parents said(and they both were in the navy) that usually they don't let them come home right off like that. So who's right? And if my parents are right, what do I say to his mom?--because she's so certain that he'll be able to & I don't know if she would listen to me. I wrote my boyfriend to try and find out, but I know that it could be a while for him to get back to me about it. So if anyone knows could you please tell me? Thank you!
They are only authorized 5 days of leave now. And yes unless he's departing to meet a cutter before it sails he will be able to go home for a few short days.
It is my understanding that they do go home with you that afternoon. They pick up their stuff from storage, double check to make sure all their matters are squared away and are usually just free to go home with the fam.
The information on that page of our web site is incorrect. The authorized leave after boot camp was changed to 5 days effective 1 January 2008. We'll correct the information on that link this morning.
Thanks so much everybody! It helped. I understand now why it's only 5 days of leave he gets. Unfortunately, he's hurt his shoulder in the past week & is now in physical therapy. Now it looks like he'll be graduating on the 14th instead of the 7th. Hopefully they don't push back his graduation too far. But then again, I'd rather him get better than push it and hurt himself worse. And don't worry, we don't do PDA. It's awkward for us...maybe a hug, but that's about it. We're not like that. But advice is appreciated.
We tried to eliminate the automatic 10 days' post-graduation leave during my last tour at Cape May. We were receiving too many reports of newly graduated Seaman or Fireman Apprentices going home for their 10 days, becoming acclimated to their old habits, and reporting to their first units with a very bad attitude (for which, of course, the fleet blamed Cape May). Sending them straight to the first unit seemed to be the best way to eliminate this little problem. If the new unit wanted to grant them leave after reporting in, so be it. However, we were advised that the 10 days' post-graduation leave was a "recruiting tool," so changing it was not possible. I'm glad to see that the current command was able to reduce the 10 days to only 5.
