Just got orders to BM "A" School and I'm still waiting to hear from the advisor on what to bring. Any advice on things to bring or prepare for for life at Yorktown?

Bring a full sea bag, civilian clothes, and something to entertain yourself if you don't have a car. Yorktown is pretty far from a town with anything to do. I highly recommend drinking in moderation while you're there if you're over 21. The pool, gym, and movie theater are pretty good and worth spending plenty of time in.

Thanks, gears. I plan on running and working out a lot (won't have a car there). Wife and I are trying to save money for a place at the next unit. Didn't know there was a pool there, that's great to hear.

If you can it would be worth your time to rent a car for a weekend or two and travel around. Yorktown is surrounded by Revolutionary War and Civil War site.

That'd be awesome. Are any close enough to run to?

The base is situated inside the Yorktown battlefields. Once you leave the gate you'll be in them. There are plenty of trails to jog on.

My advice would be to make friends! Hopefully somebody will have a car and you can tag along with them. Busch Gardens is close by, but hopefully they will be opening back up while you're there. DC and Baltimore aren't too far off for a long weekend. We made the trip from Elizabeth City to see the US Men's National Team play in Baltimore and it wasn't that crazy of a drive!

Yorktown to DC is over 150 miles... You would probably need an out of bounds chit for that. I'm not sure the distance that is acceptable but that might be pushing it during A School. Just a word to the wise, when in doubt be sure to ask a class adviser.

Roger. I still haven't heard from the class advisor and I leave in less than a month...My orders don't give me a number or POC. Do they contact us with a welcome aboard package at some point or am I supposed to reach out to TRACEN? My biggest concern is I will be arriving 1 day earlier (due to that Sunday being the busies travel day of the year) and need to arrange a place to stay.

Standard travel is you arrive and check in on Sunday sometime. If you're flying book your flight to Newport News it's the closest airport, a cab can take you to the Tracen. Have them drop you off at Lafayette Hall. Go to the front desk, tell them what school you're checking into and give them your orders. They'll tell you where to go. You'll likely have orientation that evening with your class advisers.

Thanks, Gears. For the swimming portion of "A" school, are we athorized to wear our own trunks, or do we need the same, blue ones from bootcamp?

Maybe things have changed, but I don't recall a swimming portion of A school. Yorktown has a really nice pool you should definitely take advantage of.

OK, I assumed with the pool and going to BM school we'd have to do some sort of PFD training or something in there.

It's possible you'll do a survival swim while you're there.

Are we allowed to bring a thermos around to class in our backpack?

We were allowed to carry water bottles in our backpacks in petaluma so I'm sure its not an issue. Just don't have it spill everywhere.

Thanks, it's going to be cold and I was hoping to bring my fuel with me