Navy A Schools: What to Expect After Boot Camp

Upon completion of boot camp, U.S. Navy sailors will report to their Navy A School for training. Navy A schools are where sailors learn their technical skills or their military occupation. For example, if a recruit enlisted to be a culinary specialist, A school would be where that recruit learns to cook.

There are currently 23 Navy A schools and each is located in a different part of the country. Navy A schools are four to 50 plus weeks in duration, depending on the rating, or job, that the recruit has signed up for. The specific rating determines the training's duration and location.

While there are less limitations at Navy A schools than at boot camp, there are still few liberties than what a sailor will have after training is complete. As sailors progress through their Navy A schools, the limits placed on them are gradually relaxed.

In addition, Navy A schools ensure sailors remain physically fit, maintain their military bearing and professional appearance, and perform within academic standards. Navy A schools have some residual boot camp events like physical training, standing watch, and daily sailor responsibilities at the Navy A schools.

When Navy A schools are completed, sailors are traditionally given ten days of leave and then they report to their new duty stations. Sailors assigned to overseas duty stations after Navy A schools may receive more than ten days of leave before reporting to their next unit.

Navy A schools are located across the country. At Point Loma Naval Base in San Diego, California, the Navy's regional headquarters, Navy trainees who work with mines receive training. Also in San Diego, the surface sonar technician A school is located here.

Around 80 miles from San Diego, Naval Base Coronado serves as a facility for Navy helicopters and aircraft ships. The Naval Special Warfare Training Center is also housed there. Both SEALs and Special Warfare Combatant Crewmembers schools have Navy A schools there.

The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center located in U.S. Army Garrison Presidio is where many U.S. service members receive foreign language instruction and it is the location of the Navy's A school for language. Cryptological interpreters are also trained at the Presidio.

Port Angeles is home to the Naval Construction Training Center where students from the Navy and Air Force can receive interservice training in specific building skills at Port Hueneme. This is also the home of the U.S. Navy Seabees.

The main east coast Navy installation is Naval Submarine Base New London, whose purpose is to educate qualified submariners. It is also the location of the Navy A schools for electronics professionals who work with information, navigation, and communications technology aboard submarines.

The Navy A schools for Naval Surface Warfare and Navy Experimental Diving are located in Panama City.

Enlisted aircrew for the Navy and Marine Corps are trained at Naval Air Station Pensacola and at the Naval Aviation Technical Training Center by the Aviation Schools Command. A School at Naval Air Station Pensacola is attended by Navy recruits in the air traffic control, avionics, aviation fuels, and aviation related ratings.

The Navy boot camp is located in Great Lakes, which is on Lake Michigan and is north of Chicago. It was founded in 1911 and is now the biggest training facility for the U.S. Navy. On its 1,600-acre complex, there are Navy A schools for a variety of ratings including mechanical, electrical, and electronic specialties.

Fort Meade in Maryland houses the Defense Information School and Defense Media activity. It serves as A school for Navy specialists in Mass Communications, including digital multimedia, videography, public affairs, and photojournalism.

The Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulport, Mississippi is where sailors who are carpenters, masons, and steelworkers, to name a few, train on their trades.

Naval Air Station Meridian is a significant naval training facility that focuses on technical and aviation specialties. Here, specialists in aviation administration, logistics, and personnel attend Navy A schools.

On the grounds of Keesler AFB, the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit Keesler is situated on the Gulf Coast. Sailors and Marines receive training there on how to utilize and calibrate equipment.

Engineering assistants and equipment operators attend their Navy A schools at Fort Leonard Wood, an Army training complex, where construction specialists train. Students learn to use heavy machinery and learn how to support building projects.

The Navy War College and Naval Justice School are located at Naval Air Station Newport. It is the training ground for sailors who want to become paralegals.

The Navy’s nuclear power training program is at Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina. Machining, electrical and electronic fields also have their Navy A schools there.

Navy ratings for Religious Program Specialists receive training at Fort Jackson, S.C. at the Naval Chaplaincy School and Center. All branches of the armed forces receive their chaplain and support personnel training at the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Center at Fort Jackson.

Navy, Air Force, and Army construction management teams get interservice training from the Center for Seabees and Facilities Engineering Detachment at Sheppard AFB. The A School at Sheppard educates electricians and utility specialists.

Lackland AFB's Naval Technical Training Center serves as the Navy's A School for the law enforcement profession. It also specializes in anti-terrorism training and trains military working canines.

Enlisted health professionals are provided training by Medical Education and Training Campus at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, a Department of Defense training facility in San Antonio, Texas.

The Navy Intelligence Specialist A school is located at Naval Air Station Oceana. About 17,000 sailors and Marines receive more than 200 different courses annually from the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Center.

Navy Culinary Specialists learn their skills at the Naval Technical Training Center Det at Fort Lee, Va. More than 1,100 sailors train yearly there and receive basic food preparation skills. This center also provides basic culinary training for the Army and Marine Corps, as well as advanced skills training available to Air Force and Coast Guard cooks.

Lastly, Navy musicians attend A school at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek Navy base and at the Army’s Fort Story.