Turning Green Ceremony
First off, CONGRATULATIONS to you and your soldier! You both have made it nine weeks. If you are new to this like I was, you're probably wondering what Turning Green is. Turning Green can also be known as Family Day.
What Basic Training Turning Green or Family Day Is
Turning Green occurs nine weeks into their training. If your soldier is at Fort Moore for OSUT, it marks the end of Basic Training and the beginning of AIT. This midway break is designated for soldiers in Infantry or Armor and signifies your recruit is officially a U.S. Army Soldier. Turning Green is a 3-day break for your soldier and can include an overnight pass. The ceremony is typically scheduled over a weekend (Friday-Sunday).
**If you are your soldiers point of contact for the weekend, you are responsible for them. Make sure you have made arrangements to be able to take your soldier back to base each night (if they did not receive an overnight pass) or back to base once the weekend is over**
What Basic Training Turning Green or Family Day Is NOT
It is NOT a free for all for your soldier. They will have many rules to follow that they will tell you. I’ll list some of them here: Must stay within a 50-mile radius of base, no caffeine, no alcohol, no drugs, when out in public soldier must be in OCPs, no PDA. These are just a few that I remember. Your soldier will be briefed on them before they are allowed to leave base after the ceremony.
Who Can Attend Turning Green
Anyone! Family and friends are welcome to attend the Turning Green ceremony. Just remember that you are entering a government facility, so you need a valid ID to be able to enter. If you are a spouse or veteran, you can use your DoD CAC card to enter base. **At my husband’s ceremony all they did was scan the back of my CAC card – I even had my MIL in the car with me** The ceremony will (hopefully) be live streamed on the company facebook page for those who are unable to attend.
What Is the Ceremony Like
The ceremony took about 30 minutes. There was a ceremony before my husbands, so I had to wait until that ceremony was over before I could go get a seat. It is very important to know what platoon your soldier is in. Your soldier will stand with their platoon during the ceremony. There were limited seats, so if you want a front row seat it is important to get there early. **My MIL and I were there before the rest of the family. If this happens to you, PLEASE DO NOT save seats. Other families and friends are there to see their soldier and are just as excited as you. Please do not take away seats that others were there early for**
The ceremony will begin with their CO (Commanding Officer) saying a few words. About halfway through the ceremony they will ask the soldiers to retrieve their U.S. Army patch and hold it in their hand. They will then ask the family to find their soldier and place the patch on their arm. This is the first time you will get to hug your soldier!! You get about 3-5 minutes with your soldier and then you are instructed to find your seats. The ceremony will then come to an end, and you will be instructed to wait for your soldier to come and find you.
Once your soldier has made their way to you...THEY ARE YOURS...for the weekend!! Your soldier will let you know if they were granted an overnight pass or not and what time they have to be back to base each night or when the weekend ends. **My husband was granted an overnight pass and didn’t have to be back on base until Monday at 4pm**
Enjoy your time and soak up each moment. This break is much needed for your soldier and my husband called it a “reset” for AIT. Have fun and don’t stress about things to do. Enjoy each other and live in the moment with them. Congratulations once again. For a more in-depth look of my Turning Green experience read my other blog post about this ceremony.
