Great Lakes Naval Station

The Recruit Graduations will be open to all guests. All guests must show a valid ID, children must have a school ID, Social Security card, or birth certificate . However, due to seating limitations, the recruit must specify three primary guests on an access list. Primary guests are allowed full access to see the ceremony. Only the recruit can put guests on the access list. Preschool age children do not need to be placed on the guest list. The recruit can change the list up to one week (Fri) before the pass-in-review. Extra guests will be asked to wait at the screening area until seating can be verified. Extra seats are on a “first come first serve” basis as space permits.

Waukegan, IL

Waukegan was the birthplace of comedian Jack Benny (where a middle school is named for him) and of writers Ray Bradbury and Kim Stanley Robinson.

The city's half-mile of public beach is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day and is carefully maintained. As the world's freshwater salmon capital, Waukegan Harbor is the place where anglers come to Waukegan Harbor to land salmon, trout and perch.

Waukegan can be reached from Chicago or Milwaukee in less than one hour. The drive to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is about 40 minutes while Milwaukee's General Mitchell Field is 45 minutes away.

Great Lakes Naval Training Center, located just south of Waukegan, provides steady employment for thousands of area residents and brings a multitude of additional consumers into the city.

Located along a bluff line on the western shores of Lake Michigan, Waukegan is 39 miles North of Chicago and 60 miles south of Milwaukee. Waukegan's neighbors include the city of Zion to the North, the city of North Chicago to the South, the village of Gurnee to the West, and, of course, Lake Michigan to the East.

Waukegan, first visited by Pierre Marquette in 1673, is one of the oldest known communities in Illinois. The city started as a French trading post and Potawatomi Indian settlement known as "Little Fort." Records dating back to 1829 tell of a treaty signed by the Potawatomis in which they ceded all of their land in this area to the Federal Government.

Early settlers were initially attracted to Waukegan as a port city and shipped produce and grain to Chicago. The creation of the Illinois Parallel Railroad in 1855 stimulated interest in Waukegan as a manufacturing center. The town continued to grow and diversify and Waukegan was incorporated as a city in 1859, with an area of 5.62 square miles. Today the community has expanded to approximately 34 square miles and nearly 75,000 residents.

Great Lakes Naval Station Hotel Map

Bases by Service

• Air Force Bases
• Army Bases
• Marine Corps Bases
• Navy Bases

Basic Training Bases

• Lackland AFB
• Fort Benning
• Fort Jackson
• Fort Knox
• Fort Leonard Wood
• Fort Sill
• MCRD Parris Island
• MCRD San Diego
• Great Lakes NTC

Popular Bases

• Eglin Air Force Base
• Wright Patterson AFB
• Aberdeen Proving Ground
• Fort Hood
• Camp Lejeune
• Camp Pendleton
• Norfolk Naval Station
• Pearl Harbor Naval Station