Most Americans can look forward to taking a little time off around Christmas, and that includes tens of thousands of future soldiers in the midst of basic training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fort Jackson, South Carolina, the Army\u2019s biggest basic training post, had several thousand of its own to ship off for Victory Block Leave a week before the holiday, set to return on Jan. 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To do that, drill sergeants and other leadership helped organize the recruits and send them home through the airport and train station near the post in Columbia, South Carolina, as well as bus them off to the airports in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One soldier, who made her way from Charlotte to her Redding, California, hometown on Monday, told Army Times she was delighted to find out that though she\u2019d be in a winter training cycle, she wouldn\u2019t have to spend Christmas in training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was actually shocked and very surprised, and grateful that we get to go home for the Christmas break,\u201d said Pvt. Emily Haddleton, 24. \u201cIt does make sense, though, because I don\u2019t think the drill sergeants want to be here, training us on Christmas day, either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The process started weeks ago, one drill sergeant told Army Times, with trips to the ticketing office on post. Before sending them off, drill sergeants sat down with recruits for some holiday safety briefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey have to make sure they maintain good physical fitness,\u201d Staff Sgt. Domenic Buscemi said. \u201cAnd we try to prevent, or try to talk them out, of using illicit substances.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recruits are officially not allowed to drink, Haddleton said, \u201cbut unfortunately, drill sergeants know they can\u2019t stop everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Safety briefs mostly focus on safe driving, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause if you get home or you get a ticket or traffic violation, or you get caught drunk driving, it can ruin your military career,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, go home and have fun over the holidays, but make sure that you\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Charlotte airport, about 7,000 recruits were greeted by USO of North Carolina volunteers who worked through the night, communications director Margaret Clevenger told Army Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Volunteers led soldiers through the check-in process and then provided food, coffee and snacks at the lounge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s even Monster out there,\u201d Clevenger said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was also entertainment on hand for soldiers with a long wait until boarding, on top of Xbox and TVs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe actually had some of the Top Cat cheerleaders,\u201d Clevenger said. \u201cThey\u2019re the cheerleaders for the Carolina Panthers. Sir Purr, the Panthers\u2019 mascot, was there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recruits will have a couple of days to reintegrate when they return in early January, before finishing out their training. Haddleton\u2019s company will be two weeks away from graduation, she said, while others are only a couple of weeks in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey did warn us that right when we get back, we\u2019ll be taking a urinalysis,\u201d Haddleton added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drill sergeants will be prepared to re-soldierize them, if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey go away and they forget some of that stuff, and they forget that they are a soldier. But generally, they retain a lot of the stuff,\u201d Buscemi said. \u201cYou see a pretty good success rate of them going and then coming back recharged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most Americans can look forward to take a little time off around Christmas, and that includes tens of thousands of future soldiers in the midst of basic training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":86366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":70,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news"],"primary_category":"your-military"}}},"categories":[100,12,25,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3301],"class_list":["post-48629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"2JWDVQLKLVGPVH2XKG2HXV5AQM","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2017\/12\/21\/fort-jackson-sends-40000-recruits-home-for-the-holidays\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n