— Graduation guides · Army
The answers that are the same at every Army post, and where they differ. Fort Jackson, Fort Leonard Wood, Fort Sill and Fort Benning each have their own page below. Checked against official sources in September 2026.
— Questions families ask
Almost always no. New soldiers spend 4 to 10 days in the Reception Battalion, and the post says most do not get a real call until they reach their training company. Fort Jackson says 4 to 10 days, Fort Sill 7 to 10, Fort Leonard Wood about 3 and a half. The first call is usually a short one with their company and mailing address. Do not mail anything to Reception. If you need help, every post lists a number: Fort Jackson (803) 751-5951, Fort Leonard Wood 43rd AG at (573) 596-0648, Fort Sill 434th Brigade Public Affairs (580) 442-2052, Fort Benning 198th staff duty 706-544-9211. Have the soldier's full name, date of birth and ship date ready. For a true family emergency, the American Red Cross Hero Care line at 877-272-7337 finds them through the chain of command, 24 hours a day. Source
It depends on the post, and picking wrong is the most common reason a family gets stuck at the gate. Fort Jackson and Fort Leonard Wood say choose Visitor Pass, not Special Event. Fort Benning is the opposite: choose Special Event and enter the code for your soldier's battalion from its Special Events page. Fort Sill uses a Visitor Pass, online or same day at the Visitor Welcome Center. All four use pass.aie.army.mil, and all say register early, up to 30 days ahead. Everyone 18 and older without a DoD ID needs one; children 17 and under riding with you do not. Source
An expired passport does not count anywhere; Fort Jackson says expired or suspended IDs are not valid. What works: a REAL ID license, a current passport or passport card, a DoD ID, or a non-REAL ID license plus a second document. Fort Leonard Wood lists the second documents it accepts: certified birth certificate, original Social Security card, school photo ID, DD-214, VA health card, Permanent Resident Card. Fort Jackson does not require REAL ID on Family Day or graduation day but does on any other day. Fort Benning cannot accept a license marked Not Valid for Federal Purposes at all. If your only ID is a Social Security card and a student ID, call the post's visitor center before you drive; do not find out at the gate. Digital licenses on a phone are not accepted. Source
Family Day is the day before graduation. Ceremonies are outdoors in the morning: Fort Jackson starts at 9 a.m. on Hilton Field and wants guests seated by 8:50, with gates opening around 6 or 7; Fort Benning is 9 a.m. April through September and 10 a.m. October through March, arrive 30 to 45 minutes early for parking; Fort Leonard Wood lists most ceremonies at 10 a.m. across several venues; Fort Sill is on Polo Field and families stay on the field with their soldier until noon. Everyone arrives at the same time, so the line for the stands is the real reason to be early. Weather can move a ceremony indoors or change its time, and the battalion's Facebook page is where that gets posted. Source
Only Fort Sill publishes a list, and it is a good guide for every post: no tobacco, drugs, alcohol, electronics, body spray, perfume, piercings, tattoos or pornography. Fort Jackson adds the pass rules: stay in uniform, no driving, no alcohol, tobacco or vapes, back by the time the unit sets. The exact list comes from the company or battery in the welcome letter or on its Facebook page, so read that before you shop. The safe plan is to enjoy food and gifts together during the pass and take them home yourself. Source
Yes, at every post, and it is always free. Fort Jackson streams on its YouTube and Facebook pages starting about 15 minutes before the ceremony; Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Benning stream through unit and company Facebook pages; Fort Sill streams and posts recordings in its YouTube playlist. Every post warns about fake links in the comments asking for a card number. Only use the link on the official page. Source
Basic Combat Training is 10 weeks at Fort Jackson, Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Sill, so graduation lands about 10 weeks after they leave Reception. Fort Benning runs One Station Unit Training, which combines basic and job training: about 18 weeks for Infantry and Armor. A recycle for injury or a failed test moves the date, so treat any date as an estimate until the company letter confirms it. The base pages below list every published class date. Source
Request your Official Military Personnel File free from the National Personnel Records Center at vetrecs.archives.gov or by mailing a signed SF-180 to 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138. It lists your training unit and dates. With the company and year, scanned basic training yearbooks are searchable on the Internet Archive and the volunteer Military Yearbook Project, and most companies have a Facebook group named by post, company and year. Source
The arrival call is only to say they made it; the address comes later. Soldiers spend 4 to 10 days in the Reception Battalion, then move to a training company and get a short call to give you the company and mailing address, sometimes a postcard or letter instead. Fort Sill tells families to allow about two Sundays. Do not send anything to Reception, it may never reach them. The first real letter in your mailbox usually lands about two to three weeks after ship day, and after that mail is the main line, with phone calls roughly once a week at the unit's discretion. Source
Fort Jackson leaves its ceremony recordings on the Fort Jackson YouTube page after the live ends. Fort Sill keeps them in the YouTube playlist named Fort Sill Basic Training Graduations. Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Benning stream through unit and company Facebook pages, and the video normally stays on that page, so look for your soldier's battalion or company page rather than the post's main page. Screen recordings other parents post in groups are unofficial and often incomplete. Source
Sandboxx is a paid third-party app that prints your letter and mails it to the post, so a letter you type tonight usually reaches the mailroom faster than one you post yourself. It is optional. Regular stamped mail works at every Army post and costs nothing beyond the stamp. Whichever you use, wait for the company address; mail to Reception is the thing that goes missing. Do not send food, electronics, tobacco, cosmetics or civilian clothes, which are on Fort Jackson's do-not-send list. Source
Every graduation photo becomes a numbered keepsake card, front and back, with the unit, the base and the date. You get a video and one page the whole family can open. Graduated a while ago? It is not too late.