Mass at Fort Jackson, SC?

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LaSainte

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My brother just graduated basic training and is doing paralegal training for the Army at Fort Jackson. He seems to be under the impression that you need to be bussed to services and then wait for a ride back with the others, etc., taking up a good portion of the day when he also has other things he needs to do that day like any laundry, shopping, haircuts, etc.

Has anyone been through this? Is it really that time-consuming to attend church? What’s the deal?
 
Normally after Basic Training, a Soldier is given liberty after normal work/school hours (unless on special details/duties)…and on weekends. I am not sure why he needs to wait for a Unit designated time/bus to go to Mass…if he is finished with Basic…especially on Sunday.

Here is the Sunday schedule for Mass
Pax Christi

Installation Chaplain’s Office
Schedule of Religious Activities
5450
Strom Thurmond Blvd.
Fort Jackson, SC 29207

(803) 751-3121
(DSN) 734-3121
Hours of Operation:
Monday - Friday
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Roman Catholic

0800
Sunday
Solomon Center (BCT)

1100
Sunday
Main Post Chapel (Perm. Party)

1100
Sunday
McCrady Chapel (Task Force Marshall)

1100
Sunday
Main Post Chapel

1130
M / T / W / TH / F
Daily Mass - Main Post Chapel
jackson.army.mil/ICO/Schedule.htm
 
Sometimes the base chapel can be a long ways off. Usually they can be found in the family housing areas. When I was in the AF, I would have had to wait for a base bus to get over that far, as my base was huge. So that was my excuse to be the lazy Catholic I was in my younger days. One of the many sins I had to confess when I got serious about my faith after I left tech training and was stationed in Germany.

Your prayers for him will bring him back around; I’ve seen many cases of that, including myself.👍
 
LaSainte said:
My brother just graduated basic training and is doing paralegal training for the Army at Fort Jackson. He seems to be under the impression that you need to be bussed to services and then wait for a ride back with the others, etc., taking up a good portion of the day when he also has other things he needs to do that day like any laundry, shopping, haircuts, etc.

Has anyone been through this? Is it really that time-consuming to attend church? What’s the deal?
Click to expand...
Leaving aside the issue of doing routine, servile work on Sunday…

There are two issues involved:
  1. Geography of the post. I haven’t been to Ft Jackson before, so I don’t know if the chapel where Catholic Masses are celebrated is within marching distance of the trainee barracks or not.
  2. Required unit discipline. When soldiers are in training, often times they will be told that they have to travel in formation, even during normal days off, particularly when they are leaving the training area of the post. This is up to policies put in place by the post commander.
When I went through basic training (AF) well over 30 years ago, we were not allowed to leave the training area of the base, even to go to the main part of the base (Lackland), until we were close to graduation. When we went to mass, we marched to the chapel in the training side of the base and marched back. When I went to technical training at Keesler AFB, we were not allowed to leave the training part of the base for the first two weeks (as memory serves) of training and were not allowed to leave the base at all for the first six weeks (again, as memory serves). Again, as memory serves, after the first six weeks, things loosened up a lot…provided we kept our noses clean.

So your brother’s story sounds reasonable to me if he just got to Ft Jackson. Depending upon how long his training is, they might ease up on the rules after he’s been there a few weeks.

Oh, by the way, a couple of hints:
  • Normally, the training day runs from about 0600 to 1600. Barbershops on post are generally open until 1800. That gives him a couple of hours after work to get a haircut. The PX is generally open until 2000 - 2100. The Commissary is open until 2100. There is usually a 24 hour shopette on post, as well. There are exceptions to the above, but only for really small posts (like National Guard posts). There is, generally, a lot of time for him to take care of business outside of Sunday.
  • Most barracks have their own laundry facilities that are available 24 hours as well. Again, if he is living with the exception, most every post has a 24 hour laundromat as well. Chances are, he is wearing the ACU on duty. It is against regulations to dry clean and starch the ACU. So, except to keep his Class A uniform clean, there is no reason why he needs to go to a dry cleaner (which, on post, is normally open until 1800, as well).
In other words, if your brother is the one doing the whining, he doesn’t have much of an excuse. If you are thinking of excuses for him, don’t.

Signed,
E-7 (Retired)
 
Thanks so much for all of the information! I guess I just need to keep praying that he will make his faith a priority in his life. I appreciate the detailed responses!
 
markomalley said:
Leaving aside the issue of doing routine, servile work on Sunday…

There are two issues involved:
  1. Geography of the post. I haven’t been to Ft Jackson before, so I don’t know if the chapel where Catholic Masses are celebrated is within marching distance of the trainee barracks or not.
  2. Required unit discipline. When soldiers are in training, often times they will be told that they have to travel in formation, even during normal days off, particularly when they are leaving the training area of the post. This is up to policies put in place by the post commander.
When I went through basic training (AF) well over 30 years ago, we were not allowed to leave the training area of the base, even to go to the main part of the base (Lackland), until we were close to graduation. When we went to mass, we marched to the chapel in the training side of the base and marched back. When I went to technical training at Keesler AFB, we were not allowed to leave the training part of the base for the first two weeks (as memory serves) of training and were not allowed to leave the base at all for the first six weeks (again, as memory serves). Again, as memory serves, after the first six weeks, things loosened up a lot…provided we kept our noses clean.

So your brother’s story sounds reasonable to me if he just got to Ft Jackson. Depending upon how long his training is, they might ease up on the rules after he’s been there a few weeks.

Oh, by the way, a couple of hints:
  • Normally, the training day runs from about 0600 to 1600. Barbershops on post are generally open until 1800. That gives him a couple of hours after work to get a haircut. The PX is generally open until 2000 - 2100. The Commissary is open until 2100. There is usually a 24 hour shopette on post, as well. There are exceptions to the above, but only for really small posts (like National Guard posts). There is, generally, a lot of time for him to take care of business outside of Sunday.
  • Most barracks have their own laundry facilities that are available 24 hours as well. Again, if he is living with the exception, most every post has a 24 hour laundromat as well. Chances are, he is wearing the ACU on duty. It is against regulations to dry clean and starch the ACU. So, except to keep his Class A uniform clean, there is no reason why he needs to go to a dry cleaner (which, on post, is normally open until 1800, as well).
In other words, if your brother is the one doing the whining, he doesn’t have much of an excuse. If you are thinking of excuses for him, don’t.

Signed,
E-7 (Retired)
Click to expand...
When I was at Keesler AFB, some 33 years ago, we were allowed to go anywhere on base on Sundays, from the time we got there. The chapel was on the far side, as I recall, and was hard to get to (in my young, misguided opinion). I don’t remember a rule about spending the first six weeks of tech school confined to base, though.

I do remember being marched to church on Sundays while at Lackland, though.

I was an Automatic-Tracking Radar Specialist.
 
Peggy_in_Burien said:
When I was at Keesler AFB, some 33 years ago, we were allowed to go anywhere on base on Sundays, from the time we got there. The chapel was on the far side, as I recall, and was hard to get to (in my young, misguided opinion). I don’t remember a rule about spending the first six weeks of tech school confined to base, though.

I do remember being marched to church on Sundays while at Lackland, though.

I was an Automatic-Tracking Radar Specialist.
Click to expand...
I was Radio Relay.

I was there in 1982. If memory serves correctly, they had implemented a policy where trainees had to carry an additional identification card with them that showed what privileges they were given. I think it was called a “step” card or something like that.

If memory serves, there were four steps:
  • Step 1: for the first two weeks. You had to be in uniform at all times and were restricted to the squadron area in those nasty Triangle dormitories unless in a formation.
  • Step 2: for the next four weeks. You had to be in uniform at all times outside of the squadron area, but were allowed to go anyplace in the Triangle area and were marched anywhere outside the Triangle.
  • Step 3: (forget how long that lasted). You could be in civvies and could go anywhere on base.
  • Step 4: You were allowed to go off base in civilian clothes, have a car, and so on.
I could be wrong on the time frames: my memory is sort of foggy on all the details because it has been so many years. I do distinctly remember having to carry that stupid card around with me and having privileges that were gradually advanced the longer I was there.

(And I remember having to go back there TDY later on for a 7-level school and feeling very sorry for the tech school kids who had to put up with that BS…I seem to remember it ramping up by the second time I was there)
 
markomalley said:
I was Radio Relay.

I was there in 1982. If memory serves correctly, they had implemented a policy where trainees had to carry an additional identification card with them that showed what privileges they were given. I think it was called a “step” card or something like that.

If memory serves, there were four steps:
  • Step 1: for the first two weeks. You had to be in uniform at all times and were restricted to the squadron area in those nasty Triangle dormitories unless in a formation.
  • Step 2: for the next four weeks. You had to be in uniform at all times outside of the squadron area, but were allowed to go anyplace in the Triangle area and were marched anywhere outside the Triangle.
  • Step 3: (forget how long that lasted). You could be in civvies and could go anywhere on base.
  • Step 4: You were allowed to go off base in civilian clothes, have a car, and so on.
I could be wrong on the time frames: my memory is sort of foggy on all the details because it has been so many years. I do distinctly remember having to carry that stupid card around with me and having privileges that were gradually advanced the longer I was there.

(And I remember having to go back there TDY later on for a 7-level school and feeling very sorry for the tech school kids who had to put up with that BS…I seem to remember it ramping up by the second time I was there)
Click to expand...
Holy Cow!!! We didn’t have any of those rules. The first morning after I got there, I rolled out in my civvies, and my roommate and I went to find the Enlisted Men’s Club (the one in the Triangle with the watered down drinks). We changed into civvies as soon as the afternoon formation was finished. No ID, except for our regular AF ID.

I was there from 1 MAY 78 to 23 NOV 78. The main rule was that a male was not allowed to even stop on the sidewalk outside female side of the barracks, and visa versa.

It got really wild when they added the C-shift to the barracks, and we had rowdy students pouring into the barracks at midnight, when my shift, A, had to get up at 2:30am. I was a bay-rope and it was miserable at that point.

I guess whoever came through between my group and your group must have been terrible, in order for those changes to happen.🤷
 
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