On a not-so-white Christmas Day, 50 recruits from Naval Station Great Lakes walked into a roaring welcome at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, a tradition embraced by the community for 13 years. The sailors arrived in a yellow school bus escorted by police cars and veterans zipping ahe ad on motorcycles to the front steps of the school, where neighbors and volunteers on either side of the stairs held American flags up high, waving them ecstatically. The annual celebration was once again hosted by Bob Stack and his wife, Linda. They lost their 20-year-old son, Marine Lance Cpl. James Stack, when he was killed in combat in Afghanistan on Nov. 10, 2010. Stack was a science teacher at Christian Liberty Academy for 24 years before retiring in June. “Perhaps the most difficult thing you’ve ever done is (be) sequestered from the world, away from your families,” Stack said to the recruits sitting on chairs in front of the gymnasium stage. “Soon, you will have earned the title “United States Navy sailor,” a title for which you can be very proud of. As I look at you, fit and squared away in uniform, you remind me of my son. At his boot camp graduation a long time ago, I couldn’t have been prouder of him that day.” Navy recruits and volunteers bow their heads in prayer before lunch, Dec. 25, 2025, at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune) Thursday’s celebration started with doughnuts, fruit and coffee in the foyer, followed by a noon lunch in the school cafeteria, which was filled with food tables, bag-toss games, foosball and a sprawling table of red and green cookies, fudgy brownies, cakes and sodas. Stack said the spread was the ultimate “cheat day” for the self-disciplined troops. Then after an evening dinner, the recruits head to the bus and back to base. For many of the recruits at the event Thursday, home is a long way from Naval Station Great Lakes, the Navy’s only boot camp and largest training installation, located on over 1,600 acres overlooking Lake Michigan. At the station, they’re allotted four phone calls during the duration of boot camp, which lasts a little over eight weeks. For the current group, graduation is Jan. 8, and they haven’t seen their families since November. So in the spirit of Christmas cheer, organizers at Christian Liberty Academy arranged cellphones so recruits could not just hear their loved ones’ voices – but see them too. “My fiance hasn’t seen me without facial hair and short hair. She does not like short hair – the clean shave, either. I’ve had a mustache the entire time we’ve been together,” laughed Michael Fredrickson, a 23-year-old recruit of Naval Station Great Lakes. Along with having to shave every single day, Navy recruits have a meticulously strict schedule that begins around 4 a.m. Thursday’s Christmas event was freeing in that sense, Fredrickson said, noting that recruits rarely even slouch or walk around slurping coffee. Fredrickson, who grew up in Florida, but was born in Wisconsin, said many recruits got to speak to family over the phone the day before – their third phone call of camp – so Thursday’s video call would be a total surprise for his fiance. Amber Rens of Wisconsin, right, introduces her friend Rae Inting, of Florida, to her parents on the phone, Dec. 25, 2025, at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune) Next to him, Edgar Garcia, 32, who was born and raised in the Chicago area, was about to call his mom. Though his family isn’t physically that far, Garcia said it feels even farther since they’re cut off from the world, news, social media – and sports. “Our (division commander) told me about the Bears and how they’ve been dominating and that they beat the Packers in an overtime touchdown!” Garcia said. “I was like of course they’re good when I can’t watch any of the games.” Sports woes aside, Garcia said enlisting in the Navy has changed his life and may have been an easier transition for him than it has been for some of the younger recruits, or the recruits who have small children at home. The first few days of boot camp were emotional for many, he said, as they adjusted to a new normal without cellphones and music and family. For Georgia native Akierra Pedro, 28, enlisting in the Navy meant being away from her two daughters, who are 6 and 2. “It’s really hard being away from them for Christmas, but my older one tells me she’s proud of me every time we get to talk – it’s really hard, but they are also my motivation to get to the end,” Pedro said. She gets to see her daughters in two weeks at graduation. Then after an overnight stay at home, Pedro will begin “A school,” which is the specialized technical training sailors attend after boot camp to learn the specific job they qualify for. Pedro’s A school is in Mississippi, where she’ll specialize in computers. After writing her name on the sign-up sheet for a phone and charger, Pedro video-called her daughters. Stack said the organizers have partnered with Verizon Wireless for several years to provide recruits with a phone for the day. A couple hours into the morning, almost every recruit was deep into conversation with loved ones or friends. Some walked and talked with their phones, some searched for a quiet spot, others sat shoulder to shoulder introducing their families to each other, and some just sunk into the bleachers, smiling gently at the screen. Navy recruits talk to loved ones on the phone, Dec. 25, 2025, at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights. Recruits are not allowed unlimited phone calls on base but were allowed to use the phones for the day to talk to loved ones.(Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune) Phones lay on a table before being given to Navy recruits to use for the day. Recruits are not allowed unlimited phone calls on base but were allowed to use the phones for the day to talk to loved ones. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune) The organizers were short a few phones, so Tonya Aiello, a volunteer and staff member at Christian Liberty Academy, handed her own phone to one of the recruits to use for the day. “When they first started, they would only get about 10 phones and there were so many troops, so my husband and I would just use our phones for them to use, too,” Aiello explained. “And then when we got our phones back, we’d go through and see where people were calling… Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Maryland – wherever. It was really fun. We’d be like, where did your phone call today?” Aiello said the Christmas Day tradition has become something she looks forward to each year. It’s a way to offer recruits the feeling of home despite how far they are from it, she said. It also offered them a taste of normalcy, said Naomi Soles, 21, a recruit from Jacksonville, Florida. “Just seeing the outside world – being on the road even was exciting, we’ve been marching everywhere,” Soles laughed. “Two months doesn’t sound like a long time, but it felt like a long time.” Soles said she was born and raised in Jacksonville and lived five minutes between both of her parents. Enlisting and being away was a big jump for her, she said. And after graduation, she’ll enroll at an A school in San Antonio, Texas, for a career as a Navy Hospital Corpsman, an enlisted medical specialist providing healthcare, emergency treatment, and preventative care for Navy and Marine personnel and families. Navy recruits Cynthia Choong, of Maryland, left, and Naomi Soles, of Florida, talk to volunteer Tonya Aiello, of Arlington Heights, Dec. 25, 2025, at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights. It was the 13th year that the school hosted recruits from the Naval Station Great Lakes on Christmas. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune) While in line to grab coffee and pastries, Soles was telling her friend, fellow recruit Cynthia Choong, 24, from Maryland, what Christmas typically looks like in Florida. “Me and my mom usually make ornaments, like styrofoam balls and sequins, then we’ll open gifts,” Soles explained, happily. “All my family would be there eating good food. We usually do apple fritters in the morning. And then we have a back porch. It’s Florida, so it’s not this cold – we’d probably be sitting on the back porch and drinking coffee. It’d be a slow morning, but those are the best kind.” ...read more read less