Naval Station Great Lakes

You will stand at attention in a wind chill that makes Antarctica look like Pensacola and your RDC (Recruit Division Commander, the Navy's version of a drill sergeant) will ask you why you're shivering like it's a personal choice and a character flaw. Boot camp is 10 weeks of someone screaming at you for folding your underwear wrong while Lake Michigan tries to blow you into Wisconsin with a consistency that suggests it's been briefed on the training schedule. The Great Lakes winter is a force of nature that the Midwest has accepted and the Navy has weaponized — the 'Hawk' (Chicago wind off the lake) hits different when you're standing in a parking lot in January wearing a peacoat that was designed for a different climate and a different century. If you get stuck here for A-School, you'll discover that North Chicago's entertainment options include: the base bowling alley, the base movie theater, staring at Lake Michigan questioning your life choices, and the shocking realization that Chicago proper is only 35 miles south with world-class everything — pizza (deep dish and tavern-style, both correct, fight about it), architecture, museums, and a bar scene that's been training sailors in bad decisions since the Great Fire. Waukegan is the nearest town and it's... there. Six Flags is close for when you need to feel something besides cold. The base is the Navy's Recruit Training Command — every single sailor in the entire Navy came through here, which means this frozen lakeside parking lot is the most shared experience in the fleet.