What determines your division?
 

It makes sense to have different ship dates, but I've also noticed that there are ship dates that are right after the other. I'm confused, do the people who ship to RTC on the same day as you all over the country all get put into a división on the same day, possibly your same division? My recruiter told me that there are always a graduation ceremony each Friday at RTC, and I'm wondering, could it be that those who possibly ship out on the same week, be in that same división (if not, another different division that graduates the same time as your division)? How does this division stuff work and how do the ship dates take a role in it?

There are these things called training groups. There are about ten to twelve divisions (not sure the exact amount per group). All of the divisions in a training group will graduate on he same day, but not every recruit will arrive on the same day. Some may arrive a week and a half earlier then the last recruit who got there. For example, I got to boot on September 15th, but there were people that got there september 7th and the day after me that were all in the same training group. So it's just luck of the draw. If you get there 'early', then you will be at bootcamp a little bit longer. But if you arrive late then you just have all of your training squeezed in a little tighter. Don't worry though, it doesn't really make it harder.

But how do they actually determine who gets put in what division? Once you get to ohare, you will wait at the airport until there is enough recruits to fill about two to three busses. Then you will get transported to boot and everyone will go through the initial process. The phone call, picking shoe size, getting your dirty bag, stuff like that. Sometime during that you will be asked if anyone has any drill/choir/rifle talent. If you say yes you will be put in a 900 division and they will give you the next consecutive number from the previous training group that arrived shortly before you. For example, if the division that arrived the week before you was given 902, then you would be 903.

After all of the 'talented' people get weeded out then they will bring everyone else into this hallway and desperate them into equal groups. They will come to you and grab your hand and write a number in marker on your hand. Congrats this is your division number. So if you ship out with someone you know and you don't have one those special contracts that promise you that you will stay with each other, stick with the guy. Or if you find someone at the airport that you just connect with immediately, stick with them and you may just get out on the same division. It at least worked for a couple guys in my division.

Sorry if I rambled on or it doesn't make sense, I kind of just woke up.

Thanks a lot! Clarified lots of things.
As for the training groups, about how many ship dates or weeks does it take to make one? I'd like to get a feel of how many would they take on average. Also, I would have thought that they would try to Split you up randomly regardless if you stick with people you just click with. How does that work? By sticking together in a cluster gives you a way to stay together in a división?

I'm not sure of how many ship dates it usually takes to make a training group. From what I was told they get busier during the winter times compared to the summer so it may take longer depending on the time of the year.

You get assigned your division pretty quickly. If you stay close to the person that you want to get put in the same division as, when they line up everyone they will probably give you the same division

The way were divided up was, as RoadGuard07 said, any talented people first got the special divisions. Next they asked who knew with 100% certainty that they could pass their PFA first try, no qualms. Those that raised their hand were all placed in a division together. They just went down the line until it was just the people who flat out couldn't pass their PFA and knew it. I'm not sure if that's how it still goes, but that's how it was the night I got there.