Posted on 01/09/2011 3:13:21 PM PST by ExpatCanuck
Number one son has always been interested in the military. He started the first ROTC cluib in his high school's 105 year history, and eventually wants to get into Special Forces or Army Intel work. He completed a year of university at Embry Riddle after high school, then joined the Army National Guard. He's off to basic training in Missouri tomorrow (it's lovely there in January, I hear). He originally picked Medic as his AIT but was told by the recruiter (who is himself a medic) that he would very likely get deployed within 48 hours of completing his training. He wants to finish university and has already been accepted back at Riddle as well as several other schools, so he selected Engineering instead. Any tips, suggestions, advice, that my fellow freepers can offer would be greatly appreciated and will be graciously accepted. Any advice from mom's would also be appreciated - his mom is scared to death that he will be deployed and it is a source of friction between us because she blames me for letting him do this :-).
My son went though infantry OSUT at Benning. Was shipped to Iraq two months after graduation. Did three tours there and is packing his bags for Afganistan in a few weeks. He LOVES being deployed.
Glad we have men like your son!
How do I fit in this?
I love Marines, but aren’t one, fought with them (both as friend and as foe), but wouldn’t want to be one (don’t like ships).
Army does the heavy lifting, just a fact.
(stirring the pot)
In all seriousness, my best unit over 24 years enlisted and commissioned, was commanded by a Marine LTC, senior NCO was a Sailor (Master Chief, SEAL) and the best support staff officer was an USAF F16 driver. I was the XO.
Regards;
My daughter’s boyfriend just completed basic training for the marine corps and emphasized a need for the 3 “C”s. Cardio, Calories, Canteen. Your son needs to ingest as many calories as he can get his hands on because he’ll be burning a ton during training. He needs to keep hydrated so he doesn’t cramp up. And he needs to make sure his cardio is as good as possible because there will be many opportunities when recruits will need to assist each other and he’s better off being the one who helps rather than the one needing assistance. The other guys always remember who was in which position.
Best of luck to him.
Communication, other than writing, is cut off. They’re allowed one call after they arrive at the training facility, then no calls till close to graduation.
They have a bit of time periodically to write .. but they do love to receive mail. Once you get his address, write as often as you can. Don’t look to an ‘exchange’ of letters .. look to its being 7:1, and be happy for the 1. When you get his address, send him writing paper and stamps, with preprinted mailing labels for both of you, so all he has to do is peel them off and onto the envelope.
They are allowed to receive certain limited reading materials. Gather those that might be of interest to him. News from home is always welcome .. local paper clips, church bulletins if he was active in a youth group, that sort of thing.
Before our Protestant son left for basic, a close family friend (Catholic) gave him a St. George medallion that he wore throughout. St. George is the patron saint of soldiers and scouts. Oh, and expect to hear that he’s attending Jewish services on Friday nights because it is the only opportunity for anything at all sweet to eat. My son said EVERYBODY at Basic is Jewish. It’s all very ecumenical ;)
He will do well, meeting fellow recruits from across the country, whose backgrounds and experiences are so different from his, no matter what the respective backgrounds. In short order they will become his best friends on earth!
Plan now for your family to attend the graduation if at all possible. It will mean the world to your son for you and your family to attend. And it will mean the world to you, too. You will be greeting an entirely different person than the one leaving tomorrow.
Read the thread and I will commend your son for his desire to serve his adopted country and you for instilling such values in him.
My son’s Marine recruiter told him one way to look at boot camp is from chow to chow. “I can get through this because in xx hours, I get chow.”
My son told me that even in the Marines there were recruits who were obviously trying to get through doing the bare minimum. He vowed to himself not to be one of those and graduated as squad leader, which got him a promotion.
For Mom and Dad - a couple of things. I tried to mail a letter every day. Sometimes it was hard to have much of anything to say. But, I sent comic strips, jokes, clippings from the local paper.
Also, I found an internet forum at leatherneck.com for Marine parents. I started a thread that went on for the duration of his training and even longer. Marines were quick to answer all my questions. There must be similar things for Army.
One last thing - I got a copy of the training matrix - a calendar of what he was doing each day. Kept one on the refrigerator and one at my desk at work.
MD, I’m glad we have men like YOUR son.
God bless him, and you.
Shame on you.
Hmm, don’t understand your post, is it me or you?
Follow orders, and it will be easy.
Work hard.
Any other course will lead to a miserable 8 weeks (if that is what Basic is these days.)
Tell him to blend in. Also, remind him that no matter what they do to him, they can’t kill him. He will survive and it isn’t the end of the world.
FWIW, my son snuck away on Father’s Day and called his dad and wasn’t caught. The sargeants are only human, really. Oh! And JT graduated platoon guide.
My thanks for your son’s service to our country. You did a good job.
They still doing basic at Ft. Lost-in-the-woods?
Oh, yes! Tell him that if there is someone in the group with whom he doesn’t get along to let y’all know. Then you can send that person a goodie basket along with a note to keep it away from those nosey and overbearing sargeants. Don’t send it to your son!
FWIW, my son has served twice in Iraq, the first time in Ramadi. He never had to fire his rifle. The second time he was bored. God will protect your son. My prayers are with your wife.
This almost put his mother into cardiac arrest and sent ripples through her left wing family. ...His mother is now a rabid supporter of the U.S. Army, Ft. Benning, the Infantry, and the Brotherhood of the Airborne. Why the change in attitude and behavior? I attribute it to Facebook. Ft. Benning (and I’m sure Ft. Leonard Wood) has a facebook page for each training company where the wives, mothers and friends of trainees can see what’s going on in training, talk to other family members, and understand what the Army is doing. She is a changed woman.
***Fascinating. Facebook changed a librul.
I know that one recruit in my basic company at Ft.Leonardwood, in 1969,
would advise:
Do not let his Grandma show up on Sunday and chew out the Senior Drill Sergent for “being hard on the boy”.
1. Since he's had some college, he may be more than just an E1. If that's the case, he'll probably be put in a leadership position and catch more flak.
2. Don't take what the Drills say as being personal. It's just their job.
3. Be prepared for contradictions. Saying “I thought” will get the response - “You don't get paid to think”. Doing something foolish will get you a “What were you thinking”?
4. Every unit has a “that guy”. The one referred to in future stories and laughed at. Don't be “that guy”.
That's the only thing I can add to what's already been said.
Keep you mouth shut, do as your told, pay attention to detail.
Mom here-First off I tried to get my son to go to school, it did not work and he is now active duty in the Army Infantry.
Be supportive, write LOTS of letters, don’t freak out when phone calls don’t come, no news is good news.
As for him, mouth shut, ears and eyes open!
Don’t think about deployment, cross that bridge when you get to it.
Thank your son for his service!
Embry-Riddle is an aviation school. Why does he want to be a medic?
I´m glad for my time in the Army, including a year in Vietnam, as a medic. But if I´d had the chance to attend Embry-Riddle I sure bet I´d have done something else.
Have all of your friends and family write him. For a time this will be his only connection with home.
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