Keep your head when others around you have lost theirs,
And with the new rules in plce you must maintain situational awareness at all times.
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 :-).
I went in when I was 17, quitting high school in my junior year in December 1973.
At least your son is a medic and not an airborne infantryman, but he will be on patrol with the boots on the ground.
American soldiers are the finest in the world. You have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Bootcamp is easy.
1. Keep your mouth shut!
2. Attention to detail! Listen! Try to do EXACTLY what the D.I. says.
3. If you can’t be the best in your group, be one of the invisible ones and be darned sure you don’t finish last.
4. Man up! No excuses.
5. Remember, the purpose of boot camp is to weed out those who are either undesirable or incapable of conforming to military life. The D.I.’s job is to try to make you quit.
6. And lastly, it’s not personal for the D.I. When he gets in your face and screams, it is a psychological technique to force your square peg into the Army’s round hole.
Keep your head when others around you have lost theirs,
And with the new rules in plce you must maintain situational awareness at all times.
LOL
I spent a tour as a Drill Sergeant in '66 and that one made me laugh...though it's been 45 years since then and though much has changed, I'll guarantee the cadre would be laughing their collective butts off...privately of course.
Publicly they all will have purple faces, throbbing veins and their language would tear steel cladding off a bulldozer...maybe, the language, not so much now
Unfortunately, none of that will be a consideration. When it comes time to pick branch in ROTC, it’s purely a points system. Whoever has the most points, picks first. Points come from grades, PT, and scores during training. If he wants to be MI, he will need high scores because it is competitive.
You can’t join as an SF officer, that comes later, so he couldn’t even pick it if he wanted.
Make sure he knows ranks, and never ever look the drill sergeant in the eye. He will try to get him to do this, make sure he always focuses on his ear lobe or something.
Well, of course. It was meant to be a funny and directed at officers. But then you have to watch out for ‘implied’ insubordination.
He'll do just fine. I was Air Force and was told to laugh at everything in basic training - because all of it is pretty funny. Strange enough, that advice did help.
Yes. When ever your commander tells you places that are off limits, you will know the good places to go.
Keep your mouth shut and learn to sleep standing.
Becoming invisible is a great trick learned quickly by smart people.
Listen. Details matter.
Have a sense of humor. Don’t be a commedian.
Show respect and you will earn respect.
Neatness counts.
My advice is simple and the same whether he is interviewing for a job, starting a job, asking a girl for a date, or entering the military.
Do your very best at all times and do it joyfully. That means do your very best whether you’re cleaning latrines or on the shooting range.
My advice for all of life is also simple. Do not exchange what you want most for what you want now.
Please thank him from me for his service to country.
My dsaughter entered the reverves and was deployed to Iraq as a Combat Medic ... and I gave her this advice before she left for Iraq:
1. I know that as a Medic you are not allowed to carry a weapon - juts make sure a close froned near you has a spare one clean, armed, and ready to go.
2. When in doubt, shoot, I would reather you be in the stockade than in a body bag.
3. Trust nonne of the poulace around you - never let your gaurd down. A 5 year old chold and a woman can kill you just as qucik as a man. They do not play by the rules - so don’t expect them to have your values or the values you have been raised with.
4. Know how to read a map and use a compass (even if you have GPS - they can fail, break, be stolen, or lost). Be extrrmely familar with your AO (Area of Operation), Always knoe thw lcoesest freidnly untis location at all times. Know where you are at on the map at all times. (The person you depend on knowing where you are may be the first person killed.)
5. Clean the “close spare weapon daily” - as well as the ammo and magazines (having dirty ammo or a magazine that sticks is just as bad as having a weapon that james).
6. Know how to use the radio, know your unti’s call signs, and the call signs of the surrounding units and you next level up command’s call sign. Know all the frequencies for rweaching whatever help you need when the SHTF. (The person that normally operates the radio may be the second person killed).
7. Have a very sharp knife or bayonet handy and on your person.
8. Never pick anything up or check anything out that looks strange.
9. Never buy food or liquid from a national. Never accept a gift of food or liquid or anything else from a national.
10. Know how to call in artillery and close air support - the person who does this may be the thrid person killed.
11. When the action starts - KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN! (The person that was with my daughter did not follw this advice and when the shooting started he raised his head to see what was going on ... and died immediately.)
12. When a national approaches you or your vehicle and you command them to stop and they don’t shoot them.
13. If you are not absolutley positive that you can pull the trigger to kill another human being, it is best you don’t have a waepon. It only gives them something to use on you.
14. Last but not least, I told her, you can do everything I said and do it perfectly, but some times it is just not your day and you are going to die. Make sure you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ right now - then if you are to die, I’ll get to see you again.
Would that be classified as chemical or biological warfare?
As soon as his enlistment is up, get the hell out.
I don’t know, but it was definitely a Weapon of Mass Disgust.
Tell him to keep is mouth shut and pay attention to the instruction. Until he has a feel for what’s going on the his comments aren’t needed.
Congrats to your son and parents.
my advice...
Have fun
stay out of trouble (choose friends wisely)
enjoy (some of the best times of his life)
be smart
The first night of USAF basic training, the TI asked everyone who liked bowling to raise their hands.... I was stuck on latrine cleanup duty the rest of my stay at Lackland.
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