Posted on 06/28/2010 1:24:01 AM PDT by ScubieNuc
My oldest son left last week for the Army. He is currently at Fort Benning waiting in the "receiving" barracks. His Boot Camp Company (I'm not sure if that's what the Army calls it...I'm exNavy) forms up and starts actual Basic this next Friday.
We've gotten a call from him the other night. Other than being tired and anxious for actual training to start, he sounded like he was doing fine. This is new territory for me and my wife. I don't feel old enough to have a child in the military.
We are planning on going out to his "Turning Blue" Ceremony and his graduation in October. I'm pretty excited, but I have a number of questions that I'm hoping some FReepers can help me with. I know that in a couple of weeks we are supposed to get a package in the mail detailing his graduation date and stuff, but I'm interested in other things. Things like....
Should I fly into Atlanta or Columbus?
What are the best places to stay in Columbus?
What are some good things to do or see in Columbus or the surrounding area?
Thank you for any input.
i am navy also and it took a couple of days in a receiving barracks also....we did not do much....they did march us back and forth to the chow hall and tried to put the fear of God into us.....the purpose of the wait was to fill up our company...then the fun began....
The 101st is at Ft. Campbell...
I’ve been to Ft. Benning on many occasions: OSUT, Ranger, and Air Assault graduations, and more. I fly into Columbus, why deal with Atlanta traffic and airport? The nice thing is that when you fly out of Columbus, security screening takes all of two minutes.
Columbus is great around the airport area. Big new mall, plenty of restaurants and hotels.
You MUST see, and take your son if possible, the new Infantry Museum on the base. If you ain’t proud now, you surely will be when you take your son there.
Check the Ft Benning website for dates. Turning Blue is the day before graduation. Son will leave with you right after graduation.
Congratulations!
My son on his first deployment with the Navy. He is with the USS Harry Truman strike force. Went to Norfolk last month to see them off. We, as a family, are “learning the ropes”.
My neighbor just left for Iraq an hour ago. Her mom is having a tough time as she’s a doctor(Col/AF) and will deal not only with our troops but also the Iraqi casualties. Rough day in our neighborhood.
I’m learning as I go. NavyForMom’s is a wonderful site for familes and there is probably something similar for Army. Hang in there and God bless you and your family.
When I went in training was immediate. My adjustment was pretty quick right after I called my M-1 a Gun.
My son has many friends in the military, they all have FB pages, all say Conservative as their political affiliation.
And my son is right of Rush Limbaugh!
Ha!! My son wrote his younger brother, you NEVER say gun! You will be smoked!! It is your weapon!!
By the way, the US Army Infantry museum i s there. It's definitely worth seeing. If you can make it for his graduation, plan going to the museum as well.
True story: Vietnam 1967, January or Feb. LZ (landing zone) Phu Cat. I was part of the security team covering the engineers as they destroyed the bunkers and remaining supplies, etc. as the 1st Cavalry Div. was pulling out to move to another LZ. Exchanged shots with snipers. Fast forward 8 months. Coming back South, we were patrolling in the area and ducked into Phu Cat Air Base (USAF). Went to the gate and asked if we could overnight there. The USAF guys were very hospitable. They offered us a choice of hot meals, wooden barracks, flush toilets, concrete sidewalks, beds, I was amazed. I know then the USAF was the “gentlemen’s corps :-)
Now you know why we were called the “smart branch” of the military. :-)
When I was there it was “ass hole to belly button, make the man in front of you smile”. As I remember you kept your mouth shut except to shovel food in then you left. After service week you could go outside after you finished eating and stand around in formation “at ease” and shoot the bull until everyone showed up. Then it was off to class where it was all I could do to stay awake.
We had a trip to St. Augustine around the 7th week or so. Boot was 13 weeks back then. I pretty well had it made because I could sing so I got in the choir and we were pretty well taken care of. hee hee
I reported in on a Sunday in February '76 at Ft. Lost in the Woods, MO. Our BCT class was to start Wednesday; that was when the previous class was to be moved out. For the next three days or so we went over to basic issue to receive uniforms and duffle bags; we pulled some KP, we filled out insurance and other forms, and - lucky us! - we learned some basic marching moves from a guy in our platoon who had some High School ROTC experience.
It’s obvious why, isn’t it? God bless our fighting forces. Every time someone warns us that Obama is going to lead a coup, I keep thinking how difficult that would be.
I realize that most people probably don’t care, but this is my way of expressing my feelings....my son called the other day. He sounded great. He could only talk for 4 minutes so his first order of business was giving his Mom his address. What was funny was how direct he was. He was always a “I don’t care” or “ I dunno” kind of kid when you asked him something, but on the phone he was very direct, polite and orderly. Already I notice a good change. 8 )
For giving us his address he was like, “Mom are you ready? First line, Pfc...... Got that? Second line.... Got that? Third line..... Got that? Forth line..... Got that? Ok, now repeat it back to me.”
After he was sure that we got his address correct, he was able to talk for a few minutes. He sounded in good spirits. He said that his platoon had good discipline, so the Drill Instructors were kind of leaving them alone and focusing on the platoons with poor discipline. He also said his first days were easier then he exspected. I’m sure he was told all kinds of horror stories of the first week, but they must not have panned out as bad as he originally thought.
One thing that probably helped him was he wrestled in Junior High and High School, so his knowledge of what being “smoked” was and what others without any physical training was probably quite different. He left for Basic in good shape, so I’m guessing that is probably helping him.
While I again realize that most people don’t really care about this stuff, I will be posting on here whenever I get any updates.
That’s all for now.
Scubie
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