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 :-).
The food will suck the first week but from then on it will be OK. Toward the end of basic he will be asking others “are you going to eat that?” and if not, he will be grabbing it off their tray!
At least you guys got three-banded Springfield muskets.
I called for CAS once, and a pterodactyl with dysentery showed up overhead.
I know and I love your son for it, but remember he'll be working for people who don't. And they could care less if he dies on the battlefield or why.
My nephew just finished One Station Unit Training (OSUT) for infantry and is now in airborne school. He dropped out of college because he decided that it wasn’t right for him right now. This almost put his mother into cardiac arrest and sent ripples through her left wing family. He comes from a well to do, politically connected family from Chevy Chase, MD. All of the kids in the neighborhood go to tony private boarding schools and then to the Ivy League. He did the first, but not the second. He went to Ft. Benning.
His mother is now a rabid supporter of the U.S. Army, Ft. Benning, the Infantry, and the Brotherhood of the Airborne. She fully understands that when he finishes his training he is headed to Afghanistan. She will rip the heart out of anyone who criticizes any of this. 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.
I went to graduation with them and was the only veteran in our mini-family reunion. Their eyes were opened when they saw first hand how good these soldiers are, how good an organization their sons have joined, and how important this all is for our country. Sweet.
Fort Lost-in-the-Woods is charming this time of year ;-).
When my daughter was in Coast Guard boot camp, about a year and a half ago, I tried to send her a note every day, so she’d get something in the mail, even if it was just a few lines about the pets. Later she asked for reading material, when she was in the Rehab Unit with a foot injury, so I cut magazines (Field and Stream, Auto Week, American Cowboy) into small sections and mailed them. All the kids in rehab were really bored, which you don’t have time for during regular Basic.
In today’s “modern””Military” “Don’t drop the soap”!
Oh, one thing I learned. Use spray deodorant and liquid soap. I saw many people get dinged for hair on a bar of soap or on deodorant sticks. A minor thing yes, but would be a couple less things to worry about during inspections.
Your son will do just fine. Do not worry about him (too much) and try not to contact him a lot-he will have time to so, in good time.
I live near Fort Wood (retired Army Combat Engineer officer) and work on the installation (local university). I would be glad to follow up with him for you-but only after a few weeks, he will be well cared for by his Drill Sergeants.
Army BCT (basic combat training) is nine weeks long, but he will spend a week or so in a transient unit called “replacement”, that is where he will get a medical exam, shots, tests and then be issued uniforms etc. He must pass a minimum physical aptitude test before he can go to BCT.
After BCT is completed, he will seamlessly transition to 21B combat engineer advanced indivuual training (AIT), this one-station event is called OSUT (one-station unit training). He will have the same Drill Sergeants throughout, but in AIT he will spend most of his time with technical instructors (NCOs and civilians) rather than his Drills. Life gets better in the AIT phase. This phase lasts another 8-10 weeks if things have not changed recently....
Thanks for your support of him. Momma will come around when she sees her boy turn into a man....
In this contingency of GWOT, all warriors can expect to deploy sooner than later-combat engineers are not one of the soft jobs, we deploy as much as anyone else, more than others, less than some. He will thrive if he likes to learn, be challenged (and rise to the occasion).
Again, let me know via PM if you want more info or personal follow up.
Regards;
Andrew Cempa
Major, USA (ret)
Corps of Engineers
His grades are average unfortunately, but he is learning arabic, and he has been training over the last 6 months using the SF regimen - he is among the fittest in his National Guard unit. We are of Indian origin (me and his mom were born in India - Sikh families, but without the turbans or beards - and he and his brother were born in Canada), and his dark good looks notwithstanding (he got them from his mom, of course), he could easily blend into most cultures in the developing world.
You didn’t LET him do anything. HE is going because he wants to do this.
this is HIS decision—you are just being supportive.
One of my nephews is 18 and joined the NJ National Guard. He completes Army basic training on Jan. 20th. Then off to Missouri for the Army school he chose. Then, to college courtesy of the Army.
He absolutely loves it. His older brother is a third year cadet in a great school, under a full four year Army scholarship. He will become a commissioned officer upon graduation in 2012.
Both are Eagle Scouts.
And they love doing what they do. And they both are doing this to pay for their college education.
Your son will learn so much in the service, and what he learns and the confidence he gains will serve him well through his whole life.
Some advice:
1. Get everything the recruiter says IN WRITING, especially your son’s MOS. No verbal promises. They don’t count.
2. Learn how to salute—PROPERLY. There is a proper way.
3. Never, ever leave your rifle. Anywhere. Anytime. You will pay dearly for that infraction.
4. Tell yourself each day—this WILL be worth it. Each night, you are one day closer to graduation for basic training.
5. No matter how menial or dumb you think the task is, do whatever the drill sgt. says to do with the utmost of your ability
And tell your boy thanks, for protecting my freedom. you raised him right.
(Don’t worry—moms are all overprotective of their children. You can’t change that—just help her through this)
THOUGHTFUL RESPONSE....
Hey, chieftain..Any advice since you sent TWO to boot camp Marines at one time!
Good, sound, advice! I presume he will train at Ft Leonard Wood. The mud down there is legend. It adheres to your boots as you march so that your tread size keeps increasing and your boots rapidly gain weight. Nothing for it but to keep on keeping on. Six weeks is not an eternity although it can seem like one.
Regards,
GtG
Give her one of these
http://www.beadworkbysheree.com/deployment-bracelets.htm?gclid=CJri0oqkrqYCFYdi2godeBsFmA
Have her sign up here:
http://www.proudarmymoms.org/
and she should be proud of her son’s decision here!
/johnny
Tell him if he gets out of basic and the drill instructor never knew his name, he was successful.
Keep a low profile. Do not draw attention to yourself. Don’t “brag” about any past military affiliation.
Are you trying to get the lad's ass kicked? Never, I say again, never refer to an Army NCO as "sir".
Too late not to do it so don’t ever, ever, ever encourage looking back. Rip off the rear view mirror and play to win.
This is his time to become a man. The timing is his choice and it is done now. Be there when he asks for a shoulder to lean on but do not extend a hand that is not asked for.
Look him squarely in the eye, tell him you have done your best these last years to help him become what he is and that if you have not done the right things to prepare him it is probably too late. Tell him you expect him to do his best and that he will succeed at what he wants to do. Shake his hand firmly, hug him and tell him to always choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong. Then tell him you love him and you pray that God goes with him.
When he gets done and you see him ask him what he has learned and be prepared to be proud of him.
If he is Nat Guard and has an education deferment and he has the aptitude, get an engineering degree. Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Chemical or even Aeronautical though the Army doesn’t think much of the latter in most cases. They like Civil Engineers because they are close to Military Engineers if he wants to stay in.
Going to Embry-Riddle I’m surprised he didn’t think it would be better to be a 22 year old officer flying an F-16 than an 18 year old shooting an M-16.
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