Posted on 04/22/2007 6:13:36 AM PDT by Lost Dutchman
After six weeks of basic, My nephew is coming home having giving his best for our country. Although he wasn't able to meet the current standards our Army demands, I would like to express the pride I have for his love of country for his attempt to join at this current international situation...
God Bless Our Troops.
What a great uncle. Your family should be proud. I have a niece that just left for boot camp. We wish her well. Thank you for your service.
I concur. He worked hard for those six weeks. It’s no cake walk.
Please remind him that heroes should come home and have families after the war. And yes, I hope we are planning to win sooner than later so we can call it “over.”
I almost washed out of Marine boot camp because while I focused on cardiovascular exercise by running 5-10 miles a day, I was not prepared for all the pushups and pullups. I reported to boot camp weighing 157 pounds on a 6'2" frame and thought I could run all day, I couldn't manage a single pushup during the initial PFT.
It's important to develop your upper body as well. Fortunately I was able to spend a few weeks in PCP (physical conditioning platoon) where they had me lift weights and put me on double rations. By the time I got back to a regular platoon, I was doing 15 pullups and was able to do the maximum 20 by the time of my graduation.
It is also important to be mentally tough. Even more than the physical demands, you are treated like a dog during basic training and you need to be mentally prepared for that.
He can still serve his country. A friend of mine at Basic found out he had HIV at week 7. He was discharged, but he now works at an Air Force base.
Tell your nephew that we’re proud of him, and thank him for his patriotism.
Tell him we’re proud of him too.
Kudos to your nephew for trying.
Tell the nephew we are very proud that he made an effort to serve his country.
We can all serve our country in many ways without being in the military.
Thank him for us.
God Bless America.
He now has the experience of trying. He will find his way.
God Bless America.
I could just bust, I'm so proud. God Bless all our brave young men and women!
We are a military family, and we are proud of your nephew as well.
As textbook as it sounds, his wife decided to leave him for another man less than then two weeks after he left...
He did his best, but I think this was a ‘slight’ hinder on his progress... /s
Based on my observations during my time with the Marines, I highly recommend that you not join the service if you are already married. Those first four years are very trying, even if your marriage is already strong to begin with. Low ranking enlisted people don't make very much money and they usually get stuck with all the crap work and long hours. After you make E-5 and start making some decent money and benefits, then you can entertain marriage and family. If you have a good MOS, then you even get a nice bonus for your re-enlistment. When my first enlistment was up, they offered me a $16,000 bonus to re-up and that was back in 1985!
Anyway, good luck to your nephew.
You should be proud!
Whew...when I was a boot at MCRD in 1966, our platoon got a week's worth of mess duty right in the middle of training.
I ended up doing scullery duty at the messhall that adjoined borh PCP and "Motivation" platoons. I wanted no part of either!
God bless your nephew.
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