I received my 3rd letter from my son and he said he misses us so much he's crying as he's writing the letter. That struck a nerve so I figured I'd ask a couple questions:
1.) If he's really bawling crying, won't the RDCs try to pull him out so he can get composed?
2.) Won't he get teased by the other recruits?
3.) Can you get kicked out for excess crying?
The hardest part for me is I have these dual emotions going on simultaneously when I think about my son. In this case, it's basically:
1.) When the shtf realtime, do you want the guy next to you crying his eyes out? No! So buck up, change your diaper, and be a man!...
...immediately coupled with....
2.) That's my boy you're messing with and I swear I will strike with furious venegence anyone who hurts him.
And now I'm all screwed up. Anyways, is it "normal" for the recruits to cry? What exactly is "crying", is it the "Man, this sucks I want homemade lasagna" kind of crying or is it "Holy crap, get me outta here, I want my mommy!" type?
Any help is appreciated..
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Just sent my youngest kid to Navy boot camp, but a few years my middle kid went to Army basic training after his junior year of high school. He was only 17 and had to get written permission from his mom and I to do it.
As you might could imagine his emotions were quite the roller coaster. One thing I learned was that when I received a letter that indicated he wasn't doing so well, it was already five days past the time he wrote it. Usually by then he was in a much better mood. The same goes with a letter that indicates he is doing well.
The bottom line is that he is sticking to it. That's the key. He is going to have some deep lows and amazing highs, but as long as he keeps plodding forward he will be fine. And it sounds like he is continuing to move forward. Which is awesome. So just continue to give him the support that you are doing and I'm guessing he will finish strong.
Carl my son shipped out on April 9th 2013. You are feeling what I did. They are our blood, we protected their whole lives.. Now they are thrust into it alone. My son called me yesterday only third call, but he is a sailor now, completed 48 hours of battle stations, and got capped right there soaking wet, he is so proud of himself, us too. So write him constantly, encourage him to focus, get the job done, he will be good. I think writing him constantly, have family write him, just let him know he is on your mind. God bless him.
I can remember my Army boot and from what I have gotten from my SR its kinda the same as I experienced, they have been struck with the stark reality that being a teenager sitting in their room responsible for nothing is gone from them now they have to be young sailors with all that goes along with that. Mine told me "I don't want to quit, I just miss home and all the little stuff, the daily stuff" I guess the truth be told they do just miss their mommy or want a good meal of what ever. About a week before he left he got up one morning with me at 0600 and we were in the kitchen just talking and I said son your not going away for ever and he look straight at me and said " Dad you know I will never be back, not like I have been" and he was right because the young boy that left my kitchen is slowly becoming the young man that I will meet again soon. He told me that the Navy was going to give him the tools to be a man. It has been a rough few weeks for us but as someone here pointed out that the navy is teaching us how to be the parents of a sailor not having the constant contact with the child we have raised, we just have to understand that that child has grown and no matter how bad that sucks aint nothing we can do about it. Your boy will have support because he is one of them all of them know exactly how he feels and how bad it sucks and how few even get the chance to try what they are doing. I told my son You Got This and it became a thing for us because no matter how much I want or think I need to help He has to do this one. So if I may just be the positive support and maintain and know that your son is in good hands and he can do this
The first three weeks are the toughest, tell them to hang in there. It will get easier for them.
My son's PIR is 6/14 as well. I watched a couple RTC graduations on Youtube, and that got me fired up. A couple weeks left!
end a letter with "You've got this..." as it can do wonders!
He also said his division is doing better, not screwing up so much.
I write him everyday, and in one letter I wrote him a personal creed, basically "I can do it, I won't quit, that sort of thing. He said he reads it every night before lights out and it helps him to keep going on.
Another thing I thought of was when I was in college, way back when. We didn't have cell phones so calling home all the time was too costly for a broke college student, so I wrote letters a lot to my family. And that's what my son and I are doing now. I remember how homesick I was so hopefully he doesn't feel alone in this.
My son will be 20 y.o. this summer, and he can be a bit goofy sometimes. I've never seen him emotionally wrecked but I know he'll look back at this and say "Eh, that wasn't THAT bad", and most importantly, "If I can do this, there isn't a challenge I won't overcome".
Thanks for all the feedback. I've always considered myself emotionally hard, but the recent flood of emotions has been difficult for me. This site has helped me out, so thanks again.
Hang in there Carl. For all the SRs, there's nothing "normal" in bootcamp...
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