Getting cold feet

[Todd G.]

How many parents here have had children get "cold feet" or second thoughts before shipping out to basic training. What did you say or do to change his or her mind? So far so good, but my Son Dallas has until Dec 01 2015 to ship out.

[Todd G.]

This I know Paul! Thanks for the support Paul.....

[NavyDads Admin (Paul)]

Gonna be a big change for you....just remember that the days will go by slowly, but the weeks will fly by!  PIR will be here before you know it!

[Todd G.]

Here we are just a few days away from my Son leaving. He has keep up with the DEP program and has it all together mentally. I have been where he is a couple of times. I am sure that he will be ok! It's here and we will miss him dearly!

[Bill Penrod]

Navy Boot Camp is an Indoctrination to Navy life. You learn that you pee in the head, eat on the Mess Decks, then you get port, starboard, fore and aft, bow and stern.  Cold feet all folks at one time or other had cold before getting on that bus/airplane even the toughest Marines it will pass.....

[Jeremy Day Pesnell]

Greetings Todd.  My daughter shipped on 9/1 and I don't know if it was Momma reacting so much to her leaving or what, but she did have a lot "what in the heck" am I doing moments.  The best you can do, of course, is encourage him to do his best and enjoy his time there.  Nearly every recruit is the same the first couple of weeks of being homesick and such, but it soon starts going by so quick for them that they can think of nothing but graduation.

The best thing you can do is to be with him as much as possible those last couple of days and reassure him.  On the day before MEPS, we took our daughter down to her recruiter's office and did her ship package and such and then arranged with him and the hotel's point of contact that we would have her there on time.  We took her out to eat and to a JV football game her brother had that night.  On the MEPS/Ship day, we went to MEPS and hung out with her while everyone was processing.  We were at the swearing in ceremony and then we met her at the airport until it was time for her to go through security and get on the plane.  It was a heart-wrenching day, but we're very proud of her.

[Todd G.]

Thank you Todd for your comment. I look forward to the day that my Son graduates boot camp. To see the man that the Navy has made! He is a great kid! I can't wait to see what he does in the Navy. I have no doubt he will do good things with his career

[Todd Hutchins]

I remember when we visited our daughter after graduation, and she was saying "Sir" & "Ma'am" to people, I was thinking... What did you do with my daughter? She walked a little taller, and definitely more proud. When people would say "Thank you" to her, she would get tongue tied, not knowing what to say or how to take it.

She told me during her last leave that she didn't think she could be a civilian again. Too much chaos. Very interesting...  :-)

I think if Dallas prepares himself and takes it seriously, he will do fine.

[Todd G.]

Thank you all for your support! Boot camp is
All to familiar to me. I went through Army boot vamp in 82' and Air Force in 87. Boot camp is a right of passage in to the military. It isn't about learning everything there is to know! It is about turning a civilian into a member of the military. Get rid of those bad habits, learning discipline, and above all team work! My Son needs the military more than he knows. He has a lot of bad habits that he needs to get rid of! I can't wait to see the end result after boot camp!

[NavyDads Admin (Paul)]

I'm going to disagree just a little here in that RTC cannot train them to be sailors in 8 short week- what they do at Boot Camp is more like training them NOT to be civilians anymore.....it is only the start of becoming a sailor.

And here is a pdf (yeah it's 450 pages long) of the official RTC training guide.... http://www.navydads.com/group/bootcamp/page/official-rtc-training-g...

[Todd Hutchins]

I agree with Carl. Basic is about making him a sailor. The military is about a mind set. It's a way of thinking and a way of life ("It's not just an adventure"). One thing I asked my daughter before she joined is that even though she may be joining during relative "peacetime," she may still wind up in combat. It happened to me. If she was OK with that, then she would do ok. She was fine with that. Actually, she's an MA3 now and got top shot while training with the Marines on the M240 machine gun (out-shooting the Marines).

He will have experiences he never would have dreamed of. If he goes to sea, he will see some really neat places. He will have the opportunity to do things none of his friends could even dream of. Some of the things aren't always fun, but some things are a blast. Like they say... Long hours of boredom interspersed with short periods of excitement.

I think that right now he is just fearing the unknown. Have him watch the videos on Navy.Com and here. The You-Tube videos by plasma speedos are very good. There are some others, too. Have him study and learn his DEP manual. He should know it cover-to-cover. Also have him physically prepare. My daughter hired a trainer and she worked her butt off. Because of that, the physical part of boot camp was a breeze.

I think if he works at preparing himself, and takes it seriously, he will find the fears will lessen. Jump in with both feet. After all, this will be his career and life for at least the next few years, if not longer.  There will be times when he wonders what he got himself into. But if he does his best, applies himself, and works hard, he will find it a positive overall experience.

I hope this helps.