My son is signed up for the early enlistment before entering his senior year. He graduated on May 29th and is scheduled to leave for Ft. Leonard Wood on June 29th. He was all happy an all about the bonus and finally doing something he always wanted to do since he was in elementary school until the other day. He looked at his calender and realized he leaves in 2 weeks. He approached my husband and I saying he thinks he made a mistake. We called his recruiter to come and set his mind at ease. We were told this was normal. Has any of your son's or daughter's felt this way? If so, How did you help them through it? He then made up an excuse that "what if" he can't get leave to take is present girlfriend to her prom next May. I told him that I am here to offer my support should he decide the Military is not for him, but I will not support his decision if he is going to throw his entire future away on the "What If" over a prom. Any advice on how to handle this?
I agree with you on the prom thing. As an 18-year-old entering the military, his life will change significantly. There is a significant chance that the two of them will grow apart over the next year, even without the military, as they will be pursuing different goals.
Getting cold feet at this point is very normal. He needs to honor the commitment that he made. Although he probably doesn't realize it right now, he will grow so much over the next year that I'm sure he will be surprised. I say this from the experience of one who enlisted as a 17-year-old. I did more in the next year than any of my peers did in the next five.
Originally posted by mturnb: I agree with you on the prom thing. As an 18-year-old entering the military, his life will change significantly. There is a significant chance that the two of them will grow apart over the next year, even without the military, as they will be pursuing different goals.
Getting cold feet at this point is very normal. He needs to honor the commitment that he made. Although he probably doesn't realize it right now, he will grow so much over the next year that I'm sure he will be surprised. I say this from the experience of one who enlisted as a 17-year-old. I did more in the next year than any of my peers did in the next five.
This is what everyone keeps telling him. It is truly making me sick that he would even consider putting her prom before his future. He has to think of his future and what is best for him. I even told him that if he does stay with her and they have a future together he has guaranteed financial job security in the military than any other job right now. His recruiter said that if he did not feel the cold feet feeling he would think something was wrong with my son.
Depending on how mature the girlfriend is, you could try getting her on board with this and have her tell me how crazy it is to throw away a guaranteed future on the off chance that he won't be able to take her to prom next year.
Do you know how long his training will be? He may still be in training when prom rolls around or he could be in garrison waiting to deploy. I wouldn't bring up that he might be deployed at that time.
Originally posted by mturnb: Depending on how mature the girlfriend is, you could try getting her on board with this and have her tell me how crazy it is to throw away a guaranteed future on the off chance that he won't be able to take her to prom next year.
Do you know how long his training will be? He may still be in training when prom rolls around or he could be in garrison waiting to deploy. I wouldn't bring up that he might be deployed at that time.
The recruiter will be picking him up from the house on June 28th and he will be at MEPS check him into the hotel and he is allowed to spend the entire day with us and has to be returned to the hotel no later that 2300 hrs. Then we can return to MEPS and spend the entire time with him until he is ready to leave for boot camp. Boot Camp and Training will last 20 weeks. Then we were told he gets his assignment and comes home for 2 or 3 weeks and has to report for his assignment.
