Like many parents of kids joining the Army right out of High School, we're a low-income family (not on welfare), so making it 2,233.39 miles from our home in California to Fort Knox, KY, is like almost impossible; yet, we want to be there when he graduates on Sept. 11th. An ex-Marine recruiter said that each branch of the military has a little known program to help low income families (even if it's just Mom and Dad) get to the graduation, but the local recruiter's office doesn't know anything about it. One Sargeant did suggest that our son take out a loan through the AER or is it AES (?), as an emmergency, but we don't want to start him off in the Army by getting him in to debt. Has any one heard of such a program for parents and/or families of new recruits and how we can apply in time? Or any other ideas?
As the ex-Marine recruiter the name of the program. I would be suprised if he can come up with it as that would be a huge expense on the taxpayers' part to fund relatives' travel to an optional event.
And you getting to see him graduate is not an emergency so he should not be requesting a loan for this. It's not like either you or your son is going to have a heart attack if there is no one to see him graduate. On top of that, he will probably get leave and come home immediately after graduation. That means you would have to come up with two round-trip tickets (one for each parent) on top of the ticket from KY to CA and then, potentially, back to KY or to GA.
Yes, I was proud of my son and glad that my wife and I (along with my sister and father) could go to his graduation but he certainly would have understood if I could not have afforded the trip.
I graduated from the Navy equivalent of BCT and twice from the Navy equivalent of AIT with absolutely no one there as a guest. This was as a 17-year-old. I survived the experience and actually might have had the heart attack if my mother had shown up because I knew the money wasn't there.
Check with the local Blue Star Mothers. They might be able to help. If it was me, I would contact local media (newspapers, tv channels) and get your story out there. People are always looking for a way to help our Troops (and their families) Try church groups, any BIG companies in your area, Veterans associations, local politicians... if there's time, maybe somebody can do a fund raiser. I'm constantly amazed at how much people WANT to help. Give them a chance, get them involved, and your fellow Americans will suprise you!
