We sent our son off to the Army Tuesday, we know it will be a real good thing for him and he has done ROTC all through high school but I did not realize quite how hard it would be. He is my hunting/ shooting/ fishing/ riding buddy and I miss him already. Anyway, wish him luck.

Good luck to him! Hes a man now!.

Dude I feel your pain..

I went through it August 3rd.....

The first weeks without any word from him are going to be a killer.

In a couple weeks you'll get an address of where to send letters...I tried to send one weekly.

Its all you can do.

He sent some back but only after the first three weeks or so...he told me they were TOTALLY exhausted every day.

My mindset was no news is good news...

My Son is now in AIT Fort Lee.


Your Son is a good man.

Proud of him.

Thanks George, we aren't sure how it will work the first 2 weeks. He will be quarantine and he thought he might still have his phone but we will see.
We are very proud of him!
Thank you and your son for his service, he is also a good man.

Think that's what they tell the Recruits...but its false hope and a tool.

VERY highly unlikely that they will have phones for any part of Basic.

But If you're a thinking man the reason behind Basic its to make that group of guys a unit that leans on itself.. The only way to do that is to isolate them from their safe spaces...which includes Home.

IIRC they call the first couple weeks Hell Week....with total black out from Friends and Family. No letters etc.

Also it doesn't take much for Army to take privileges away...so them loosing their Phones will be their fault which is ok and motivational..

My kid got to call home once, late in the training....had 15 minutes which he split between his wife and kid and his parents.


They love and need letters...



BTW my Kid lost 38 freakin pounds in Basic. His Nickname was Peter Griffin. And his DI was just like R Lee Ermey.

Yelling in my kids face that he was a fat fuck and no way he was going to make it through Basic....6 weeks later the same DI gave my kid the best of appraisals and used him as example of what a Soldier can do.

Its Scary to think your kid is going through that stuff...but a different man emerges.

Michael was home for Christmas and when he took off his Uniform I told him to go hang it up....he said no.....a lot of My Brothers gave their life for this Uniform..... It has to be folded and put away a certain way.

Blew me away.

Chris, congratulations.
Basic is as tough as he makes it to be because it is a total mind game and PT is rigorous so I do hope that he was in good shape before joining. Be there for him through this process once he gains privileges and attendance to his graduation will be a lasting memory for him and you.

My son joined the Coast Guard at 17, becoming the 3rd generation military man in our family. He has 2 more years till his ETS date (ending time service).

Again, congratulations to you both.

Hat is off to you guys.

Son in law graduated from Coast Guard academy engineering specialization. I know Coast Guard doesn't count but daughters didn't join up.......

Hell yeah!
I'd say it's definitely harder on the parents.
As a kid when I went in, the hardest part for me was the first couple of days going into the unknown, 1982. After the initial shock and a quick lesson in just plain following orders and too always hustle, basic was a walk in the park and wanting more of the fun parts. I went in really good shape, between school sports and hunting every waking moment, the running and exercise wasn't bad.
AIT was a blast, aside from running all the damned time and with 6 milers on Fridays, and even had downtime to hit the bars in Baltimore.

Chris, please thank your son for his service!

And he'll probably be able to kick your ass the next time you see him, so be careful.

Letters, letters and more letters! put a number on the front so he knows to read them in order. You may think trivial things don't matter, but they do! Thank him for joining when it's not cool and we have him in our prayers.

What MOS?

Um NO, never say they don’t count, the Coast Guard is a big part of Homeland Security!

Thanks. He is a great kid. Brilliant really.

I'm pretty sure the recruits that are going through BCT are now getting the new "Pinks and Greens" dress uniform. It will be interesting to see it in person for sure. I am not shelling out the $1100-ish dollars for the complete ensemble with 1.5 years left to go, though.

Congrats to you and your son. It is definitely a life changing event that he is going through, and he will emerge and entirely different and better man because of it.