Stepson going Army!

[Jdude]

Grandpa Shooter, I'll respect your wishes, as I respect you and your son on a personal level. I'm responding to my detractors via PM.

I'm glad you made it home safely, and I hope the same for your stepson.

Since Sans Authoritatis has taken this to PMs, those who disagree (or agree) with him should do the same. Be civil.

Let's get back on topic.

1 During the summer months, when my shift was over I would be simply exhausted. I would drink excessive water and just lay there. Your young soldier, being in the same situation, will be less likely to call or write during these hot times.

2 No news is good news. If he cannot make contact for a month, don't worry. It happens. Just wait it out, hard as it may be.

3 If you get a power of attorney over anything, do not lose the paper. Replacing it is very hard from the zone.

4 Everyone sends hard candies, baby wipes, exc. Want to be a hero for your boy? Send things like soft chewie candies, beef jerkey, a surprise game boy game, a book in his favourite genre. A funny dvd movie is great. A movie [ahem] is even better.

5 Any packages you send needs to be packaged and taped very well. At some point anything sent either way will make a stop at the post office ran entirely by gorillas intent on jumping on things.

6 His stories are going to be boring. Boring stories are good. Be a good listener, because that matters more than whatever story he has at the moment.

I think that is all. I'll post more if it comes to mind.
Best of luck,
-Jdude

 

[Cmdr. Gravez0r]

Not in the past 230 years has anyone's death enabled me or anyone else to freely speak our minds. But you, Officer's Wife, you may feel free to tell me which soldiers died to keep me free from "speaking Japanese" or "speaking German." For that matter, tell me which war it was in which men died so I could speak freely, period. Were Nguyen and 4,000,000 of his SKS and B-40 toting comrades going to come over here and start planting toe-poppers and cupcakes after they landed in LCT's on Redondo Beach? I want details, Officer's Wife. Which war?

I don't think this man understands that there's a heck of a lot ore to national security than sitting on your turf and watching the world go by. Politics be danged, remember the domino theory? the USSR? It wasn't just about SE Asia.

EDIT: Didn't see note about PM's. Please ignore.

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

Thanks to most of you for keeping this High Road. And thank you Sans for your apology. I know it is tempting to state your mind set on matters like these. I find I have to suspend my viewpoint on this in order to give my stepson proper support through these difficult decisions.

Thanks to all of you who have responded here or by PM. I will pass this along to him and his Mother. The next couple of years should prove interesting. By the way, I probably owe my Mother an apology for all the grief I caused her at 19.

Gramps

 

[AZTOY]

Grandpa Shooter

Forget Iraq at this point..............

The most important think you can do for your stepson is get him in shape!!

Have your stepson start doing push ups, sit ups and running!


SGT B

 

[Bezoar]

like AZTOY says, get him working on his pre conditioning routine NOW. speed will be learned at basic, just make sure he can do what the manual wants him to do, the way the manual wants him to do.

just have the stepson see if his recruiting will make sure he gets to stay overnight when he does stuff for his MEPS station. SPending nights talking to guys re upping for the 3rd or 4h time will give him more informaiton then any recruiter will.

Just remind the step sons mother that hes not always going to want to get distracted with pleasant thoughts of home.

 

[Sans Authoritas]

Grandpa shooter

And thank you Sans for your apology. I know it is tempting to state your mind set on matters like these. I find I have to suspend my viewpoint on this in order to give my stepson proper support through these difficult decisions.

Grandpa shooter, I only apologized for having to post again to defend myself. I still believe and meant everything else I said. But what I said doesn't mean I don't respect you and your stepson on a personal level, and that I hope he comes home safely.

-Sans Authoritas

 

[kymarkh]

letters from home...

Grandpa Shooter - you shake that young man's hand for me, will ya? You look him straight in the eye and tell him that o'l Sgt. Higgins thanks him for his service. You tell him that he's in for a hell of ride!

Snail mail is still useful even in the electronic times we currently live in. Every once in a while, if I've had a bad day or whatnot, I go out to the garage and open up a box to get a whiff of the past... letters sent to me from friends and family while I served overseas. It keeps me grounded, gives me perspective, and never fails to bring a tear to my eye. My time spent serving this great country as an 11Bravo, especially the year I spent in Korea in the 80's, has helped me to appreciate the way of life we are free to live here in the U.S.

 

[Harley Quinn]

I believe that SA handled it well, the folks who are into bigotry are the ones that cause the problems.

All have a right to respectable and different opinions, that is why we have the right to protest peacefully, that is set down in the same "Bill of Rights" as the one on firearms and the right to posses them.

Opinions should not be so personal to cause a reaction, who threw the first stone is what occured here. Many feel as SA does but post at a different location, I feel he has the right to his opinion and so do others as long as it is civil and he was civil...

HQ

 

[NGIB]

Just as a note, my son has had a passion for spicy Slim Jims since he went to Sandland. We always try to send some good muchies and lately have been shipping protein bars as he's spending a ton of time at the gym.

I have yet to receive a written letter from my son and I don't expect I will. I do cherish each phone call and email though. As the phone service eats minutes on the calling cards like no tomorrow, my son has standing orders to call Mom first, his sisters second, and me if there's any minutes left...

 

[NGIB]

Double tap network today...

 

[Harley Quinn]

I have yet to receive a written letter from my son and I don't expect I will. I do cherish each phone call and email though.

The e-mail is the best thing going in my opinion, sort of like letters of old but they are the future now, just print it out if you want to have a scrap book for memories 40 years from now, or your grandchildren might like to read um.

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

In my original post I asked for PM's expressly so that we could avoid the political aspects of this current military action. I don't want this to get into politics so that I can stay focused on helping his Mother accept and deal with him being gone for the first time, and the remote possibility of him not getting home.

She is grateful for the supportive comments and tips on how to communicate with him. Should something go wrong I am afraid I will be the responsible party since I spent so much time talking with him and encouraging him to be responsible and find a direction for his life. His best memories are of the Challenge (military based) program he was in to finish high school. He seems to respect the purpose of the military and is handy with firearms. While he was with us we spent a lot of time talking about US history and the armed engagements and wars this country has been in.

I hope he turns into the fine young man I believe he has the potential to be.
In the meantime, I will try to comfort his mother, with the help of your input.

Gramps

 

[Ithaca37]

nevermind

 

[Harley Quinn]

The service has its dangers just like learning to drive and then getting a car. I don't think anyone can take on the responsibility of others unless they are actually caring for them, when sons and daughters leave the nest they are there own person.

I am thinking at times you have given advise and based on your own feelings and direction you took in life, the young man has set his sights on that outcome and looks at you now and hopes he will be there some date and time and not someones problem as so many of the youth have turned into.

Good luck to you GS.

Regards

 

[Thernlund]

Threadlock (rightfully) imminent.

GS... tell your stepson good luck. Hero, not hero, whatever. Semantics. In any case, I think appropriate terms are brave and honorable.


-T.

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

Despite what some may think, there are things greater than guns.. Sometimes we need the input of our peers to evaluate our circumstances.

I appreciate this thread being left open long enough to get some feedback from all of you. Thanks to all of you.

Lock when ready.

 

[X-Rap]

I hope I catch you before lock down. My son entered last may as 19D and every time I speak to him I am more amazed at how he has matured and taken the responsibility of his job on with such enthusiasm.
He is stationed at Ft. Drum and is in 2nd BRCT 1-89 Cav. His brigade is the most deployed in the Army but the latest word he got is that they are considered Global Rapid Reaction Force and presently aren't scheduled for redeployment to Iraq or Afganistan so one never knows if and when they will go to war. He thought that going to the 10 Mtn Div would be a certain deployment to a war zone and it still may be but for now he is just staying prepared and training. His action may come with some South American dictator or in North Africa in some new terrorist hotbed or in an escalation in our current conflicts. I only know that he is phyisicaly and mentaly prepared and has been trained by the best, most honorable military in the history of the world.
Some would disagree but let his mother know that while her son may be in harms way he is doing work that needs to be done and has a greatful country behind him.
And thank you for your service in the Vietnam war sir.

 

[Ithaca37]

Good luck to you stepson.

 

[Harley Quinn]

As far as lock down goes, maybe with the new server and more space for all, the topics will be allowed more leeway

It has been pretty rude at times as to what gets locked and what is allowed to go on longer.

I am one who feels this topic is a good one to allow some extra room but as you are saying it will go against some who have tried the same thing, and have been shut down for no other reason than a statement of "not gun related".

Seems to have sort of closed its own door, as I see it. Which might be the "new deal"

HQ