Quote:
Originally Posted by mac459
Tell him in basic never look too far ahead..you got to look at it one day at a time..I went to Ft. Benning in 2005 as an infantryman..I never looked past the next meal and it made life so much easier..just thinking OK this sucks as but I get to eat and take a break in a few hours..Also tell him to do what he is told when he is told to do it..do not stand out..If he stands out for the wrong reasons most of the Drill will eat him up..I actually know a lot of the Drills down there right now..All from my first unit..they stayed regular army..I went on to bigger better things in the military cause well I'm awesome and they suck at life..Just kidding
As far as traveling to Georgia at that time..be ready to hate life..it will be very hot and very humid..make sure you take lots to drink for yourselves and for the little one
As far as his career in the military..I don't know if he is going active when he gets done or what his MOS is..I will say this..If he is in combat arms..especially infantry..He needs to get to know his lower enlisted very well..I had 2 Lts when I first joined..Both did ROTC..The first everybody hated because he would just give orders and didn't care about us or how much sleep or how we were doing..He left for certain reasons unknown to me..The 2nd one come in and got to know the guys..spent time with us..asked us about what we thought..always checked if we needed anything..He involved himself with us lower guys and didn't stay in that "I'm an officer" phase..He made sure he took care of his men..then during our deployment he did the same and we would have done anything he asked of us..He made himself on of the guys..In my opinion that is the best leader in the world..When you can be one of the guys and still lead..it's a very fine line to walk but if he can walk he will be a great leader
I hope this helps some
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Great info. I've spent some time in Atlanta at different times of the year and yeah, the summers are tough.
The good thing is, the kid is a military nut. He loves the history of it, studies different parts of it, and eventually being an officer is what he wants to be. frankly, I think he'll do very well at it. I think he's immature at this point and maybe another year would help him in the intimidation factor, but he fought tooth and nail for his mom and dad to sign off on letting him go this summer. Originally, he had a couple different MOS in mind, but when he got to KC for his testing, he put down cavalry scout. So, he gets the crash course in rude awakenings. He's not a big kid, 5'9", 150lbs or so, but he's always stayed in great shape with cross country and other athletics, and he does close to 300 pushups and setups a day now to prepare for this summer. As far as the physical demands, I think he will be mostly ok, aside from adjusting to life on the Chattahoochee in the summer. And he should do well with various shooting exercises. He's a pretty good shot with his AR when we go out, and he's comfortable and sane with guns in general.
After training, he's obviously coming home for his senior year of HS, so he's not moving on to his next duty just yet. He's actually going in with Guards, so he'll drill during the school year locally, despite his infantry status which I think ordinarily would have him in Wichita.
In this case, is his return transportation provided like his transportation down to Ft Benning, or are we bringing him back ourselves? The recruiter actually wasn't able to answer this question, and frankly we haven't found anyone that could tell us definitively.