An Open Letter To The RDCs of Recruit Training Command

[K]

I wanted to post this for a few reasons:

1. Even if it has been posted before, I am sure it cannot be done often enough.

2. I am sure there are other moms (and dads) from this last Friday's PIR and past/recent PIRs that would like to chime in and add to.

3. To help ease the minds of the new boot camp moms and bootcamp moms "to be".

I want to thank you. I wanted to voice my appreciation at what you have done for and with my son.

I sent an 18 year old child to you who wouldn't wear a coat in a snowstorm and got back a young man who not only wore his coat, he buttoned it up! WIthout being asked!!!! Or told!!!!

I sent you a teenager who had no real direction, drive, motivation or organization or even a future and recieved a young man who now has a direction, a goal in life, and a FUTURE.

I sent you a kid who probably couldn't get more in this tiny town then a part time job at McDonald's in this economy IF that and you returned to me a young man with a CAREER and a path to a real honest and noble life for himself.

I sent you a kid that thought iron was something in Flintstones vitamins and now have a great young man who knows you can ALSO use one to take wrinkles out of clothes!

I sent you an immature boy who had a fifth grade sense of humor and no sense of self and got back a very funny and poised young man with good posture and a strong but gentle bearing.

But, I think most of all....I sent you a young one who had been isolated in a sense and thought that our life, our values, and our morals were all some bizarre anomoly to our family that had nothing to do with "real life" and you took him in and showed him that life is not about what you see on television or hear in the tabloids or from ignorant kids at school with worthless absent parents. You took what we tried to teach him and showed him that it was indeed the gold standard. He is now proud to be himself and that was something I was afraid I would never see. I saw it this weekend.

Thank You ALL so much for putting the finishing touches on the child I sent you. Thank you for helping him take that last step over the threshold for becoming a man. He purchased his graduation photos and now his three RDCs as part of the graduation photo hold a place on our family wall for the role they played in his life. I am not sure I can thank you all enough but I hope this is a good start. I invite ALL the moms and dads to submit their thanks here to them. In a world of selfish and self absorbed people who are all too concerned with the material and the celebrity....we need to appreciate the true role models and mentors and heros.

Thank you, RDCs.

[Tracy]

I gave you my only child, a son with no father. You gave him all the brother & sister he could ever want & were able to teach him how a man should be. No matter how hard I tried I would never be able to do that alone. My son lost his "warriors heart" some time ago and helped him to find it again. My greatest thanks always!

[Sponge Dawn aka Sponge Mom]

I also want to thank the RDC's to showing my son what it is to RESPECT those who wear a uniform. To show respect and to demand respect for that uniform. The uniform of the military personnel explodes with respect. To wear this uniform one must have a passion for the job that they do. A goal for the recruits that one day they too will become an United States Sailor part of a fine military unit we call the NAVY. My son never had one ill word to say about his RDC's. All his letters home were positive and good humored about his time there at GL. I asked him during liberty why he liked his RDC's. He said this "Mom, it's not a matter of liking them, but a matter of respecting them not only for who they are, but for what they are doing. It is their job to ready us for becoming a Sailor in the Navy. They have our futures in their hands. In their interest. They have to do a job just like everybody else does." The most important thing I can say from this mom's view point was that my son came out of Boot Camp respecting each and every one of you for the Job that you perform 7 days a week. A Job you trained for, A job that you don't have to do, but are willing to do it to the best of your ability. A job that is no easy feat. Turning our young men and women into the best sailors that they can be. Turning them into respectable adults that can one day also wear that Uniform and be Proud of who they are, What they are, and the Country they so willingly are ready to give their lives up for. My thoughts and prayers goes to each and every RDC and their families. It can not be easy. Having all those men and women's future in your hands. Making sure that each and every one of them meet and exceed the Navy Standard. Thank You. Obviously something was done correctly. My sons division graduated Hall of Fame and with Honors. Earned everything they possibly could earn and excelled at what they did. You took my teen age son at the tender age of 17 and molded him and nurtured him into a Fine Young Man. A teen ager that didn't want to do anything but play video games, eat and work at the local sonics. Slept little and played harder. Now his priorities are different. he has found a new love. A love of his country, love of freedom, and the love of protecting that freedom so we all could sleep a little easier at night knowing they were there, standing guard, protecting the soil that is rich in freedom. I couldn't of asked for more.
PIR 10.3
Love in Prayer, Sponge Mom
**Yes the crazy lady with the sponge bobs glued to the envelopes all through basic**

[Angie F.- WA: HM mom]

Thanks K for your well written letter and for giving us this opportunity. Hope they do monitor this site and get to read this thread!

To the RDC's: Unlike many of these Moms who sent you teenage boys, wet behind the ears and fresh out of high school, my Son was 20 and already had some independent life experience, including two years of college. He had been mentored by a few much respected coaches, teachers and bosses along the way. He knows how to spot a fool who is not worth following. He'd follow his 900 Div RDCs into battle and beyond.

Thank you for taking a smart, patriotic, but angry young man who had so much potential but a few rough edges and polishing him up. Thank you for challenging him to rise to the leader we and you knew he already was and could be more. Thanks for giving him responsibilities in BC that gave him a chance to encounter higher level officers and become even more inspired and driven. You, and the Chaplains who serve alongside you, made a lasting impression on my brave young man's heart and helped him confirm that this is his calling; to serve his country well, with everything he has to offer, as you and so many others do and have done. He has shared some of your stories with us. I want you to know that his instructors at "A" school, one on particular, took over where you left off, you gave them plenty of well trained material to work with and they have motivated him academically (something we couldn't do) and molded our young adult even further into the calm, confident, focused, poised and proud young Sailor (who obsessed over the way his shirt was tucked in all weekend!) we saw at his PIR.

BTW: I tried for 8 years to teach him how to iron, you did it in 8 weeks! I asked him countless times to sit up straight at the table, I could have stuck a 2x4 down his back at dinner Friday night after PIR and he never would have felt it! =) Oh, and thanks for looking the other way when he and several shipmates did extra PT by their racks to maintain their own athletic standard of physical conditioning. They told you they weren't working out enough (I know, he's weird like that!) and you didn't laugh or yell, you three just let them. He kept it up through "A" school and has an eye now on training for Spec Opps. Finally, thank you very much for "not seeing" when he snuck in some extra writing time after Taps some nights. I so enjoyed his newsy letters, he had time to describe his experiences and patiently answer most of my many questions. The other N4M Moms in his Div (who's sons were less detailed) and many others since who have read my blogs or advise on this site have appreciated them too. They have you to thank! I know he had extra duties and yet somehow you still managed to give him the time each week, even to make an extra long phone call the Sat. before Battle Stations. :-) This mom is grateful. God Bless you all. :-)

[Sam's Mom]

Nicely written. I share in your sentiments! I know my daughter;'s RDC's were fantastic also, but another person in my daughter's life was her RECRUITER. He worked miracles when he got her to sign up. Although she just graduated, she seems happy and more self-assured than I've ever seen her before. Good luck to you and your son.

[Joanne]

Angie & Sponge Dawn-2 more great notes;

[Kate (Leon's mom)]

Are you TRYING to make me cry???

Thanks for sharing this!!! I can honestly say that MY drill sergeants will always hold a special place in my heart. I have no doubt that our sailors will feel the same way about their RDCs.

[Brandi]

Could not have put it better myself. Thank you!!!!

[Diane (Gage's Mom)]

So very true! Thanks to all the RDCs.God bless you all.

[Valerie (Wes's Mom)]

How eloquently put. I couldn't have formed the words better. Your words convey all of what I am feeling. How grateful I am to all of the RDCs for their hardwork and sometime frustrating days they must have, but their hardwork does not go unnoticed by all of us mothers who send their sons and daughter to bootcamp and greet them at graduation as sailors.

Thank you for making such a difference in my son. I will be forever grateful!

[Grace]

Amen and Amen!
Thank you!

[Evann]

This ia exactly what I wanted to say!!!!!!!! Most excellently written. I have never been more proud of my son and my country.Thank you for expressing this for all of us! God bless your son.

[Jeanine #762]

A great big thanks definately go out to the unsung heroes who make our sailors into what we knew they could be without all the stress on us. To their families who share them with our young men and women. Just a great big thanks to these gentle, caring individuals who only want the best for these young sailors. Always a challenge but one they handle beautifully. 11-21-07 PIR Mom.