Son Thinking of Joining Navy any words of advice

[Jessica~~mother of Mike(Gregory)]

Hello My son is thinking of joining the Navy any words of advice for him or me?

[Doreen Stokes]

I agree with the other posters. However, I recommend HIGHLY that you and he speak with the recruiters. They have a way to glamorize the service and make promises they know may not be kept. Make sure he KNOWS what area he'd like to "work" in and make sure he can assigned to it after bootcamp. Recruiters have numbers to make and some of them will tell you anything to sign on the dotted line. I am proud to know your son wants this for himself. Be proud and supportive. Thank him for me for his commitment to our wonderful country. My husband and I served during Vietnam. He did two tours over there. Back then when women in the service married it was an automatic discharge. How times have changed. I would have loved to stay in and serve with him. Oh well. Again, congratulations to him and you for bringing up a son who is dedicated to his country and family too. We owe you, the parents, coodoos for bringing up a fine son. God bless him and you and God bless America!

[Tammy Hypes]

My son is exactly one week from graduating bootcamp. My advice to any parent would be listen and be supportive. Help them discover what's reguired to join and support their decision. it was the hardest thing I ever did and it felt like my heart was being ripped out from my toes but it was what was best for Matt and it might just be what's best for your child.

[PAULA DAVIS]

When you see your Sailor next week at graduation your pride will simply fill you completely. I STILL remember my son's graduation in Feb. 2002. He enlisted in Nov. right after 9/11. I was SO proud I think I cried through the entire ceremony. His class was the honors class so they were given special recognition and they all wore gold ascots. The Navy has a way of turning our kids into very special, responsible, wonderful individuals. Share your pride for him with him and enjoy it yourself. Congrats.

[Dee Jacques]

I remember my day`s in waiting to see my son .But finally the day came for him to graduate,it seem like they had him standing out side in the freezing cold for a couple of hour`s befor they let him in. But when I seen him walk through that door it was so worth.You will be so proud of him! Be proud of him cause he is a man now.

[karen hurd]

I have a son in the Navy I would say as a Mom and from maturity go to school for a year see if that is some place you would like to be Its only 1 year and if you still want too then go. I wish my son had done that and gave school a chance. KMH

[Jessica~~mother of Mike(Gregory)]

Just home from MEPS, Mike got sworn in today to the NAVY. He went down hoping to get an MA position but the said that it wasnt available so he had to take a medical position. I was upset when i got there because I was told I could be there when he choose but they already had it done and completed when I got there. That didnt make me very happy when I went an hour earlier than the recruiter said to be there. Oh well he is in and hopefully he will get his position changed., they told me that he could put in a request to change.

[Jackie]

Hi Jessica,
My son got sworn in on March 5th. We had told him not to sign, but he said if they offered him a good job he was signing. He ended up getting an aviation electrician's mate. He told us that he tried to call us before making his decision but he could'nt reach us. He said that he was offered 4 different jobs and he said he chose the best one to suit him. He said he sat and stared at the job for over an hour before signing. He said that he was so nervous that he didn't know what to do. After he returned home from meps, we went to About.com and read up on his job and we think that he made a good choice. His recruiter told us that he could change to nuclear if he wanted to but we don't know if he will. His recruiter told us that there are not alot of jobs coming open now and he was lucky to get a good one. Maybe if your son wants to change he will be allowed to although he chose a good one. The one he chose was also offered to my son, but he wants nothing to do with anything that involves blood or needles.

[Anti M]

I see you've posted this elsewhere. Of course it is a recruiting tool. Duh. You say that as if it were a bad thing.

[courtney]

A few things for your son: make sure he picks a job he's actually interested in. He should do some research and make sure that he's interested in it. And if the job (we call them rates) isn't open he can wait to sign up for that job. It'll piss off the recruiter, but pissing that guy off for 10 minutes versus having a job you don't want for 4 years is worth waiting for what you want! Don't settle, or he'll regret it and he won't enjoy the navy. Second, have him make a copy of every single piece of paper he signs and make that a habit!!! There have been countless times that I've heard of friends that get jipped out of a bonus or housing allowance or a bunch of other types of requests and promises because they didn't have a copy of the request form in their hand. If you have a copy of something, no one can deny that you put in the request and you are due something!

[Betsy]

shes rite make sure its in the contract before he signs it.
my son never got into a or b school cause of the high volume of people that joined. 500 the day he graduated in 05.

[Linda Daigle]

Provide all the moral support and encouragement you can. Ask any questions you have and call the recruiter if you or your son are unsure of anything. Once he joins, encourage him to start pre-conditioning (exercising, jogging) or even join a fitness center. Remind him that he has to be positive and put forth the effort, but it will be worth it. The proudest moment for me was to see my son graduate from Boot Camp and now his first year anniversary will be March 27. Good luck to both of you.

[TeriB]

This is my very first post on this fantastic website. I can't believe my son has been in the Navy now for a little over four years and I'm just now finding all of you!

It is very comforting to know that you all feel the same. When my firstborn, my only son, signed up for the Navy, I couldn't have been more proud or more afraid. I wasn't afraid for him, I just knew that both of our lives were about to change drastically.

Josh was in DEP for almost a year and every holiday I said "today is your last (insert holiday here)" One day he reminded that he wasn't dying, just going into the military. From that day forward I changed my words to "today is your last (insert holiday) at home." Four years later, I now know that what I really meant was "today is your last (insert holiday) at home with things like they are."

Jessica, there will be many many changes in both of your lives in the coming days, months and years. I won't say that I will ever stop missing Josh being at home, seeing him, getting to talk to him every day and having him be my little boy. But, that is what we as parents are supposed to do, raise them to be great people and send them out into the world. That doesn't mean we stop being a part of their lives.

Your son will go to boot camp, he'll survive it (I promise!), he'll go to school and off to his next duty station. You'll get to learn new acronyms, country names and maybe even a few new words you've never heard of.

Love him, be proud of him, support him and make sure he asks lots of questions. He won't always get honest answers, but life is full of those no matter where you go. He will make a two-year, four-year or six-year commitment. It's not a lifetime if he doesn't want it to be. Even if all he does is sign for four years, serve and get out, he will have had life experiences not matched by those of us who never served. No matter what life choice he makes, he will learn many things in the next four years (military or not).

Now he's stationed in a beautiful place overseas and we can't wait to go visit this summer. It'll be the first overseas trip for us and he'll get to be the tour guide. We would probably have never gotten to see this wonderful place had Josh not chosen the Navy and been stationed there.

Thank you everyone for being here. This is my new favorite website!