Tell Us About Your Letters From Your Kids At Bootcamp

[Kimandtheboys]

Kyle has spent an insane amount of time folding clothes (maybe this will give him a new appreciation for me? hmmmmm)

They spent 7, yes 7 hours the other day changing back and forth from PT gear to a uniform. It had to be done in an alloted amount of time and every time someone messed up, the whole group had to get back into PT gear and start over.

They laugh at all the newly graduated sailors who come back from liberty and try bringing stuff back on base they did not leave with. Everyone is searched head to toe, and everything gets confiscated. If they bring food back, it is eaten right in front of them while they beg to be able to keep it. Phones, etc. are taken while they cry and beg.

Bootcamp is a lot like prison, but prison is better because you can have a TV.

The food is good.

He never thought he would miss home this badly.

[Molly Molly Fo Folly]

My mother was one of the first hundred thousand wemon ever excepted into the milatary. There had been nurses before, but they were not considered IN the milatary.
She was a NAVY WAVE during WWII.
She did test flights for the men who were overseas. That is how she met my dad, the wemon who did this would sometimes write little notes on the plane ( like inspected by ..... ) My dad happen to get a SBD Dauntless as his plane that she had test flown :)
Anyway she was a character, She was somewhat of a celebrity to wemon from the milatary when she would go to the VA. They would always ask her questions, about the war and her responce would always be (" Yes I fought the battle of San Diago, and we won !! ) She never left her station is San Diago
BUT was very proud to have been in the NAVY, and to have contributed to the war efforts during WWII.
As for Colton ........ oh my gosh yes I have already heard the word EVAL's, and he is so darn competitive with himself. I can only imagine that he will volunteer for everything if it has to do with rank or money. LOL
I just hope he doesnt volunteer and find out later that it is for digging the laterene !

[Mary, Proud Mom of Nick]

Yahoo! The mailman was good to me today! Got the "form" letter and it's enough to make me happy for a day or two!
Our son left on the 26th and writes that he is doing fine and he hopes we are as well. Said he was still being processed when he wrote this and asked us to send congrats to his cousin who is doing his PIR tomorrow.

Amazing how three simple lines can make your day!!

[Sheila or Justin's mom]

I know...I was in the mourning stage for that first week, and then received his clothes in the mail and you would have thought someone took my toy away....I cried like a baby...lol BUT once "the three lined letter" arrived, I felt like I had talked to him, thats how relieved I was....good luck to all....and God bless

[BeverlyStat]

As I wrote this blog the other day it brought back so many memories & fears I had those first days & weeks after Aaron left. I'm hoping this will help somewhat.

Boot Camp Nightmare

Oh - my - God!!!!!! It was my worst fear. I knew it would happen. Aaron was always a bit impulsive, but this time he had really done it. This was one mess he would not be able to get out of. And all of my concerns had made a shining debut into my/his reality. They were yelling at him over every little thing, he hated the food, the other guys, ALL the Chiefs, all the orders, even the darned bed!!! Now what? In the letter he'd written he wasn't really asking for advice, just angry. And, I think, knowing my son, just maybe, even a way to get out of this situation. I knew I'd have to reply back that same night because I'd ascertained fairly quick, he, along with other recruits, was pretty much living for the mail. As I read back over his letter I thought back to the years I'd spent raising him. I thought back on Veteran's Day parades I'd taken him to. I remembered all the grocery store and drugstore parking lots where he'd heard me say, "My name is Beverly Staton and this is my son, Aaron, and we just wanted to say 'Thank You'." ("Yes, son, he really did fight in a real war." (age 6), "Firm handshake, son, tells a man everything about you, no matter your age," (to the 10yr. old), "I don't care how old you are and I don't care what he looks like! (age 14), You see that POW on his vest? He paid a price, buried friends & maybe brothers for you to 'choose' to wear what you want to school, so that you can slide by just enough to play basketball at that school you went to free of charge, and so that I had the RIGHT to 'choose' to send you now to a private school." "I don't care how embarrassed you are, what if he is old, he doesn't know you from Adam, either." (that was all ages!) I knew he had never forgotten all those men I walked him up to over the years and had him shake hands with and say 'thank you' to. No matter the protest, each time we'd walked away from another man, another story, I'd seen in his face the way their stories had touched him. I knew he would not have forgotten them or their sacrifices. I picked up my pen and began to reply to my son's last letter. This letter unfolded much differently than others I'd written since he'd arrived at Great Lakes Naval boot camp. I didn't even mention the previous letter he'd sent. I never mentioned his complaints. This is what I did write; I wrote that I bet it was odd thinking you could be standing, at times, in the exact same spot another young man who'd been ordered to choose between the Navy and prison might have stood & gotten yelled at before he went off to make his home on a ship under constant attack. I told him I couldn't imagine eating at a table where young men, not unlike himself, had eaten before. Young men who'd been drafted into Navy service during wartime, against their free will, who'd been sent to a place in a jungle where they might not have eaten for days. I told him I thought it must be hard to learn to trust someone you've just met to guard your backside, whether at boot camp or on deployment. I told him it must be stressful to learn in such a short amount of time so many new things those Chiefs told them they would need to know if something went wrong in a dangerous situation. I told him I just could not fathom sleeping in a bed, in a dorm, so old, where so many young men had slept before him, knowing some had even cried there before falling asleep, missing their moms' and dads', full of their own homesickness. Some only to live only a short while after leaving that place. I told him I would imagine it was beyond strange to be looking out over those grounds and buildings where so many, just like him, had gone before, that at times I would imagine you could almost feel them standing there, beside you. I said I'm sure you must be awestruck thinking on the sheer number of young men who upon leaving that place found the wisdom, the strength and the courage to do more than the jobs they were assigned. And finally, I told him that I bet it made him proud to go where so many heroes had been before. And that I am sure, beyond doubt, that if he should ever be called himself, to find that same wisdom and strength, his own courage would not fail him. Because he too, now stands where many will come after him. Because he too, is now a hero. Within days I got a reply, this time his letter also, was much different than all the others he had written. Thanks Mom. You were right, you almost can feel them here, almost see them. Kind of makes me feel like I'm on sacred ground. Hey, Momma, don't worry about me, I'm going to be fine. Hey I met another guy from Oklahoma! And you would not believe this one crazy Chief here....................

[Molly Molly Fo Folly]

That letter was so touching , and so right on. After I read your letter to him, I decided to tell my son just exactly where he stood. All because of your letter to your son :)
Thank you for sharing that.
PS I also read your entire letter to my family, and my man had tears in his eyes.

[Patricia]

It was a wonderful letter! I want to share it with my son.

[brenda]

OMG...........After reading your letter I cried so hard I wish I would have read this a few weeks ago. My son also sent me a letter kinda like the one that you discribe here. He said they are tearing me apart here .......... I didn't think it through.......... I regret signing the papers ......... this is not right for me .............. I feel like my life is over ............ I am going to try and come home .......... I feel like my life is over ............. that was the just of his 1st letter I cried so hard and had no idea what to say to him after that. I just told him that it would be all over soon and we would be able to come to his graduation and that he would be so very proud of himself once he got through it. Things are getting easier for him now though he is halfway through now and is really looking forward to seeing everyone in april. In the most recent letter he gets kinda emotional again and thanks me for being his mom and for everything I have ever done for him and for just being the mom I am he says that he does not think he ever said it enough but that he loves me and can't wait till I can see how much he has changed. That he believes he has become the man that I always wanted him to become and that I will be so proud. I just sent him a letter and told him that I have always been proud of him and that the love and pride I have for him is uncoditional and nothing or noone will ever change that.

[BeverlyStat]

Brenda, I left a message for you in my Blog for the day. (I answered in my blog because I know there are sooo many moms going thru what you are right now and I'm hoping they will see the end results are worth it.) HaHa!! (that by the way is a sarcastic haha! because I'm thinking that when I was living it, I really wasn't caring about the END result. Hang in there and please give me a shout ANY time. I feel for you. I sooo cried my heart out that first week to ten days. I swear, it was the thought of someone yelling at him that seemed to bother me the most! Then I knew the very worst of it was probably over for him by then. Being able to start writing to him right away, even tho I couldn't mail them to him right away, helped me more than anything, I think. And he later said he felt like a kid in a candy store because of all the letters. :) Write away, Sweetie, it'll help you and he'll be thrilled!
Love and Prayers,
Beverly

[CCR]

Beverly that was awesome. Please please please let me get a letter. Last one was the form letter and I havn't gotten a call. PLZ PLZ PLZ

[Alexa]

I just got my fist letter fom my fiance this week. I was so excited!! I misses me pretty bad, it's the first time we've really had to be apart. I keep telling him to be strong, but it hurts not beeing able to be there when I says he needs me. He did say that the food was good, and that their work out clothes and shoes are pretty cool. Eveybody tells me that the letters will get better, but he will miss me more and more every day.

[Lynn "Derek's Mom"]

Received my first letter from my son, he says he is going crazy, I'm going really crazy. I'm tired ad I miss you alot. Some of these guys are xxxxxx crazy but its all cool. I got 2 jobs here, I'm RP which is a Religious Petty Officer, its ok and i'm head crew as an assistant head petty officer, so I clean the restrooms. So I try to keep busy, but its hard. Guess what I passed my 3rd class swim test and I have a test coming soom the only hard pard is my RACK. I love you very much, tell everyone hello. I have a few minutes to write I'm here waiting on Taps. Please write me soon.

Help me clarify some language what is Taps, RACK, what does it mean by RP and assistant petty officer, etc.

I just loved hearing from my only baby in the world, it made my day and brought joy to my heart.

Thanks guys.

[Jo]

The RACK is his bed - they have make the beds a certain way and it not easy. At least that's all I could think of - we called our beds racks when I was in bootcam. Petty officer is a rank in the navy - when you achieve E4 - you are a Petty officer 3rd Class so they use the rank in boot camp to get the recruits used to it. Taps is what they play when you have to go to bed and its lighs outs and revilie is what gets you up in the morning. RP is Religious Petty Officer - they give the recruits jobs and they all have initials - I'm sure that part of it has changed since I was in. And the Head of course is the bathroom - it took me forever to quit caling it the head when I got out - lol. Any more questions - let me know!