Son left for bootcamp today!

[kmc1973( ship 3/div154)]

My son left for bootcamp today, I am a mess!!!! Please tell me it will get better I just keep crying. I keepmthinking about how quiet he was at MEPS this morning and how tired he looked. Gave him a big hug and did not want to leave. I will be coming her for a lot of support. I love that boys he is my oldest so hard to let him go.

[Debi]

You are 100% right bclmonct. My SR is the first of 3 to leave the next and he's not the oldest so I'm going through mama bear pangs. Knowing I can't protect him or do much to help him anymore. My SR will be going to Charleston for A school also once these weeks are done. My husband and his brothers are planning our trips to see him there and it'll be a fun time. Thanks for the words of encouragement..just have to keep moving. To quote a very cheesey Disney character aka Dori..Just keep swimming just keep swimming....:)

[simplyproud]

I was a mess also. though I never thought it would, my son is half-thru boot camp. It was very difficult to hear from total strangers that , it would get easier, I kept coming back to these sites and writing my son, and it did get easier. Hang in there.

[Debi]

I feel your pain to the tee. My son also left for boot camp on the 19th. I sobbed the entire day and broke down while doing laundry when I found some of his things in there. Crazy huh? Today I'm just going through the motions at work. It's hard to be happy when the house is so empty. I know that this website will help TONS!  I'm just counting down the 56 days of bootcamp right now until he's done.

[AndrewB/Mom]

 My son left today! I know how you feel! I am going thru the same thing. It will get better because you know he did the right thing!! I feel so sad but I am so proud of him and you know he will be happy with a navy career. Its the hardest thing to do!! I am still numb and I can not wait for the phone call and the mail and than before you know they will graduate and we will be so happy!!! Please contact me if you want to chat anytime!! I am new too and we can help each other! I am sending you a big hug and lots of prays!! Please keep your chin up!! Stay positive-we are Proud NAVY MOMS!!!

[DramaSoul]

It will definitely get better.  My son had PIR 2 March 2012. The best thing was making the connections on N4M with the moms here.  We have all been there. It is really important that you save your crying and sharing of your doubts for your Navy family.  You are now a part of another family!  You will survive this and grow, just as your Recruit is going to do a lot of growing.  My son is now a Navy Corpsman who completed Field Medical Training and is working in a hospital on a Marine base.  And that's what he has accomplished in a year!  I was a total mess when he left.  You will be receiving a box with all of his things in it.  Have tissue handy when you open it.  It will get better.  I found that learning as much as I could about what he was doing helped me a lot.

proudmom....I agree with you 100%!

[imomxfour x 3 Sailors]

Hang in there mama, and all of you moms just now experiencing this!!!! Like the others have said, i also promise that it WILL get easier, and it goes FAST!! Our 18 yr old son (our 3rd born) went to BC Dec 6th and graduated Feb 1st. We were a WRECK at first, lots of crying, lots of doubt, lots of missing him - and now that he's at A School we talk and text and skype all the time, and it feels great!!!

For now, start writing those letters and get them sent off ASAP, do NOT wait, our son's div starting getting mail within a week of getting there - they LIVE for the mail they get - we wrote daily, as did friends and family, and it helped our son get through being pretty darn homesick at first! We even wrote to other kids who weren't getting mail - it was SO awesome to meet some of them at that weekend at the airport! They really really appreciated it!! They love questionnaires and jokes, and inspirational quotes - anything that connects them to you out here!!!

Also, PIR is the most AMAZING experience ever, I relive it in my mind all the time, look at the pictures and videos we took almost daily even - seriously nothing could have prepared us for the pride we would feel, and the incredible performance of all the recruits and it's just WOW!! Better than any other event or ceremony for any of our children so far!! And low & behold, now our oldest, our 23 yr old daughter, wants to join after going with us up there!!! That's how profound it was, even for her! and this is a girl who we all used to laugh hysterically when the recruiters would call for her in her junior and senior year in high school. she loves doing her hair and makeup and went to cosmotology school, lol....

And to see your child after BC - incredible!! you will stare at him, you will be amazed!! Take pictures, take video!!

 

Our 16 yr old has known he was joining for awhile too, but obviously he has a little way to go....so we will be going through this a couple more times, hopefully our daughter will be heading to MEPS in the next few weeks!! I hope it's easier - at least with our daughter since she's already been out on her own for 4 1/2 yrs, but I hear it can be just as hard, even though you've already been through it with one child. I never imagined we'd have 3 of our 4 kids going into the military - but we couldn't be more proud!!! Our 21 yr old son is a security guard, so we will have all 4 kids in a uniform!! lol... 

 

Best wishes to ALL of you!!! Hang in there, ok!!!

[imomxfour x 3 Sailors]

PS, find your PIR group on facebook once it forms, too - that was a WONDERFUL source of info & support & FUN!!!!

[melberta (Ship 9, DIV 150)]

KMC, my daughter left the same day!!!  I KNOW how you are feeling!  I have not been any good to anyone since she left!  It is getting better.  I got her box today with her stuff in it!  I am writing her every day, one long letter and will send it as soon as I get an address!!!! They are going to do great!

 

 

[JTFsubmom]

I know how you feel....my son left today for Boot Camp and it is so hard. I am so proud but incredibly sad too. I'm okay until someone says anything to me...then I can't keep the tears back. I hope it gets easier...I believe it will. He was happy this morning...tired but happy and ready to go. God willing, his flight will be able to get Chicago safely in this horrible snow storm and he can begin his journey.

[Sunshine Sandy]

My son left yesterday. I too am a mess. When I got home I passed his room sat on the bed and cried. I just break down all the time. I know he is good hands but I miss him so much

[RyansMum (MM/Nuke)]

I can relate. My oldest left on the 25th. It was hard to let him go. We got his box today. Even though I expected it it was tough! I've already started writing him. I don't have an address yet, but it makes me feel better to write about what's going on at home. They are upbeat letters so I think they will make him laugh. When I get the address I'll pop them all in the mail.

[shan1013]

Hi. Mine left today. I haven't got my call yet and just waiting. I've been a mess, crying and trying not to watch any military movies. I watched Saving Private Ryan a week ago and couldn't stop crying at the end, even though I've watched a bunch of times. I'm still learning the site. My husband signed me up after the recruiter left our house, August of 2011. It's been a long wait to get him out to boot camp. This is the 1st time I've posted. I've been looking at the different groups in trying to learn.