View Full Version : Need help with Recruit in San Diego MRP
marinemom62
08-09-05, 03:29 PM
My son was dropped to MRP this past week with pneumonia. The local recruiter was at first very helpful with information as to my son's situation. The past two days however I have not been told anything about my son's health. Does anyone have any helpful hints as to how to go about getting more info? I am not asking to talk to my son (although I would love to!); I just want to know how he is progressing and when he might be released to a new platoon. Thank you for any help you can offer.
Joseph P Carey
08-09-05, 05:07 PM
Have you tried calling Naval Hospital in the area? You have his Service Number and the unit he was with, that should be enough to get information from the unit your son is in!
marinemom62
08-09-05, 07:16 PM
I do not have his service number - he's a recruit and was in his third week of basic training so he's not assigned to a unit that I know of.
Thanks for helping!
GySgtRet
08-09-05, 07:26 PM
marinemom62,
If you have his Social Security Number you have his service number ma'am. Also, give them your son's complete unit.
Marinemom62, ask to talk to the NCOIC of the Recruiting office your son was recruited from and he can get the information you need.
GunnyL
marinemom62
08-10-05, 08:01 PM
Thanks for the info. The Recruiter called late last night to tell me that he's being told that my son is improving but that it may be another week before he gets dropped back to a platoon. Today I received four letters! From what he says it sounds like he had walking pneumonia for a week before he went to MRP. He's bored and sleeping a lot. Three of the letters I received today were written in one day! It's frustrating cause I am not being given any "medical" information and no one seems to have talked directly to my son for several days. I don't want to get the Recruiter in trouble by going over his head, but I was hoping for concrete more information. All the vagueness causes worry.
You might try contacting the chaplain on the depot, but I am sure he is in good hands. Everyone on the depot is very professional; even the Naval personnel.
I fully believe that if there was anything to be worried about you would have been contacted by the Navy Medical folk.
Joseph P Carey
08-10-05, 11:28 PM
Originally posted by marinemom62
Thanks for the info. The Recruiter called late last night to tell me that he's being told that my son is improving but that it may be another week before he gets dropped back to a platoon. Today I received four letters! From what he says it sounds like he had walking pneumonia for a week before he went to MRP. He's bored and sleeping a lot. Three of the letters I received today were written in one day! It's frustrating cause I am not being given any "medical" information and no one seems to have talked directly to my son for several days. I don't want to get the Recruiter in trouble by going over his head, but I was hoping for concrete more information. All the vagueness causes worry.
I know it is tough letting go, and our children will always be our children no matter how old they come to be, but in this case, allow your son his freedom to tell you what he wishes to tell you! He has made his choice to be his own man, and he loves you, isn't that enough?
My Mom went through the Second World War with a daughter in her arms, and a husband in some of the worst fighting in the South Pacific. Things didn't get easier for her when two of her boys went to Vietnam in the company of Marines, just like their Dad did in WWII. It sure didn't help when the first came back shot up, and the second went after him, and he too came back the same way!
My Mom would worry each night we were not in the USA, but she also knew better than to interfere with what was to happen. My Mom never stopped loving us, she just let us grow up!
Metalriff
08-12-05, 12:22 PM
Try contacting your local Red Cross chapter. You WILL get some sort of reply. Most likely the Bn. Chaplain will give your son the "card" or the Senior Drill Instructor.
Echo_Four_Bravo
08-12-05, 01:11 PM
I know it is difficult, but things are working the way they are supposed to work. Your son is being taken care of, that is why he is in MRP. They want nothing more than to get him back into training, so they are working hard to get him back into a regular platoon. I know it is difficult for you, but he isn't your little boy anymore. There will be many times in his Marine Corps career that you won't know what is going on with him. This is just the first of many. There are simply too many parents to keep them all updated all the time. You will get news as he sends it to you or when something changes. You will find out when he goes back into training, you will know if something goes wrong. If you aren't hearing anything, then everything is just fine.
MarineMom5
08-13-05, 09:29 AM
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Echo_Four_Bravo
[B] I know it is difficult for you, but he isn't your little boy anymore.
He IS Still her little boy and always will be....even if he becomes a Marine....even if he lives to be 100. It's just the way it is for us MOM'S!
When one of our children (of any age) is sick or injured we have a natural instinct to protect, it is an inherent part of our being. MarineMom62 has fully supported her sons desire to become a Marine, she just wanted ONE phonecall or ONE straight answer from someone overseeing her Son's condition.
From what I have read about Boot...everything is by the numbers. I would have thought that there would be a protocol for MRP that would contain one call to a parent with a medical update.
marinemom62
08-13-05, 12:35 PM
Thanks all for the support and and encouragement. It is greatly appreciated. I do fully support my son's decision to become a Marine. What I am having trouble with is being told that I will be called (by the Recruiter) at or by a particular time and then the Recruiter does not call. When I call him, it's the same ole song & dance - can't get a hold of anybody, don't know anything, etc. etc. If I tell someone that I will call them with an update about a situation, I follow through. That's all I am asking for.
The mom in me is going to worry; that won't ever change. The worry is exaggerated when I am promised something and there's no follow through.
I am staying prayer and believing that no news is good news.
Originally posted by Metalriff
Try contacting your local Red Cross chapter. You WILL get some sort of reply. Most likely the Bn. Chaplain will give your son the "card" or the Senior Drill Instructor.
What is the "card"?
Marinemom62,
I can so identify with you. My son graduated boot after 7 months. He spent a total of 5 1/2 months in MRP with a variety of issues, twice for pneumonia. Part of the time he was what they call a scribe, which means he did a lot of paper work for the SDI.
According to him, the DI's hated being contacted by the recruiters because it created so much paper work. There are upwards of 70+ men in those squadbays at a time which adds up with all of the parents trying to get recruiters to contact them. I know that is in NO WAY comforting, but it is just the truth. Perhaps your recruiter knows this, too.
The doctors do their best and will do all they can to help your son. My son was never seen on a daily basis; it was usually just once a week. So, news didn't come very often on his progress.
Again, I totally understand from whence you are coming; I worried and worried for 7 long months. I don't think I fully gave into the notion that the Marine Corps saw my son as an adult and didn't need his mama's input; but that is painfully true! ha.