TJLee
06-23-09, 11:48 AM
Hello all,
Looking for help getting my newly minted Marine son motivated again.
He sailed though boot, did really well, and sounded like he really enjoyed every minute of it (even the parts he complained about). He came home for his 7 days following graduation and was very gung-ho about the Corp. He could not wait to get to Pensacola and start his MOS training. . The very picture of a motivated Marine.
He did great on his ASVAB and decided to sign up to be an Aviation Mechanic to work on airplanes. Well he gets to Pensacola and finds that he's going to be:
6048 Flight Equipment Technician - GYSGT-PVT
Which I falls under the Aviation Mechanic designation but according to About.com is this: Flight equipment technicians inspect, maintain, and repair parachutes; flight survival equipment; flight equipment; carbon dioxide, and gaseous and liquid oxygen equipment.
Apparently the short hand for this a "Stitch-b***h". To his mind this has nothing to do with being an Aviation Mechanic.
Now, before he signed up I told him that the military works in strange and wonderful ways and he might wind up with whatever Uncle Sam wanted him to be instead of what he wanted to be. But he did not listen to his old man, instead he believed the recruiter that he would soon be working on jet engines.
So he has gone from gung-ho to zero motivation in the blink of an eye. To make matters worse he's been cooling his heels in Pensacola for weeks and then finds out his classes won't start for another 5-6 months.
Telling him to suck it up hasn't worked so far. He's got lots of time apparently to feel sorry for himself. What he needs is for someone to kick his behind and get his priorities realigned. Surely the Corp has something in the handbook to deal with this. I would think it comes up fairly often but I'm on the other side of the continent and have run out of pep talks.
I'm looking for any advice that could help me turn my kid's head around before he sours completely.
Very best regards,
TJ Lee
Looking for help getting my newly minted Marine son motivated again.
He sailed though boot, did really well, and sounded like he really enjoyed every minute of it (even the parts he complained about). He came home for his 7 days following graduation and was very gung-ho about the Corp. He could not wait to get to Pensacola and start his MOS training. . The very picture of a motivated Marine.
He did great on his ASVAB and decided to sign up to be an Aviation Mechanic to work on airplanes. Well he gets to Pensacola and finds that he's going to be:
6048 Flight Equipment Technician - GYSGT-PVT
Which I falls under the Aviation Mechanic designation but according to About.com is this: Flight equipment technicians inspect, maintain, and repair parachutes; flight survival equipment; flight equipment; carbon dioxide, and gaseous and liquid oxygen equipment.
Apparently the short hand for this a "Stitch-b***h". To his mind this has nothing to do with being an Aviation Mechanic.
Now, before he signed up I told him that the military works in strange and wonderful ways and he might wind up with whatever Uncle Sam wanted him to be instead of what he wanted to be. But he did not listen to his old man, instead he believed the recruiter that he would soon be working on jet engines.
So he has gone from gung-ho to zero motivation in the blink of an eye. To make matters worse he's been cooling his heels in Pensacola for weeks and then finds out his classes won't start for another 5-6 months.
Telling him to suck it up hasn't worked so far. He's got lots of time apparently to feel sorry for himself. What he needs is for someone to kick his behind and get his priorities realigned. Surely the Corp has something in the handbook to deal with this. I would think it comes up fairly often but I'm on the other side of the continent and have run out of pep talks.
I'm looking for any advice that could help me turn my kid's head around before he sours completely.
Very best regards,
TJ Lee