Parent help

[SMG55]

I am 17 and I am preparing to enlist. I took my ASVAB and now all I need is my parents john Hhncock on the papers. But there is a problem, I told my parents I wanted to go Infantry.......bad idea. It resulted in a screaming match and them refusing to sign the papers. They then talked to my recruiter and my dad eventually came around and is willing to sign but my mom is a different story.

My mom, yes she is being ignorant, is telling me all grunts are dumb rednecks and high school drop outs who have no where else to go in life. Then she says I'll constantly get deployed and see combat and come home in a box,without a limb, or without my mind.She also says former grunts go no where in life because infantry is a reject job. She is being very irrational and stubborn about it and i cant have a mature conversation about it before i blow a fuse.

I have done several months of research about infantry and i am positive its what i want to do. I am asking for any past/present grunts stories,advice, or even what you would say to my mom. I hope to show her all the replies in hope to show her what real Marines think.

[sparkie]

These things take time. Changing a mind takes time. Grunts are no longer cannon fodder, they have to have a brain long before they reach OZ. She is thinking anchient history, and you can tell her I said that.

[echo3oscar1833]

You need to respect your Mom, and Dad they are just worried about you. Your best bet is to sit down and talk to them in a calm manner. Blowing up on them is only going to make things worse. Also talk to your recruiter, see if he can comeover to your house, and sit down with your parents for a level headed mature conversation. Good Luck:marine:

[sparkie]

Yep,,, a pizzin contest never does any good.

[Phantom Blooper]

Not all grunts are dumb....there may be a few that a slow on the draw...but once released from the holster they can shoot pretty well and handle their own and that of the Marines in their charge. <br />
...

[Sgt Leprechaun]

You could get hit by a drunk driver and lose limbs, be traumatized, etc etc.

Bottom line is, Mom is worried. It's natural. But some of the smartest people I've ever known have been so called 'dumb grunts'. Those 'dumb grunts' later went on to careers in Gov't service making big bucks, or became national heroes. Google 'Colonel Wesley Fox', and 'Colonel John Ripley'. Both are infantry officers with ADVANCED DEGREES. The list is long and endless but you'll get the idea. And don't think that just because they are officers they had more 'smarts' than the average enlisted Marine Infantryman. Squad level tactics, operating Infantry equipment, understanding complex orders (lay down a pattern of grazing fire while 2nd squad assaults through the objective using fire and manuever...), and the "3 block war" as well as "The Strategic Corporal" are all concepts far and above something a 'redneck idiot' could grasp, discuss, or understand, much less put into practice. The Infantry will tax your brain as well as your brawn, and advanced Infantrymen (Scout/Snipers, Recon) do more math in a week than most college educated people do in a year. Hydrographic surveys, wind and elevation calculations, and time/tide calculatons are just SOME of the things they do. How deep is the sand on a particular beach, and what sort of equipment will it support, and why? How fast is the wind at the target, and how much windage and elevation will be needed to place a rifle bullet on that target with less than 1/2 margin of error?

Anyone who thinks grunts are 'stupid' hasn't been given a map and compass and told to navigate through the desert with no landmarks, or thick underbrush.

Being a grunt has no romance whatsoever, though. It might look 'cool' on the military channel, but in the real world, the 'coolness' factor quickly evaporates when your buddies insides are splattered all over YOU and you have to keep fighting. Things like that don't just 'go away', they stay with you forever.

By all means, sit down and discuss with her, but if she doesn't change her mind, she doesn't. Wait until you are 18, then enlist.

BTW, I'm a former 'grunt' who lateral moved to Intelligence, have graduated from numerous high level law enforcement schools, and now own my own business. All with NO college degree until very recently.

Feel free to print this out as well.

[TinDragon]

If all else fails wait until you are eighteen and sign the papers for yourself.

:thumbup:

[doc h fmf]

Stephen you can join the navy,like I did and be a Corpman and go to Field Medical Service School. Out of the 111/2 years I was in the Navy I spent 81/2 with the marines