Off to earn the title

[Iansdad]

On monday Jan. 14th my son left for MCRD-SD to become a Marine. For my son and myself I would like to take this chance to thank all of you on this site for our preperation for this goal, we learned a lot here.
Thank you again and either he or I will post when he has earned his EGA.

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[DrZ]

Stephen,
Your job has just started. He will really need your support now. Being the Dad to a DEP is one thing but being a Dad to a recruit is quite another. Keep him inundated with upbeat letters. He will be tired, homesick, and wondering why he signed the dotted line. Let him know you are there to talk to and there to ask questions here for him.

He will be fine. Make sure he comes here when he earns his EGA so we can welcome him into the family.

Good luck to you both.

[wildwoman73]

My son just graduated December 14th. I'm also a Marine(not active) but mostly MOM now. I wrote like crazy...half way WENT crazy the first two weeks he was gone. A good friend of mine is a Sgt Major and was in the drill field for years. I asked him if I was being an over achieving mother of a recruite by writing almost daily. He surprisingly said "No. Write as often as you want and keep it upbeat. He'll enjoy it, need it, and look forward to it.". So....get that pen handy!!

[Iansdad]

Our family already have started writing we felt we could send the letters as soon as we got his address. We have a calander of what he will be going through to help us out.

[wildwoman73]

Yes, I got that too the day we met at the recruiter's office to send him off to MEPS. I went ahead and started writing and sending letters before he even left the MEPS station!! hahaha

I wanted him to have them when he got there. I vaguely remember very few getting letters when I joined(while in receiving). And it's NICE now that we as parents get those luxuries. I don't even remember making my phone call home once arriving on PI. But...we as parents have it pretty good now. I actually got is arrival phone call four days later. I felt like a prisoner wanting to DEMAND my constitutional phone call!!!! But...I forgot. This isn't the prison system I've worked in over 10 years. I'm not a criminal. I'm a mother of a US Marine. They have it a little tougher.

On letters....took about two weeks to get one and it was merely the envelope that he wrote our address on. Inside was the hooplah of where he was and who his mentors would be(ie SDI and CO). Still, I traced the hand written letters on the envelope because it came from his hands. Got to thinking...if kids these days didn't have internet or cell phones, would it have really taken that long to get a letter from him. But it hurt his brain learning how to address the thing!!!! Ty said he didn't start getting letters from me until about 2.5 weeks in. I call bull because I KNOW I wrote every day for two weeks. Sometimes even three times!!! If they are strong mentally...it's my personal belief that mail is not "hurried" to their hands. I can't prove it. But I think it's with held to a degree that when they start losing morale, it mysteriously shows up to lift them up. I've asked about it and was told that's not so. But even my child support when said "check's in the mail" got here alot sooner than that. It doesn't make sense to take that long....but it does at first.

Keep us posted on his progress!!!

[robengineer]

Lesson I learned when my son graduated from Parris Island in October. Show up the day before family day. You will know your son's platoon. They will be practicing for the graduation. Hang out around where they are practicing. Just look for the flag bearer carrying your son's platoon number. Then scan through the marching boys until you find your son. We were able to make eye contact with our son and stand a mere 5ft away from him while he was in formation. It was fantastic after not seeing him for three months. In our case the company commander singled him out in a good way because we were right there. He acknowledged us then told our son to take his cover (hat) off so we could laugh at his bald head. The moment was priceless.

[Rocky C]

On monday Jan. 14th my son left for MCRD-SD to become a Marine. For my son and myself I would like to take this chance to thank all of you on this site for our preperation for this goal, we learned a lot here.
Thank you again and either he or I will post when he has earned his EGA.

Outstanding !!!
Best of Luck to all.
Keep us posted please.

[Iansdad]

Just a quick update on Ian. The first contact we had with him was the breef first phone call it came at 2015 est on Tuesday, he sounded great upbeat and gung ho ready to go. We received his first hand written letter yesterday, I hope there aren't any curent SD DIs on here because he said PT was easy.
Thanks again to all for your kind words and advice.

[Yonkers]

I remember in boot if I got a letter it would instantly make my day better (depending on who it was from... I got some strange ones from people outside my family), even if there was nothing going on... it still felt better to know that they gave a damn. It was also an opportunity for them to show me how much has change/hasn't changed in my home town. In my case, my brother just had a baby girl. It surprised me every time he wrote me to know any little development on it.

too long, didn't read version:
Anything to write about helps, write about anything.

-Cpl Yonkers

[robengineer]

My son at first cherished each letter he got. Towards the end, he said if the letter were too long he did not even bother to read them. Based on this, I would suggest not to write a novel each time. Also, he always wanted to know sports information such as football and nascar results. Sometimes I would include a torn out page or two from a newspaper in with the letters. Once he asked me to put thin energy bars into the letter. Funny story about this. I actually took two letters with the thin bars to the post office. Later that day we received a letter from him saying please forget what he said and don't mail any food hidden in the letters. I actually called the post office and the guy there literally dug through the mail to prevent those letters from being sent.

[Iansdad]

Back for an update about Ian. He starts Line week this week I think I am calling it by the right name. We have had several letters from him and they have all been positive, we haven't had any since the move to Camp Pendleton, but don't count on any till he returns to SD.
Graduation feels so far away but his mom and I are getting to be like kids waiting for Christmas. We follow along each week with Youtube videos about RCT training for that week.
Thank you again to the men and women Marines on this site you have made this process much easier.
Off to check on here about billeting.