Recruit Mom... First Letter From Parris Island

[robb4570]

My son left for Parris Island on July 27, 2013. I received his first letter today. I was horrified, to say the least. My son was so excited from the day he joined to the day he left. Running and training. The letter was about how he had made a mistake by joining and how home sick he was, begging me and his Dad to help him. I am so frustrated now. Is this normal? I really did not see this coming. Please Help.

Similar Threads:

• Parris Island recruit health questions
• Parris Island Recruit Training.....been there.....done that...
• Dad of a recruit in Parris Island
• Got 1st Letter from Son at Parris Island!

[fl1946]

Mom, 99.9% -- if not 100% of those who join experienced this "OMG" what-did-I-do reaction. DON'T FRET. I remember asking my parents to call my congressman to bail me out. Fortunately I snapped out of this get-out-of-jail juvinelle attitude and continued. Best decision I've made. This was many years ago. Remind your son, not everyone is cut out to be a Marine. Good luck.

[irpat54]

on the first morning when i got to boot camp the first thing i remember thinking was
1st what did i get myself into, and the second was when the DI said get out now did he mean with my boots on or just go,, i just went into formation without my boot on,, me and one other person,, lol,, big mistake.. as the days and weeks go on and he gets into the program you will start to see a transformation in him that will be remarkable,, i saw it in the letters that my Daughter sent home from PI as well..he will be fine,, it is just shock that he is going through right now..

[Kegler300]

Sounds like the first five days of processing. It gets better once the training actually starts. He'll look back on boot camp one day and realize that the easy part was becoming a Marine ... the hard part is being a Marine and becoming a leader of Marines.

[Tennessee Top]

Yes - it's normal. He is in shock, as is everyone else in his platoon. It's meant to be that way. We do not coddle recruits like the other services - not enough time to operate that way. His DI's only have 13 weeks to "get the civilian out of him". I'm sure he's never had another grown man screaming in his face before. What surprises me is, if he was as prepared as you say he was, how could he not expect the treatment he is getting? He is not going through anything that thousands of us before him didn't go through.

Your role now is to be as supportive and positive as you can (in your letters). Write as often as you can as I'm sure mail call is the highlight of his day.

I encourage you to join marinefamilynetwork.com (it's free). There will be a thread devoted to his platoon. You'll be able to see a training matrix and know what his platoon is doing that week plus communicate with other parents of recruits in his platoon. In addition, that site has info about graduation dates, bootcamp leave, recruiters assistance, writing letters to recruits, and much more. The moderators are present/former parents/spouses and very helpful. Since the site is very busy, it may take some time finding your way around but you'll get the hang of it. Just ask for help if you need it. There is a tab at the top of the homepage called "questions" - that's where you'll need to start.

Hopefully, in a few weeks, you'll get to watch your newly minted Marine graduate. Keep us posted about how things are progressing and good luck.

[Old Marine]

It is called Recruit Shock and once he learns the routine of his Drill Instructors he will be a happy camper. There is no doubt that all the recruits in his platoon are feeling the same as he is, as the Drill Instructors are ridding him of his civilian ways and teaching him the Marine Corps way. Many, many, many before him have been through the same training and most have survived.

He will either survive or he could be a recruit for an awful long time.

[m14ed]

Shock and AWE,,,

You may notice that none of the Marines above said the other
Recruit Training Battalion was different...

Marine is the title he is after....HE has to earn it....
He was told he wasn't going for a walk in the park.....

WORLD WIDE....anywhere we Marines go ,we hear.
What'd yah do in boot camp...........

Your son won't get treated much differently than we did.
(Things have EASED UP ) Since OUR TIME......
(Thank the MOTHERS OF AMERICA ) for that.

Support him as much as he can in your letters to him.
He's gonna have some stories next letter..

Enjoy,,,,,We all did.

[SGT7477]

We all thought what the hell did we get ourselves into, the Pride is forever, no greater title but a U.S. Marine, Semper Fidelis.

[advanced]

Every morning at Parris Island after we were awoken with the trash cans being thrown down the squad bay and our 5 DI's yelling "Get up, Get up," amongst other things I used to ask myself what the hell did I do this time. Believe me, everyone wants to get out of there. In our time not only did the DI's yell at us continuously, they used to "thump" us consistently as well.

I would say that the greatest lesson that I learned at PI was that when things get so bad that nothing could possibly be worse, they can get worse. I relied on this lesson many times later on when we were sent into hell holes where the average person who had not learned these lessons would have most likely just given up.

Also, as bad as PI may be to him now, I remember many times later when I thought how PI should have been 10 times harder to better prepare us for where they later sent us. The more references they can teach him now, the easier time he will have later on. He'll also learn to never give up, this is very worthwhile.

[Rocky C]

AHH, the memories.

The letters will get better as the weeks go on.
Stay positve when you write to him.

Everything will be fine...

[David R 1968]

I never promised you a rose garden.

When the going gets tough the tough gets going.

[robb4570]

Thank You Marines... This makes me feel better. I know you Men and Ladies will not "Sugar Coat" anything for me. Tennessee Top thank you Sir for the link. I found his platoon thread... From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU ALL !!!! I will keep everyone posted on his progress...

[buckeyejackie]

Hang in there! My son did the same thing to me. All I could do was cry thinking what the heck was going on. My son who had wanted to be a Marine since 5th grade now hated every waking minute of it and wanted to come home. As the days went on, the letters were still tough to read. He was going through shock. Just graduated High School, just turned 18, left home for the first time. No one could fix it. He said he had migraines, which I sure was due to stress and having to get his butt out of bed before noon, I told him I could not bring him tylenol, suck it up. He made it and wow, when he earned that Eagle, Globe and Anchor it was the proudest moment in his life. He had finally achieved that goal that he had longed for all his life. Being an Army Veteran, I thought I could relate to his feelings, just didn't help me one darn bit. I am so proud of him and of all of the Marines that made it through with him. They truly ARE brothers for life. Keep your chin up, write him often reassure him he is NOT missing anything at home and keep him up to date on your plans to come to see him. My son said that kept him going. Since they don't have much time to write, I made address labels of everyone he would write and sent them along with envelopes with one piece of paper in it and a stamp on it along with his return address affixed on it and he appreciated that alot!

[Apache]

Confirm the OMG thoughts.
Nothing can prepare one for Marine boot.

Be supportive but don't bail him out.
The Marines will return to you a grown man in short order.

[Old Marine]

I was 18 when I enlisted and left my home town for Boot Camp. Had never been away from home and boy did I get a shock when I got off the bus at MCRD. Was in a state of shock all the way through boot camp and most of ITR and also cold weather training. I guess I came out of my shocked state after I got to Korea. Don't really remember much about my first three months in the Corps. Just made sure that I moved at double time and complied with all orders given to me.