Friday, August 22, 2008

I Wanna Be An Airborne Ranger...

March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free
Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory
We're the Army and proud of our name
We're the Army and proudly proclaim......


Oy Vey! I came home last night to find an Army recruiter sitting in my house talking to my son. Apparently, my son neglected to inform me that he was coming over to discuss the Reserves.

My Son....

In

The

Army?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

We aren't Army people in our house...my dad was Air Force and Hubby was Navy...there is no Army.

My Son.....

A

Grunt?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

So, of course, the recruiter gave us the happy song and dance about how wonderful the reserves are. How happy he would be. What a great opportunity to pay for his education. It was all sunshine and roses. It was all love and kisses. It was all...

A load of smoke being blown up my ass.

I flat out asked him what his chances were at getting deployed to Iraq. He danced around the issue. He tried to tell me that the jobs Shaggy professed interest in were safe. I told him he was full of shit. This is MY baby we are talking about and I know military life. Jackass.

I promptly called my dad after the recruiter left fully expecting him to tell me to hide Shaggy in a closet and not to ever ever ever let the Evil Empire (aka the Army) get their hooks into him.

Did I get that? Of course......NOT. My dad's only response was that Shaggy should look into it as active duty (heehee I said doody) instead of the reserves.

I guess on the plus side, I do love a man in uniform.....but ewwwwww Army green is not attractive on anyone. The recruiter did have one of those cute little beret hats though.....NO NO NO Army. Not my baby!

Has anyone had any experiences with the Army reserves (good, bad, otherwise) that they'd like to share with me? It sure would help me be able to steer my baby in the right direction!

5 comments:

Smoochiefrog said...

D did the same thing, only with some other reserve unit. He's convinced it'll work for him. I figure whatever. I can't live his life for him.

Plus, the boy can't do more than 2 push-ups before dying. He'll never make it past basic training. :)

Anji said...

I spent 10 years active Army and am currently in the Army reserves. It has been good for me, of course I joined the reserves at a time when I was higher rank and was able to get into a training BN that does not deploy overseas. My husband was in the Active Army for 8 years and joined the reserves and deployed 2 months later. Unless you get really lucky and find a training unit as a reserveist it is not a matter of will you deploy but when you deploy and I don't know of any MOS that would be excluded from deployment. The benefit of active duty is you get better training and equipment, if he was determined to go I would personally rather see my son go with an active duty unit. I also want to add that I love the Army and only gave up my active duty career to be a better mom to my boys!

Sasha said...

Oh wow! Keep us updated on what happens.....

Kate said...

Soccer Mom - Thanks for the insight on the Army. After much talk with my boy, I feel as comfortable as I can that he's making an informed decision...I did warn him that if he goes to Iraq and gets shot, then I will kill him :D

T - this is probably the hardest thing as a mother, isn't it? Since you are the only blogger I "know" with a child close to Shaggy's age, I can easily say to you - letting go HURTS!!!!

Sasha - i will definitely keep you updated...there's a good chance he won't get in at all due to his eye issues but.....

Anyone else out there have some insights? Had to let their child go into the reserves...how it worked...etc etc etc?? Bueller???

Anonymous said...

Hi! Cute blog! My family was military - that was enough to scare my brother and I away pretty effectively!

My mom (who was a single mom and raised my brother and I wonderfully) has started an online retail shop, and if you don't mind, I'd like to link it here:

www.thepurplemango.com

I'm very proud of her and how she learned to make a great website! Sorry if this is a no-no - feel free to delete, but I'm just trying to help her get some traffic. :) Thanks!