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Our main issue with allowing our son to join the Marines delayed enlistment was that he would not have a guaranteed job. We felt that it was our job as his parents to make sure that he was making the best decision possible... as long as he was a minor and we had a say in the matter. After many discussions, we came to the conclusion, that this was his decision and we had to support him. So if he was willing to throw the dice and hope for the best we would suck it up and sign.
On Monday I gave my permission. Today he was sworn in. He left last night with the recruiter, we drove three hours to see him take his oath (sadly you would not believe the people there that did not have anyone there to support them even though the majority of them left immediately for boot camp!) We saw his recruiter as we were checking in, he told us that as long as he passed the physicals he not only had a job he wanted, he had THEE job. He managed to land MP in the Marines! His DREAM job!!!
About an hour later, we saw our son transitioning between the different hoops that he had to jump through today. We asked how it was going, he was really bummed, his vision prevented him from being eligiable for his second pick. I blurted out "so, what difference does that make, you got MP."
At first he looked like he was going to faint, then he whispered "what? How do you know?" When I explained what had happened, the look on his face was sheer bliss.
I fully expected this day to end with me feeling depressed. But that look on my son's face when he learned he was getting his dream job... I cannot even describe how that felt. I hate the fact that he cannot do his dream job living next door to me, but I cannot begrudge him that happiness.
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I've been married for 24 years and have four wonderful children.
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