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Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The Cadet

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I put my Cadet onto a plane bound for Ellsworth AFB in S. Dakota. He will be there with about 499 other ROTC Cadets for Field Training. Field Training is a euphenism for BOOT CAMP. That's right, the boy is on his way to Boot Camp for the entire month of August.

Needless to say, I need to visit my hairstylist for a coloring as my hair has gone completely grey from worry and stress and just plain being the mother of a boy bound for the military. Please don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the military. I am very proud of my son and all the others who have gone to serve our country. But....I'm a MOM and Mom's worry. It's hard wired into you when your child is born. Sorry...when a child is born, his or her Mom is given eyes in the back of her head and a healthy dose of WORRY.

The biggest thing is that I will not have any contact with him for the entire month. No phone, no emails...only snail mail that takes, well a snail's pace to get to S. Dakota. I know that he will be yelled at, he will do eleventy-dozen million sit-ups and run as fast as he can during PT. Plus, drill, drill and drill. His day will start at 4AM and end at 9PM. They will break him and then rebuild him.

He will become a soldier.
And when he returns on August 30th, he will be a man.

SO...please, for all those who pray, remember him and all of his 499 buddies in your prayers. Pray for their safety and for their protection. Cause, kids, in a few years, they will be protecting US.

So I leave you with a photo of my Cadet and his best friend, my second son, Charlie.

I love them.

My Boys
Mike and Charlie
July 31, 2007

4 comments:

Sherry said...

I can sympathize with you! Our youngest is going to enlisting soon in the Army. Sending well wishes and big hugs!

Sue said...

What a touching thing to write about your son and being a mom. You're right, worry seems to come with being a mother and is never far away ;)

Karoline said...

Lovely photo of your boys {{{Hugs}}} to everyone

Mindi said...

Snail mail may be sloooooow, but I remember when I went through Officer Training School 14 years ago how much getting mail meant to me. Send lots and lots of mail! It will get him through the rough times so he can laugh during the fun ones.