I need your help. I am a veteran of the US Air Force with two sons who are in their freshman and sophomore years in college. Like many of their peers, it seems, they spend inordinate number of hours playing games, going to parties, and just hanging out whenever possible when they are not in classrooms . From what I saw they made passing grades on all of their courses including Honor Classes in Chemistry, Physics and Math Courses in high school. I was hoping their grades would improve in college but that hasn’t happened so far. They continue to be average students with average grades. One is studying engineering and the other wants to teach art. It has been very frustrating watching my boys underperform.
Recently, my younger son, who is studying engineering, showed interest in serving in military and I advised him to talk to recruiters. After discussing his interest with several recruiters, he took the ASVAB getting 98 and 262. His Navy Recruiter became very excited and wanted to sign him up for their Nuclear program. My son showed interest and after much discussion we decided Navy’s Nuke program may be the best opportunity for him. With my enthusiastic endorsement and consent. he went through all the process of filling out forms and ordering his high school and college transcripts and was accepted into the program. He passed his physical and was sworn in after signing a contract that promised him $11,000.00 Enlistment Bonus and he is scheduled to leave in April, 2015.
My second son is very excited about this opportunity.
My first son, who is one year older, showed some interest in joining the Navy as well and I advised the same. He came back with a disappointing ASVAB score of 70 and 250, and his interest diminished immediately after finding out he couldn’t join his brother in the Nuclear Program. He did not want to go but after some encouragement from his dad, he agreed to see what the Navy could offer him.
He hasn’t finalized the process yet. I believe he is waiting for me to give the final go ahead.
Since my sons showed interest in the Navy I have been reading some of your postings and I found them helpful in many ways.
Well, here I am and I need your help. Except for the usual Navy propaganda pamphlets, magazines, books, films and whatever is out there for the American public to see, I really don’t know a thing about the Navy. The first question that comes into my mind is: As an enlisted sailor how is his daily life? As a 70 year old Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, South Korea and Okinawa and retired from Law Enforcement career I have problem with spending 24 hours a day on a ship, 6 months or more at a time, I think. I have never spent more than a few weeks on a ship in my life time and I just can’t imagine life on a military ship 24 hours a day for any lengthy period of time. Help me out, Please!!! Tell me about the life my boys are going into! Don’t hold back anything.
I am confident I am asking the right people. I am not asking for a simple words like it is bad or it is good or asking any of you to decide for me. It is tearing me apart because I don’t know what to tell my FIRST SON because I really don’t have enough information. My #ONE concern: Safety and enjoyment of their lives on military ships and they are content and reasonably happy living and doing their jobs they are trained to do on a ship. Any personal experiences would be appreciated.
My wife tells me I must be getting really old because the guy she married over 40 years ago would never even think about posting a letter like this. Thanks guys.
