I love it when you flyboys talk all that stuff.
I got to eat in an air force mess hall once - it was like the Whoville Feast on Christmas Morning - there was Who Pudding and Roast Beast! It was an amazing spread, a pasta station, a carving station, cookies and cake! There was even coffee that required no knife, you just stirred it with a spoon!
As I was leaving I asked a lad in blue what holiday they were celebrating with the sumptuous feast. Certainly it was Curtis Lemay's Birthday, the anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight, or the base CG was celebrating the removal of a worrisome mole on his buttocks. I figured that decent manners required at least some attempt at extending felicitations to my hosts on their high holy day.
"No, there's no holiday", he replied, "that was just regular lunch. It's okay, but my favorite is breakfast, there's Belgian waffles and omelets made to order!"
Seriously, whenever our eyes were privileged to gaze upon the wondrous creature comforts of an army or navy base, we would "ooh" and "ahhh" like kids seeing fireworks for the first time. But the conversation
always ended with the same phrase: "Man, if [-]the doggies/squids[/-] these guys have it this good,
imagine what the Air Force has!"
Bright_Eyed, I will reiterate what you have already been told - this has to be your step son's decision. It is, after all, his life, and he has to be responsible for his decisions, failures and successes. I know how tough it is for a parent to kick the little birds out of the nest, but most of them make it when they're given a chance.
There are a lot of kids in society in similar situations. Late teens to early twenties, meandered through high school and since then they seem to be lost. They live a part-time kind of life, part-time jobs, going to community college part-time (and usually failing), part-time partying, part-time girlfriend, etc. There's no commitment to anything and no responsibility for anything. Until they get some motivation and self-discipline, they're heading for a mediocre future at best.
Military training does offer a crash course in responsibility, commitment and discipline. But it's not for everybody. Like many other worthwhile endeavors, one tends to receive good things from it in direct proportion to what they are willing to put in to it. If the kid feels like he's being pushed in to the military by one or more of his 'rents, there will be no ownership and no commitment on his part.
You can put him in touch with people who have the information he wants, but other than that, stay out of it. Well, other than to let him know he's loved and you wish him the best. It's not quite that old-time Spartan religion where mothers and wives told their sons and husbands: Spartan, return with your shield, or on it". Not quite the same, but close.
Finally, with regard to the prior recommendation about the Marine Corps. The Marines are
different from the sister services, particularly in how we view ourselves, our beloved Corps, and society. We don't see ourselves as a cult, but an accurate description would be a monastic warrior brotherhood. We're not just a branch of the military, we are a culture.
If your stepson just wants a little direction in life, a good environment to mature in while getting adult supervision, a steady paycheck while he learns a marketable trade, and learn how to work as part of a team, then any of the branches can do that equally well. But if he is looking for the opportunity to expand his capabilities, to discover his limits for accepting responsibility and meeting challenges, then the Marine Corps is the best choice.
I'm not trying to belittle the other services, but the Marines just have a different philosophy on things, like leadership and responsibility. which are pushed to the lowest rank. It results in the fewest officers to enlisted of any of the services by far. The Marines strive to develop 18-19 year-old recruits into 21-22 year-old Corporals who can lead combat patrols, conduct humanitarian missions, and then do peacekeeping duties without embarrassing his country. All in the same day, within blocks of each mission.
I love quoting WSJ reporter Thomas Ricks on Marines:
[while in patrol with Marines in Mogadishu, Somalia] As we walked single file, with red and green tracer fire arcing across the black sky over the city, I realized I had placed my life in the hands of the young corporal leading the patrol, a twenty-two-year-old Marine. In my office back in Washington, we wouldn't let a twenty-two-year-old run the copying machine without adult supervision. Here, after just two days on the ground in Africa, the corporal was leading his squad into unknown territory, with a confidence that was contagious.
In my experience, the other branches of the military don't train, or allow, their most junior NCOs to take that much responsibility. I'm sure my fellow vets from the other services will correct me if I am wrong, but it looked to me like a soldier didn't have much responsibility until he made sergeant, all sailors below the rank of Chief were just higher paid specialists, and I've met many an Air Force guy whose uniform displayed enough stripes to make me think he was the Command Sergeant Major for the Milky Way only to be told he wasn't
really an NCO.
Thomas Ricks again:
Because of their culture, the Marines tend to be an enjoyable service for a reporter to cover...the average Marine lance corporal speaks with more self-confidence to a reporter than does the average Army captain...The average Marine is far livelier to interview than is the average Navy sailor, who tends to be less informed about the mission, and less interested in the world. And the Marine infantryman lacks the know-it-allness I've encountered in many Navy and Air Force pilots, who watch a few minutes of CNN and then hold forth on world politics.
