What an Experience!

This past Wednesday night proved to be an experience. With Nitro being enrolled in the Marine Corps DEP (Delayed Entry Program), he has to attend monthly "pool functions". These functions are chance all of the recruits in the area to get together and prepare for boot camp. The "pool function" for March was a banquet for the recruits and their parents. They were also encouraged to invite friends who might be interested in signing up.

So, we went with Nitro, Shelby, and Nitro's best friend, JK, to the banquet. It was fun spending time with all of them, but made me realize how long it's been since I was 18. lol Nitro and JK are so funny to watch. They are so much alike you would think they were brothers. They are both very mellow and laid back, have quiet, more subdued personalities, and they laugh almost exactly alike!

Anyway, the main focus of the function was to give all of the parents information about what will happen when their son/daughter leaves for boot camp. Most of it at the beginning had to do with what we as parents should or shouldn't do. lol Everything they told us was very logical and made complete sense. Of course, I'm sure there were some moms there thinking, "They can't tell me what I can and can't do!" lol I was not one of them. I want Nitro's experience at boot camp to be the best it can be. I don't want to inadvertently cause him grief while he's there.

Then they let us know what the recruits were going to experience from the time they are picked up the night before they fly out to the MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) in San Diego. That is probably the only thing they told us that made the mom in me want to cry.

Nitro will get up on Monday morning at the hotel and get another physical and all of his final paperwork together. Sometime that afternoon, they will catch their flight out so that they get there sometime in the evening. They will be up all night that first night getting all of their assignments and things they're going to need, and getting where they need to be. Then, without any sleep, they'll start their first day of boot camp Tues. morning. The sgt. (I think he was a sgt.) telling us all of this said that their lights out will be 8:00 that night. I was just thinking, "And I bet most of them will be asleep before their heads hit the pillow!!!" They were encouraging the recruits to nap on the flight out! lol

The next part of the function was to give the recruits and their parents a taste of some of the training that they'll receive at boot camp...in the form of a couple of drill instructors (who flew in from San Diego) yelling at them. The Head DI drilled the whole unit while the other one walked up and down the ranks randomly picking out guys to drill individually. Nitro was one that got singled out. The DI even called him off the line and had him do push ups and everything! (I didn't watch. I could hear both of them yelling, that was enough.) Nitro did really well. He said later that, when they first lined up, his heart was pounding out of his chest, he was so nervous! But once they started going through the drill, he calmed down. All of them looked really nervous. Poor guys!

There were about 50 recruits there and we were in a relatively small auditorium, so it was very LOUD during this part of the function. Kind of cool, though. I think it made Muftak a little heartsick that he missed out on going into the Navy when he was younger.

I'm so proud of Nitro. He's doing what he's always wanted to do and he's looking forward to it! Wish I could say the same about his leaving, but my tears will be bittersweet. I'm glad he's excited about it. I'm glad he's wanting to be challenged that way. And I'm looking forward to seeing Nitro the Man at the end of that 13 weeks.