Tweet
Brother update
And it's not good. At least, IMO...
Air Force apparently will not take him. My SIL said they had finally heard back from the recruiter there and the prognosis was not good. (I'm betting it was the whole antidepressants thing)
So now my brother is looking into the Army - and his chances of getting in there are all but assured.
He took a test the other day and scored higher than average (evidently you need a certain number to pass; he scored several points higher than that). He needs to go back and take another test this weekend; depending on that outcome things will really start to move fast as the recruiters pack him and his family up to wherever my brother would be sent for training. It could happen as soon as a week's time.
To hear my SIL tell it, they could get all sorts of fantastic incentives: college funding, house, 40K just for signing on, you name it. But, as with all things, there has to be a catch somewhere. It just sounds too good to be true to me.
Neither my mom nor I are pleased about this. The Army means my brother - who still looks like he's aiming for something technical as opposed to actual involvement - would be that much more likely to be sent overseas and/or possibly wind up in dangerous territory. My dad is no help. He thinks this is great - mainly because he was in the Army himself so of course he's going to be biased. (What puzzles me is that he was in Vietnam, he of all people should know how bad it can be, so why would you be excited over the possibility that your own child could wind up in a similar situation?) My mom and I can't seem to get it through his head that things have changed so much from when he served his time, as opposed to today. Frankly, I have no wish to see my brother get sent over to someplace like Iraq or Afghanistan, regardless of what capacity he could be acting in. I KNOW my mom is going to worry herself sick over that. She said to me today that that possibility "scared her to death."
Let me stress right now that I have absolutely positive respect for our servicepeople. It takes serious guts to do a job like that and I know for a fact that I could never handle it. That doesn't change the fact that I still don't want to see my brother get hurt. I honestly think he's doing this more out of desperation than any real desire to join the armed forces - that, and he's dazzled by the incentives that he might get.
Whatever you pray to, just please pray that my brother will be all right. (Ditto for all our folks who are serving)
And it's not good. At least, IMO...
Air Force apparently will not take him. My SIL said they had finally heard back from the recruiter there and the prognosis was not good. (I'm betting it was the whole antidepressants thing)
So now my brother is looking into the Army - and his chances of getting in there are all but assured.
He took a test the other day and scored higher than average (evidently you need a certain number to pass; he scored several points higher than that). He needs to go back and take another test this weekend; depending on that outcome things will really start to move fast as the recruiters pack him and his family up to wherever my brother would be sent for training. It could happen as soon as a week's time.
To hear my SIL tell it, they could get all sorts of fantastic incentives: college funding, house, 40K just for signing on, you name it. But, as with all things, there has to be a catch somewhere. It just sounds too good to be true to me.
Neither my mom nor I are pleased about this. The Army means my brother - who still looks like he's aiming for something technical as opposed to actual involvement - would be that much more likely to be sent overseas and/or possibly wind up in dangerous territory. My dad is no help. He thinks this is great - mainly because he was in the Army himself so of course he's going to be biased. (What puzzles me is that he was in Vietnam, he of all people should know how bad it can be, so why would you be excited over the possibility that your own child could wind up in a similar situation?) My mom and I can't seem to get it through his head that things have changed so much from when he served his time, as opposed to today. Frankly, I have no wish to see my brother get sent over to someplace like Iraq or Afghanistan, regardless of what capacity he could be acting in. I KNOW my mom is going to worry herself sick over that. She said to me today that that possibility "scared her to death."
Let me stress right now that I have absolutely positive respect for our servicepeople. It takes serious guts to do a job like that and I know for a fact that I could never handle it. That doesn't change the fact that I still don't want to see my brother get hurt. I honestly think he's doing this more out of desperation than any real desire to join the armed forces - that, and he's dazzled by the incentives that he might get.
Whatever you pray to, just please pray that my brother will be all right. (Ditto for all our folks who are serving)
That sounds scary to me. Maybe y'all can enlighten me on that?
Comment