My kids are just so stupid I could scream!!!

[Maggie_May]

I have a daughter that just got in engaged to kid just out of marine boot camp and a son that joined the Air Force. What the hell did I do wrong? Dad and I are the most mellow parents you could image never no pressure. Even all the kids in the neighbor hood use to say hey you have just the greatest Mom and Dad and what do my kids do go and do something stupid. OMG I just don't get it.

[poisonivy]

1. I dont know

whether to be offended by your post, or feel sorry for you. The fact that your daughter is now engaged to a Marine says that she has damn good taste, yes he may well be deployed but, depending on his job he may not be deployed and spend his entire tour stateside. Your son is doing what he feels he needs to do by joining the Air Force and you should be proud of him.

BTW I served 2 tours in the Marine Corps.

[KitchenWitch]

3. Welcome to DU

I agree with you. As much of a peacenik that I am, I do not think military service is stupid. It would terrify me if either of my children enlisted, but by the time they are old enough to enlist, they are old enough to make those kinds of decisions.

[Maggie_May]

5. Nothing against the Marine Corps

so don't take my post wrong. I am just so against the war in Iraq and to lose either one of them to this war would break my heart and for my daughter it would devastate her for life. I come from a long line of military in my family I know what military life is like and when you sign on the dotted line you know that your life belongs to the United States government until your contract is finished. And yes I am very proud of them both but will worry every night till they are home!

[poisonivy]

11. Every loss breaks my heart

I ride with the Patriot Riders so EVERY death in my area touches me deeply.

[KitchenWitch]

12. Thank you for riding with them!

:patriot:

It is much appreciated.

[FloridaJudy]

22. Thank you for your service

Not just in the past, but to grieving families now.

The Patriot Riders rock, IMHO. I also, am anti-war, but disrupting a funereal is unbelievably vicious. I'm glad you guys are there.

[Xipe Totec]

8. My younger brother served 20 years

retired MGySgt, served last in Gulf War I.

Two kids and a wife.

Could not find a job after he left the Marines.

Keeled over from a massive heart attack at age 40.

It is a hard life, and this country does not honor respect, or care for its veterans the way it should.

I can understand the OP's apprehension.


PS: Welcome to DU.

[poisonivy]

14. wow

he picked up MGySgt in 20 years?? Must have been in a short MOS to be promoted like that!! I was in for 7, picked up Cpl in 3 and got out as a Cpl and didnt get into any trouble, just frozen field for promotion.

What did he do while he was in the Corps? Usually if a person reaches E-9 finding a job in the outside world is pretty easy simply because of the work ethic, personal ethics, and self discipline that they have learned.

I DO agree tho that this country needs to treat its Veterans MUCH better, and sad to say this reaches back decades. I am a disabled vet (blown knees) and its almost impossible for me to get into the local VA. In fact, I have not been there in years and dont plan on going back anytime soon as I have other health insurance that will take care of my issues regarding my knees.

[Xipe Totec]

20. It has to do with location

My family is from the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, where unemployment is 40% in a good year.

He served in a lot of places; Grenada, Panama, Germany, Japan, and other places he would not talk about...

He was an M-1 tank driver, served as a recruiter and well, what can I say, I am proud of him.

When he died, his skin, organs, and even the tissue from his inner lips was donated at his request. That tissue is used to correct cleft lip in children.

The rose buttonier from his funeral ceremony still rests on my window sill, three years hence.

Semper Fi

(on his behalf)

[Steven_S]

2. I have a different definition of stupid...

It might include - robbing a liquor store with a butter knife. Or getting engaged to a republican politician or something like that.

But if my kids did what yours are doing - I could live with it.

[Maggie_May]

9. Thanks you made me laugh

getting engaged to republican I would have to disown her. LOL

[AlCzervik]

4. they've made different choices than you have, i understand you're frustrated

but stupid is a bit harsh. We all have ideas of what we want for our children just as our parents probably had ideas about us, hopefully they'll have happy and productive lives.

[sasquatch]

6. Sweetie take a deep breath and think for a moment

Now look again at what your children are doing and accept it as a good thing. They could be in a back alley somewhere shooting up heroin or doing absolutely nothing. I know GWB has a hard on for middle eastern resources and making Dick Cheney richer than Bill Gates but his term will be up soon.

[SOteric]

7. I'm not sure I understand.

Are you feeling as though a tour of military service automatically makes an individual less intelligent, or somehow less progressive?

The man I'm in love with is a former U.S. Marine and I assure you he's about as far as one can get from being either an idiot or a Republican.

[Maggie_May]

10. No not at all

as in a earlier post I come from a long line of Military in my family I just know what there lives are going to be and isn't going to be easy.

[poisonivy]

15. when is life

EVER easy?

Hell nobody promised me an easy life and I would not want one either. That would be too damn booring LOL

[Maggie_May]

17. I know

I just wanted easier for them than it was for me.

[Midlodemocrat]

33. You left out the part about him being a hottie.

[Wcross]

13. As a former Marine I have to ask why?

Your daughter fell in love, it happens. I have to say she could have done worse.

Your son joining the Air Force is bad? Sounds like he made a decision that will benefit him in the long run. Money for college, a skill he could use, something on his resume other than Burger King. It is a good thing.

[Maggie_May]

16. Yeah I know

My daughter was just telling me the same thing she hey mom they did what they had to do. I am proud of them but my stomach is in knots because I just don't know what stupid shit this president will pull while he is still in office.

[Wcross]

23. He only has a year to do it in (barring the suspension of the constitution & martial law!)

I don't blame you one bit being anxious about the possibilities. Every parent worries about their kids.

[evlbstrd]

18. My son is eighteen.

And contemplating the same thing. I only asked him to avoid the Army and Marines. I'm a Navy Vet. It would be a good thing for him, but the sea alone could kill him. He has to grow up somehow, and he isn't doing it at home.

[AlCzervik]

19. i talked to my nephew yesterday, he's visiting his parents in Florida for the holidays

and then he's back to Iraq for tour #3. It's worse everytime he goes, it's the feeling of dread and the also telling my daughter and watching her burst into tears.

[PassingFair]

26. I saw a preview for a movie tonite called "Stop Loss"

It looked heartbreaking and I was SHOCKED that
it had been made, let alone "coming to a theater
near me"!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489281/

[datasuspect]

21. that's a pretty horrible thing to say about your own children

just saying.

but you are the one who DID say it.

[PassingFair]

25. You're a real peach!

This administration USES our armed forces to PRE-EMPTIVELY
invade Iraq, which did NOTHING to us, kills THOUSANDS of
its people and displaces MILLIONS.

When a mother expresses dismay over her children
1) becoming engaged to a new "recruit" and;
2) BECOMING a new "recruit" to said forces with the

DISTINCT possibility of being asked to kill said Iraqis
(not to mention Iranians or Syrians to come) she gets
pounced on.

I am sure she is concerned, both for the safety of her
children/children's affianced and for the fact that they
may be sent into a CRIMINAL enterprise that is bankrupting
our country while fattening the purses of WARPIGS.

just saying.

[datasuspect]

29. i can understand dismay

but i cannot understand calling your children STUPID.

call the administration names, don't impugn the people who are victims of whatever necessity that impels them to join the service in the first place.

i suppose if my mother had a habit of calling me stupid, i'd probably want to get far away from home too.

[PassingFair]

30. I'd call my daughter worse than that if she joined the armed forces

right now.

She'd be doing it with FULL KNOWLEDGE
of the immoral/illegal meddling we
are perpetrating on the world at this
time.

It's a different story for those who
were already stuck due to National Guard
membership or stop-lossed servitude.

[Maggie_May]

35. Thank you so much for your post

That is just how I feel and the knots in my stomach will not go away until this war is over!! I thought that I had I brought my kids up to know that this war was uncalled for.

[PassingFair]

36. Hopefully aggressions will be over by the time your son is involved.

I really feel badly with you. :(

:hug:

[femmocrat]

24. I understand your apprehensions completely, Maggie_May.

I just wanted you to know that, from one mom to another.

:hug:

[noamnety]

27. I understand how you feel.

And I'm saying that as someone who put my folks through the same thing you are going through, though not quite as bad since it was peace time when I enlisted, and when desert storm came up, I was in a strategic, not tactical position.

I do think it's stupid to get engaged to someone coming right out of boot camp, because you don't know what they will be like when they come out of Iraq, the person who goes in isn't necessarily what you'll get back. It's one hell of a gamble. I got no problem with you using that word there. Unfortunately, the best moms and dads can't keep a kid from falling in love with a person, and that stress of being deployed has a way of making young ones "prove" their commitment, rather than moving cautiously when they most ought to.

Aside from that, dealing with the feelings you get as a parent whose raised a kid to do something against your own ethics has to be rough. It won't do any good to let it show, though - you have to suck that up for your kids. What you can do is give them good reading material that pushes them to think about morals and courage in a way that values humanity over nationalism.

Wishing you luck.

[MrSlayer]

28. Perhaps you should have applied some pressure and not been so mellow and great.

Apparently you were not forceful enough in getting your values across. All that freedom has lead them to actually be free. I don't know that you did anything wrong. People choose their own way.

[IndianaJones]

31. more beatings may have been advised. nt.

[Deep13]

32. What is so stupid about that?

I guess it would help to know what their other prospects are before I can agree that those choices are stupid.

[Orsino]

34. There are many paths that lead to good places...

...and some of them involve military service.