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I've been with the Army ROTC for two semesters now in college and its time to finally take my relationship with it to the next level. My father, a Marine of 30+ years, thought it would just be a brief fling but I truly love what I'm doing. How do I tell him that I'm joining the Army without him disowning me from the family?
Update: Well he took it way better than I thought he would have. He was highly skeptical at first and grilled me about every aspect to make sure I knew what I was doing and hadn't just been swindled into signing my life away. Then after he was satisfied he asked why I wasn't joining the Coast Guard as I've been an auxiliarist with them for a while now. After I gave him the explanation to that he told me to wait on the couch and went into one of our side rooms and came back with some papers. Said papers were my grandfathers DD-214, while they weren't as detailed as the ones that come out now they showed that my grandfather had served in the Army and Air Force and had retired from the latter. I had never met my grandpa as he died before I was born and for some reason he'd never come up in conversation beyond the fact that he had been in the military. I'd always assumed he had also been in the Marines. So overall it went well and I learned a bit more about my family tree. Thank you to everyone for their advice and kind words. I actually used a good bit of that advice over the course of the conversation.
Update: Well he took it way better than I thought he would have. He was highly skeptical at first and grilled me about every aspect to make sure I knew what I was doing and hadn't just been swindled into signing my life away. Then after he was satisfied he asked why I wasn't joining the Coast Guard as I've been an auxiliarist with them for a while now. After I gave him the explanation to that he told me to wait on the couch and went into one of our side rooms and came back with some papers. Said papers were my grandfathers DD-214, while they weren't as detailed as the ones that come out now they showed that my grandfather had served in the Army and Air Force and had retired from the latter. I had never met my grandpa as he died before I was born and for some reason he'd never come up in conversation beyond the fact that he had been in the military. I'd always assumed he had also been in the Marines. So overall it went well and I learned a bit more about my family tree. Thank you to everyone for their advice and kind words. I actually used a good bit of that advice over the course of the conversation.
Humor
ROTC
Marines
Edited 8 y ago
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 77
Sit him down. Look him straight in the eye and say "Dad, I'm Army. I was born this way. I'll die this way. We can still have a great Father/Son relationship. Just because I'm too smart for the Marines doesn't make me any less your son."
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CWO3 (Join to see)
SSG Carl Gamel - cute, tell him you're going in Army with sister on the buddy program so you can both go through boot camp in the same platoon, but the Army recruiter said you'll need a waiver for sister due to being married to each other
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CWO3 (Join to see)
Roger that. All services have had their fair share of heroes. Thousands were buried in unmarked graves all over the World. Many did more than some that received MOH, but didn't receive as much as a PH because nobody lived to tell the story. Some did from all services though, like Audie Murphy, Alvin York and so many more. Even the Coast Guard had a MOH winner. Coasties don't get much recognition but they put their lives on the line daily with narco seizures, disaster relief, rescues and more. It takes a team to win.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Albert_Munro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Albert_Munro
Douglas Albert Munro - Wikipedia
Douglas Albert Munro (October 11, 1919 – September 27, 1942) is the only member of the United States Coast Guard to have received the Medal of Honor, the United States's highest military award. Munro received the decoration posthumously for his actions as officer-in-charge of a group of landing craft on September 27, 1942, during the September Matanikau action in the Guadalcanal campaign of World War II.
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Well I understand this is meant to be humorous, but on a serious note, you have to do what makes you happy. Either way he should be proud that you are serving your country even if you aren't following exactly in his own footsteps. Remember, you are your own person and have to set your own path. Even if he did disown you from the family, you're about to join a new family.
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MSG (Join to see)
very well said, I spent 4 yrs active navy corpsman, half of that was with the marines, I would go to hell for them, but for my future, schools, training and advancement the army had it over the navy and the marines, I had only one member in my family that was a marine, we ribbed each other but he also knew I still served as he did, to serve is to serve how you do it that's your choice
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(Join to see) Start by leaving a high volume of Air Force and Coast Guard recruiting pamphlets around.* There is a great Air Force recruiting pamphlet that has a Marine on the back cover, with the caption "See we didn't even issue you a pack" Then when you tell him you are joining the Army, he will be grateful.
*This is meant as humor, in no way do I have any less respect for our brothers and sisters in those two branches of the service.
*This is meant as humor, in no way do I have any less respect for our brothers and sisters in those two branches of the service.
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Funny story about that. I actually joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary and he got pretty worked up about that before he found out it was a volunteer thing rather than a military commitment.
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SGT William Howell
I looked at doing the Coast Guard Aux. It ain't no joke. You have to be willing to put a lot of time and training in. I did not have the time it would have took to be a contributing member so I did not do it.
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PO3 Steven Sherrill
SGT William Howell - That is called personal responsibility. A quality that is being replaced in America by the participation award.
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SGT William Howell
PO3 Steven Sherrill I live in Cincinnati and we are on the river all the time. I found a new respect for those guys. It takes about a year of hard work just to get on a boat crew.
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