Life of a Marine Mom, day 1

My son left for boot camp in October just after his 20th birthday. He never held an actual job before he joined the Marine Corps. Since he was about 12 years old he already knew that he wanted to be a Marine.  He was born a warrior and he realized that the Marines would make him one.  Anyway, I suppose he thought why should he want to work before that, he knew what being a Marine would mean, plenty of time to work then and plenty of work to do! Until he finished school (he graduated in June just before he left for bootcamp) he enjoyed life as only a kid can and I let him do it because I knew he was going to be leaving me. He was my baby, even though he was a 6′3″ 220 lb guy, he was still my baby. Now he is a US Marine stationed in CA and due to deploy sometime this year to the ’sandbox’.

He came home from boot camp after 13 weeks a completely different person. For one thing he lost almost 60 lbs. Carrying a 100+ lb pack will do that to you. When we were still in San Diego after his graduation (which btw I would NOT have missed for the world), before we left to fly home for his 10 day leave, I noticed the extreme difference in the way he acted. He was constantly scanning the area he was in, his eyes shifting back and forth, always aware of what was going on around him. I asked him about that and he told me that the DI’s had played games with them, hiding and popping up in their faces with no warning. It made all the recruits extremely wary and always very aware of their surroundings. I have the feeling when those DI’s would pop out at them that the consequences were not pretty.

We were at the mall in downtown San Diego and Eric told me that he had never noticed how sloppy the nasty civilians were before. His step is snappy and his posture rigid. Even when he is sitting at a table eating, you would believe he was at attention. He is a different person, no longer my little boy, he is a US Marine and it shows in everything he does. I am so proud of him that I could and do cry. I am so scared for him that I can and do cry. His leave went too fast and he left for SOI (School of Infantry) at Camp Pendleton. I took him to the airport and they let me go to his plane with him. We sat and read a funny book about cats that I bought for my daughter-in-law so we wouldn’t cry. I didn’t cry till after he was walking up the ramp to his plane. Then I cried almost all the way home. He was going 3000 miles away and I didn’t know when I would hear from him or see him again. It seems like I cry a lot since Eric left for San Diego that first time. I hate to cry.