Welcome new Army Mom,
I hope that you find this site as informative as alot have. In regards to your question, I would say that No it's not that quick or fast. You have to remember that today's Army has seen multiple deployments over the last 6 years. Some units have been to Iraq or Afghanistan as many as 3-4 times. Thats 3 to 4 years overseas out of the last 6 years!! Needless to say the main reason the Army was pushing recruiting so hard is to get new people to help with deployments to give some of these units a break. Just know that your Son is being trained by the best that the Army has to offer. He will also get more training after BCT and AIT to help him be more effective overseas. Tell him we are all proud of him and we will all keep him in our thoughts and prayers. Every night at dinner when my 11year old Son says grace he ALWAYS asks God to take care of our Soldier's wherever they are!!

Abot the information constantly changing. Remeber this the only thing that stays the same in the Army is the constant change. I remember when I was deployed we were told we were going to Iraq and then Afghanistan, then Iraq, then Afghanista(starting to get the picture?). The situation in both countries are very fluid and the needs are constantly changing. Just be patient and flexible and you will do fine!!

Is your son in a National Guard or Reserve unit to know that he is being deployed? Most Soldiers who are on Active Duty don't even know where their assignment is at this point in their training, and most certainly couldn't possibly know if he is deploying that soon after training.

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Armygirl4ever,
Proud Army Veteran 1993-2004
Now Proudly Serving in the Silent (okay, maybe not always so silent) Ranks

Thank you so much for the information. When my son signed up, he chose his MOS then (Combat Engineering). He received a very large bonus and some other things, but he did everything on his own, so I am not so sure of all of the particulars. I really have gotten better used to that. Anyway, when we talked to him this weekend, he apparently is fed information as it becomes available about where he is going and the unit he is assigned to. Again, it is hard to keep up between the letters being so slow, the phone calls being short most of the time, and then when you do get a call, you don't want to waiste all of your time grilling him, you just want to talk and laugh and give support and listen.

My other question is, since he is completing AIT immediately after BCT, was the BCT graduation a big todo? He told us along the way that he had scored a perfect 300 on his PT and was Platoon Leader (and would graduate that way), so I want to know what I missed. Or, will his AIT graduation have all the bells and whistles that we so want to see. I want that lump in my throat. I know I will have one regardless, but I really want to see all the fanfare.

Sadly AIT graduations rarely have the same pomp and circumstance as BCT graduations. But each installation and each unit does things their own way. You will still have a sense of pride like you mentioned. Sounds like your son is excelling in his new life as a Soldier, good for him! You have reason to be proud!

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Armygirl4ever,
Proud Army Veteran 1993-2004
Now Proudly Serving in the Silent (okay, maybe not always so silent) Ranks

I so know the way you feel! My son was recruited from a small private school. Initially I was so frustrated with the way things were handled. But in our United States the young man has become a MAN at age 18. Thankfully he did do everything we had asked as he started his search for which branch he would join. This again was tough for me, my son was moved from public school to a private school because this mom didn't think that he was a leader but a follower and I saw "kids" get over their heads fast. I was scared that he would follow some of our young adults right down the wrong path. He was and is a great Man and a great leader as he has proven he is not a follower. So for some of us moms it is hard to have them go into places we don't know. And I feel I was placed here to help guide him. It is hard as we see them day to day and feel they have no clue "they are so young". Yes, granted at 18 they have not yet begun their lives but yet they really have. It was so very hard for me to see the military letters with a dates for ceremonies on them that were from 3 years ago and if I went by the date it was a ceremony on a Monday and actually it stated Saturday or Sunday. The dates did not match and I had to give notice for time off etc. to go. Plus a 6 hr drive to watch my son and I wanted the date correct and the time correct and I expected that the form letter to have my sons name in the first line to carry thru with the same name in the middle of the form letter it did not. Because my expectation of the Army is of exactness, critical thinking, factual, precise. Because of my expectation of they do this all the time, and they have done this type of thing over and over they should get it right. They know that they will be doing.......whatever it is. These are OUR expectations. As I am finding out we as the parent are not as informed as we want to be. But, I believe the men and women of the Army are as informed as they want them to be. Or OUR children as we call them need to find out and give us the info as well, making them again responsible to us. Parents of this era are much more intune to their children and involved. I have found that you must seek what you want and keep asking questions. This is the first time that I found this site and my son has been in for 1 1/2 yrs. We are as informed as we get ourselves informed. I was told about this site by a bluestar moms group I joined. Moms and families of deployed soldiers. So, keep asking questions, gently respectfully even when you don't want to be. Sometimes I tell you I could just scream, then I stop and think not everyone understands what goes on in my job so I am sure that these men and women probably have better things to do then hand hold me. And please know I don't mean that in a bad way I just try to understand how they may feel. I can go to bed at night and sometimes sleep but I am not running for my life and being shelled or seeing blood shed at my door so they have the important things covered and I on the other hand am just a mom. So keep loving them thru all of this and know that there are mom's out here that feel the disconnect of the Army but I truely don't think they walk in our shoes and thankfully I don't have to walk in theirs. No I do not work for any of them. Just a mom trying to get through all of this the best I can. If any of them really wanted to set down and ask me questions I would gently let them know what it is they could do better and before I judge I would be the first to say, How can I will help? ! Stay in touch and notice that it appears that an officer did respond previously to your posting. That is so nice of them to take the time and read as well. Thank you

I came across your post and enjoyed reading it, you sound like you are very supportive and proud of your son.

I wanted to say that I too was Platoon leader, Honor Graduate, and had a Perfect 300 on my PT score when graduating BCT from Ft. Sill, and while this is all brought up during the graduation ceremony you really did not miss much. It boils down to them announcing your sons achievements and then him briefly walking across a stage. Then you need to wait around while several hundred other soldiers all do the same thing. I think that your sons graduation from AIT will be much more meaningful to you.

In one of your earlier posts you asked about this so I felt inclined to offer my opinion.

Good luck to you and your son.