Originally Posted by oldarmymidwife

It was awful. He was crying and he never cries. I had to phone his Corporal as I was worried he was going to run away in the middle of the night. The cpl was very good and got my son on his own and had a word with him. It was then as if my son sent us to coventry to punish us for making him stay. However we warned by the Company Commander to expect these calls. He told us to be firm with them ( it was very tough!). My son laughs about it now he loves the Army. I said to him when did you make the decision to stay, and he said when you and Dad said I couldnt come home.

Buy shares in Kleenex tissues - I'd have made an absolute packet!!!!

Cried when he left, cried when he wanted to quit (over the ironing), cried when he comes home, cry when he goes back (although I can get back to the car now before I let go!), cried at Passing in and no doubt at Passing Out in December.

And that's how it is with my JS loving his life and times in the Army!! Filling up now thinking about how proud of him I am .... and he will hopefully be home this weekend. Oh dear, where did I put the tissues??

Rose xxxxx

god that was the bit i was dreading my son ringing saying he wanted to come home as he knows lads who have done the same after a couple of days, but my son said he wouldnt do that he is a very determined lad, but i still worry that he will but i have joked with him and told him now no ringing me saying you want to come home, but easy to joke with him bout it, but i feel for you being forced with that situation with your son must of been heart wrenching and i felt for you having to tell him no must of been unbearable for you and then to top it all he doesnt contact you for 3 weeks gosh you must of been going through hell, but now you and your son have come through the other end and guess like us all you are so proud of your son and just glad that things worked out for you son and he stuck it, i just hope mine does the same(stick it i mean).

my son was same when he went to catterick for his prac course kept ringing or texting me when he changed trains and i was crying then bless can laugh now and i guess i will be the same when he goes this time but i drop him off at train station i dont stand with him too hard and that was only 3 days, oh well what will be will be i guess and i guess thats going to be tears
jue
x

Originally Posted by jxnxg

god that was the bit i was dreading my son ringing saying he wanted to come home as he knows lads who have done the same after a couple of days, but my son said he wouldnt do that he is a very determined lad, but i still worry that he will but i have joked with him and told him now no ringing me saying you want to come home, but easy to joke with him bout it, but i feel for you being forced with that situation with your son must of been heart wrenching and i felt for you having to tell him no must of been unbearable for you and then to top it all he doesnt contact you for 3 weeks gosh you must of been going through hell, but now you and your son have come through the other end and guess like us all you are so proud of your son and just glad that things worked out for you son and he stuck it, i just hope mine does the same(stick it i mean).

Hi jxnxg, I had about 5 days of my JS telling me he'd done the wrong thing and he was going to quit. Nice mummy telling him to hang in there and it would get better .... then nasty man of the house rings him and says either get on with it or quit, but stop moaning. Nearly died!! JS loved it from that moment on and hasn't looked back since.

Cheeky sod phoned me Sunday and I said I was halfway through the ironing ..... told me he'd done all his, whilst laughing his head off!!!!!

Rose xxxxx

oh man lol^ I can bet the first couple of days when I join I'm going to ring home as I'm a very much well not mummys boy as thats sounds too whimpy lol, but I'm very attached to my mum so its going to be hard but I have too leave home sometime. Lol just going to stick through it and make the best of it

Hi Raradir
On here we do tend to talk about poor us and how we feel but as oldarmywife and Rose have said our boys get upset too, its good that you come on here because you can see that even if your mum is upset she will learn to adapt and it will get better, if you can get her on here all the better for both of you. The happier you are the easier it will be for her and vice versa, at least you can see on here that some of the lads were homesick but got over it and now love the army, its so exciting for you but nerve wracking at the same time. I don't know if listening to us is a good or bad thing for you lol

Hi all
My son is in week 10 at Pirbright. He joined the army because there was nothing else job wise in our area and he was sick of doing nothing. I was a complete wreck when he left and felt as if I'd lost him forever. He came home in week 7 for a long weekend and when he went back I felt just as bad as I did when he first went in. He had a bad week where he wanted to come home and jack it all in. It really hurt to have him ring saying how much he hated it. I didn't know what to say other than it would get better and that we were very proud of him, and loved him very much. I find myself filling up at the slightest thing and have made myself look a right wally a few times at work. I worry terribly about what the future holds for him and miss him like mad.

Hi marinamoonmunkee welcome I hope you enjoy coming on here to talk to other parents and some young lads who are about to go into the army
my son is at Catterick he probably went the same time as your son like you I worry all the time about him being happy and like you say what the future holds. He isn't very happy at the moment but has been ill a lot since he went and has had a stint in hospital. I told him that whatever he does I will support him but as much as I would love him to live at home again I would rather him be happy in the army doing a job he loves. He is sticking it out at the moment and trying to get on with it. No matter where they are we continue to worry about them and miss them xx

It's amazing I think I have got myself all together and sorted regarding my emotions and then I start reading some of your comments and I'm off again in floods of tears

oldarmymidwife you are one very brave lady!! I can't imagine how it must have felt to have told your son he wasn't allowed home (but good on you for doing so!!). The heart and the head must have been in constant turmoil at that time. And then not to hear from him for 3 weeks!!! WOW. The pain you feel when they leave I have only been able to compare to a kind of gut wrenching physical pain (and that was with my son who seemed to enjoy it from day 1). To have all that with then the additional worry and pain from hearing that your son is unhappy and then all those feelings of guilt that you wont alleviate it in the short term for him, knowing in the back of your mind that it is the right thing must have been soooooo hard.

Rose I still cry because he's not my little boy any more it's like I'm still in mourning for the child I once had who is very quickly growing into a young man!! I've also started crying too because he's leaving Harrogate soon and in some ways it feels like we are going back to square 1 again worrying about how they are going to settle in phase 2 training and will they make new friends etc etc....oh the joys of parenthood lol

Raradir welcome :D You will have a great time...yes there are some tough times but once you have settled you will have some of the most amazing experiences and opportunities made available to you that, trust me, you will even get to the stage of forgetting to ring home at times!!! My son and I have always been very close but OMG the "words" we've had over this, this last year!! Having said all that I think I've mellowed too and recognised that often if he's not phoning it's due to him being so happy rather than any snub on me

marinamoonmunkee regarding looking a wally at work I was in the middle of a meeting with my boss and broke down in tears. He's very old style stiff upper lip etc etc whose father spent years in the forces tbh I'm now at the stage where I don't care too much what people think. I think you'd either have to be very thick skinned or very stupid not to recognise some of the emotion we are all going through. The media's attention on the armies activities and sadly the casualties has never been more publicised. Regardless of the obvious dangers our son's/daughters are prepared to sign up to this and yes I am very proud of what they ALL are doing and the support they give each other.

On a happier note it's my son's Birthday this week, as we are not far from Harrogate, we're hopefully going to pop over for a couple of hours to take his presents and cake and go out for a meal...I'm just hoping he'll be able to make it and he doesn't take my offer of "invite who you like" too far!! I'm having visions of half his company turning up.. hmm maybe if I warn him they all have to wear party hats it might put a few off hehehe

[quote="mummybear"]

It's amazing I think I have got myself all together and sorted regarding my emotions and then I start reading some of your comments and I'm off again in floods of tears

I know that feeling only to well. x x