17 DD off to basic training soon

[heididrink]

I posted on here last year to say that my DD wanted to join the army and that I wasnt very keen .Anyway we have given our permission and she is off to basic training next week.
Does anyone else have experience of DS or DD doing basic training ?
Just how hard did they find it and how long did it take for them to adjust?
Any advice would be most appreciated

I don't have any advice but just wanted to wish her the best of luck.

thanks wellies its much appreciated

My DH used to train junior entrants and he says it really depends on the person. He says some settle quickly, and others never settle into it.

What is she joining? I don't have any children old enough to join up but I joined 11 years ago and remember my mum and dad dropping me off at the gate like it was yesterday!
The only advice I would give is be there on the end of the phone when she wants to moan! It is a massive journey through training and it does get tough but the sense of achievement at the end is amazing and you will get to be on the square and watch her pass out in 3 months time as a very proud mummy

Wish her all the best...what a positive thing to do.
I would be very proud if ds joined the RAF.

hi she is joining logistics as a driver and radio operator. It wasnt her first choice but has decided to do it as she is desperate to join. This is all very new to us and when I read what the training involves I am a bit .
She is very young and I do think she will be in shock for a while but its her decision

She will be fine. 17 is young but once she gets into it all she will love it. So many good friends are made at basic training. Look ahead now to her long weekend she should have at the half way point and you'll see your grown up girl return home full of stories!! And the training sounds tough but it's like anything, you are always shown how to do things and then you get to practice. I went to training thinking it was going to be the toughest most craziest thing I've ever done and it was tough but achievable.

thanks Pipswife well she flew from Glasgow airport this morning looking very young and naive. The woman at the check in desk asked who was flying with her .
She will return on her 18th birthday for a long weekend so thats something to plan for although she said as it was a fair distance to travel back that she would prefer not to
I think somehow that she will want some home comforts by that time

She will definitely want home comforts and to see you!
Good luck. The count down to that weekend has begun!

no exact experience, but DS (18) is in fire service

Basic training is 3 months, mainly mon-fri residential. Week 1 he hated it, kept texting how miserable he was & that he couldn't get through it first weekend home was awful.. I nearly cried when he went back for 2nd week but he loved it & never looked back!

talking to friends, I think the initial 'shock' is often tough. Lots of luck to your dd

ok I really need some reassurance as I havent heard from her since I dropped her at the airport.
Do they have access to their mobile phones at basic training ?
She is not responding to texts asking her to just let me know she is ok.
Trying not to panic but had agreed that she would at least phone/text to say that she had arrived ok

I did my basic training in the Navy 21.5 years ago so no mobile phones, but we didn't have time to go to the toilet let alone make phone calls.

It is seriously full on.

I joined the Navy at 17, 10 years ago so had access to a mobile phone but training was so full on and I was having far too much fun to phone home.

Hope you hear from her soon and she's having a great time.

ok she has just phoned a 30 second phone call to say I am fine but I cant talk.
It was all I needed I can sleep now

Hi, I remember your post last year.

DS did his RAF basic training almost two years ago now and boy has time flown since then!! He found it really tough around about the middle point, and I will be honest, had a serious 'wobble' as in he nearly quit. However, we had a parents briefing on the day we took him, and what he was saying and doing was word for word what they said some of them would - in other words, they have seen it all before. They are particularly good with the younger ones, sure the Army will be the same. The staff were absolutely fantastic, could not have been more supportive to him and us, and now, more than 18 months into the 'real RAF' he is so chuffed he didn't call it a day. He made some fantastic mates who he is still in touch with despite them all being dispatched around the country, and AFAIK they are planning a reunion some time this year to compare notes, etc. As far as the phone is concerned, they were not allowed theirs during 'working hours' (approx before 6pm) and we were encouraged not to have lengthy calls with them as there was plenty to do at all times, eg kit prep, revision etc.

On the day he graduated, it was like watching a different person - so poised and proud. He had definitely grown into a young man. We also met a couple of lovely girls early on roughly the same age as him who were going in as nurses, and again, the transformation 9 weeks down the line - not a dry eye to be seen in the audience!! The proudest day of all of their lives, not just their friends and family!!

Words of advice? Be there when she wants to tell you about her experiences, good and tough ones!! and like my DH said - their purpose is to help her pass, not fail, and in our experience, they gave DS every opportunity to do just that, whatever it took.

Good luck to you both xx

thanks mummyflood DD phoned at 0745 on Sat morning and she had obviously been up for hours .
She appears to be enjoying it so far but words I never thought I would hear
"Sorry mum cant talk for long as I have a pile of ironing to do "
I know that she will find things tough at some point and my difficulty will be finding the right words for her when she is at a distance.
House is very quiet and tidy without her ...........sigh
Altho on the plus side my food bill has gone down drastically and her twin sister is still at home . I just hope the army can afford to feed her given the cutbacks in their budgets

Hi its me again :)
can anyone give me some advice on how to deal with the tearful phone calls home. Some days she is fine but boy when she has had a bad day the phone calls from her are awful.
She is one of the youngest there and is struggling to cope with criticism ( as she sees it ) .
What can I say to her that may help .I just feel so useless on the other end of the phone :(

Heidi, I have no experience of what you are going through but my dh used to train the young recruits.

I remember one mum having a go at him for being "to tough " with her young ds and dh having to explain to her that he was training her son to survive in a war zone a few months down the line and it really was a case of tough love. Had he not thought her ds was capable he would not have been there.

I can't remember exactly how he worded it but it was basically about showing him how much more he was able to achieve.

My dh has been in for years and still gets yelled at by people above him at times

thanks bluemonkey .I keep saying to DD " you are in the army ffs what do you expect " - not helpful I know :)
She said that she finds it tough cos she was good at school and never got into trouble but now she feel that she cant do anything right. It has just been a huge culture shock for her.
The problem is the tearful sobbing calls last much longer than the cheerful "I have had a really good day" ones and it is wearing me out.
Perhaps we both need to grow a pair :)

Just sending you a hug.

My DS(21) is in the Army, currently in Afghanistan He joined when he was 18, and had days of ups and downs in training, and days when he felt he could do nothing right. I think it is the army way of toughening them up (and cutting the apron strings).
He still has days when everyone shouts at him. We still get occasional 'sorry for himself' phone calls. I always try and be positive and encourage thinking of the days when all goes well.
Just wait until passing out day.... your emotions will spill over with pride!

I will add, even though my son is a soldier, even though he has spent 6 months in a war zone, he came home on leave a couple of weeks ago, and he is EXACTLY the same lovely boy he always was. The army doesn't change the love your child has for you.

hi everyone DD was home for a long weekend .
She went thro a really tough time two weeks ago and was on the verge of quitting as she is very homesick.
Anyway she has gone back today and I think she might just bloody well get through it . I feel that she has turned a corner.
If she survives this week which will be a tough one ( camping out for 3 nights ) and it is designed to weed them out then we will book our plane tickets for her Passing Out Parade :)
So proud of her as this has really tested her and she is the second youngest there. I keep having to wipe my eyes as there is a lot of dust around whenever I talk about her :) :)

Oh bless you. It sounds so very hard, I am glad she has got through a tough time.

My dd is 17 as well and plans to join the army next year. I am horrified by it (silently) but she is so very keen. So I will be you in about 18 months time.

I hope it all continues to go well, and hugs to you as well for the inevitable sadness you must feel missing her.

Hello only just seen this thread i joined up at 17 be it some 23 yrs ago

It took me a while to settle as i was the youngest in the intake.

I used to call my grandad for a pet talk when i had a bad day of getting shouted out or getting ripped to shreds as i saw it for room inspections they break you down and build you up again.

We used to live on five hours sleep. There was so much to learn

How to clean how to iron how to march how to march in to get your money learning all the stuff eg nbc medical history of the corps ( your dd has gone into my corps the RlC i remmber when it was born)

It is stressful some can march and learn the movements quick but it dors get better honest once she passes up and goes to trade trainning its more rexlaed ie you dont brace down to L/cpls. Thoygh the room parades exists.

Please just give a outlet to cry it will hard to listen eg

Cpl had a massive go at me beacause i had tram lines in my lightleights
I got marched off parade beacause a leaf landed on my berry
I cant remmber how to do about turn on parade or i cant do changing step on the march
I do bull my boot

^^ those were a few i remmber crying to my grandad

It does get better

Oh and the execuise is brill she be half way there with no sleep tell to take plasters for bislters though and some energy tablets and polos as they are light and dont rattle i used to buy all the above when i did my annual weeks exuise hoping for good weather

Glad I found this thread! DS is in the TA and was/is supposed to be going to Uni in Sept but his heart is not in it and he's been making rumblings for months now about going on Herrick 20 with the TA, ie taking a two year gap year (?) then going to Uni, then eventually Sandhurst and going in as an officer.

This is a slight improvement on where he was a couple of months ago when he wanted to ditch Uni altogether and go in as a squaddie.

I think he's going to do the Herrick 20 thing if he hasn't missed the boat and I'm feeling a bit - on the one hand I obviously want him to be safe, esp as his only sibling died at age 7, but on the other I know this is what he really wants to do and he'd just be marking time at Uni rather than throwing himself into it.

Hope your DD is getting on ok, op, she'll be finished soon, I guess! When's her Passing Out Parade?