Son wants to join Army

[Михайло Ніколук]

Privet, thought i could help.. i turn 17 in the summer and since the Ukrainian Army is well beckoning for people, i want to fight to kick out the russians.. if you have seen any of the footage in Ukraine your son will realise that war in life is totally different. It isnt fast combat but slow and not so fun to do combat. (Sorry if this makes it worse)

Also, my mother is scared also, as am i. but when one feels the need to serve their nation and protect it and fight for the desegnation of your nation one is also going to want to do that she accept now that since we are in war that one day i will have to go anyway since well my home town which we just evacuated is about 100 miles from the russians

I wish him good luck and dont worry as much; it is human nature

Clip might be more useful (This is rebel side since Government no release ukraine fighting morale reasons)

[mmhmm]

I'm sorry, Михайло Ніколук, for the pain and suffering of the Ukrainian people. I can understand your desire to try to help your country against its enemies but, as a mother and grandmother (even great-grandmother!), I can understand your mother's feelings, too - any mother's feelings. War just plain sucks and far too many lives are lost, families destroyed, and economies ruined because of it. I wish you luck, young man. I hope you can help to make the world what we all would like it to be, for everyone. 

[mroped]

Mishka, looks like you are in a pickle!
If only your government would decide to stop playing the "help me" card and do something about it!
Ukrainians and Russians have about the same techniques and training, weaponry and strategies. There are plenty of trained Ukrainian soldiers that could make quick work out of the Donetsk enclave if they were only given the order.
From what I see that happens, this president(Ukrainian one) wants at all costs to get Ukraine into NATO or at least EU so that he could become a national hero!
Damned idiot must have been a Polytruck before 1989. Anything for his own glory.

As I see in that video, that guy is using an antitank grenade launcher AG 7. Old as time those "instruments" but very efficient.

And back to OP: if the kid wants to serve, there isn't much you can do. Sorry but that's about his pride, proving that he can do what many can't. If you convince him not to do it that means he wasn't really sure

And for the love of God: why Army? 
I told my son that if he wants to join the military, it HAS to be the jarheads!

"If you do something, at least do it right!"
I also told him that none of the other branches is acceptable to me.

[Михайло Ніколук]

Mar 16, 2015 21:00:26 GMT -5 mroped said:

Mishka, looks like you are in a pickle!
If only your government would decide to stop playing the "help me" card and do something about it!
Ukrainians and Russians have about the same techniques and training, weaponry and strategies. There are plenty of trained Ukrainian soldiers that could make quick work out of the Donetsk enclave if they were only given the order.
From what I see that happens, this president(Ukrainian one) wants at all costs to get Ukraine into NATO or at least EU so that he could become a national hero!
Damned idiot must have been a Polytruck before 1989. Anything for his own glory.

As I see in that video, that guy is using an antitank grenade launcher AG 7. Old as time those "instruments" but very efficient.

And back to OP: if the kid wants to serve, there isn't much you can do. Sorry but that's about his pride, proving that he can do what many can't. If you convince him not to do it that means he wasn't really sure

And for the love of God: why Army? 
I told my son that if he wants to join the military, it HAS to be the jarheads!

"If you do something, at least do it right!"
I also told him that none of the other branches is acceptable to me.

Da, the government not so good, but around 90% of Lviv males have joined army, so for them Petro is a morale boost. He is now relying on the Byelorussia and Lithuanian, German and Ukrainian Neo-Nazi to do dirty work, as rubbish as it sound most of ukraines trained soldiers are POWs or simply not given the right orders. Debaltseve has taken most of our soldiers and it no help when Russia soldier who are more trained than Ukrainia are there as well as much as volodmyr 'tyrant' putin rejects it they are in Ukrainia.

Our weapons are not to good either we rely on weapons from US and EU but most are reluctant around 300 Ukrainisky tanks were killed in january or so War not good for us and we lose at the moment

[joemilitary]

Feb 1, 2013 10:12:16 GMT -5 beags said:

Not just any part of the Army the part that gets sent to the front lines first.   I think that's the infantry, correct? 

I've told him to think about it.   He's only 16.  He has a year and a half left of high school. 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm proud he wants to serve his country.   BUT as a mother . . . I don't want my baby on the front line during war time.   He is my baby and my only son.   He usually looks into things before he does them.  At first it was the national gaurd.  He was going to become a doctor and wanted the military to pay for his college. 

Ok, changed his mind.  He doesn't want to become a doctor.   Now he wants to enlist fully into the Army.   I said  Can you look into this better?  

He said I have mom.   Do you know if I make the Army band, I won't have to go into the infantry.   

I said  Do you know there just might be other things you can do without going to the front lines?  

He is an excellent drummer.   Although I don't know if he mentioned the band thing to make me feel better or not.   He just wants to serve.  

Has anyone here served in army?  Are there any other options other than infantry? 

OP- any updates?

good luck!

I would recommend to try real hard to get the infantry / front lines out of your son's head. 

chances of making the band are small.  And even if he does and even if "promotions are fast", enlisted promotions don't bring much of a pay raise......

It's best to get all you can from the military, because the military will get all it can from you. 

I think the Army is the only branch that can promise you a specific job (I think the other branches can offer you a general job series or something). 

Why not check and see what jobs he could get before deciding on Infantry?  What does he have to lose by waiting to see the choices? 

Infantry will always be an available choice, why not see what else is available too?

Also the military is cutting like crazy, so making a 20 year career will be much harder.........best to plan for "what if" he can't do 20....leaving the military as an infantry soldier or Army band member won't translate easily into a job......also what if he joins and finds the military isn't his thing after all?........

[Phoenix84]

Feb 1, 2013 10:12:16 GMT -5 beags said:

Not just any part of the Army the part that gets sent to the front lines first.   I think that's the infantry, correct? 

I've told him to think about it.   He's only 16.  He has a year and a half left of high school. 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm proud he wants to serve his country.   BUT as a mother . . . I don't want my baby on the front line during war time.   He is my baby and my only son.   He usually looks into things before he does them.  At first it was the national gaurd.  He was going to become a doctor and wanted the military to pay for his college. 

Ok, changed his mind.  He doesn't want to become a doctor.   Now he wants to enlist fully into the Army.   I said  Can you look into this better?  

He said I have mom.   Do you know if I make the Army band, I won't have to go into the infantry.   

I said  Do you know there just might be other things you can do without going to the front lines?  

He is an excellent drummer.   Although I don't know if he mentioned the band thing to make me feel better or not.   He just wants to serve.  

Has anyone here served in army?  Are there any other options other than infantry? 

The short answer is "yes" there's a lot you can do for the army other than the infantry.  If you can imagine a job, chances are you can do it in the DOD.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Maybe he would like flying helicopters?